{"id":16308,"date":"2025-10-22T21:57:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T21:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/16308\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T21:57:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T21:57:07","slug":"south-florida-gym-helps-people-with-parkinsons-fight-back-through-fitness-and-resilience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/16308\/","title":{"rendered":"South Florida gym helps people with Parkinson’s fight back through fitness and resilience"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Parkinson’s disease<\/a> began to steal one South Florida man’s balance and strength, he refused to give in. <\/p>\n

Four years after Steve Palumbo’s diagnosis, he’s fighting back \u2014 one punch, one step, one workout at a time \u2014 at a Coral Springs gym<\/a> where determination is as powerful as any medicine.<\/p>\n

Palumbo trains at least three times a week. Whether he’s on the mat or in a Rock Steady Boxing class, he’s doing everything he can to slow the progression of the disease.<\/p>\n

“The significant thing that was happening was I was falling. I was having a problem with my left leg, and that really made me say, ‘You know, you can’t ignore this,'” Palumbo said.<\/p>\n

He credits his workouts with making a huge difference in how he feels.<\/p>\n

“Mark has really worked on my stability and my balance,” Palumbo said. “He’s worked intensively with me doing leg exercises and other exercises, but it has stabilized me from falling.”<\/p>\n

Trainers promote strength, support and hope<\/p>\n

Mark Barker trains Palumbo. He and his wife, Allie, own Raw Kickboxing and Fitness in Coral Springs. Both are deeply involved in helping people living with Parkinson’s disease.<\/p>\n

“I feel like when he first came in, he had the motivation that not a lot of people have when they come in through our door,” Barker said.<\/p>\n

“People come here because they want to have a chance \u2014 they want to feel healthy again. They don’t want to deteriorate,” he said.<\/p>\n

A community built around determination<\/p>\n

CBS News Miami’s Ted Scouten also trains at Raw Kickboxing and Fitness, using boxing and conditioning exercises to slow his own Parkinson’s progression and maintain control over what he can.<\/p>\n

“One thing I did notice when you came in was that you were very willing to just start doing something,” Barker told Scouten. “You have a mindset that you’re not gonna let this thing beat you and you were going to find out whatever you can do \u2014 anything you can \u2014 to slow it down.”<\/p>\n

Allie Barker said helping others is what drives their mission.<\/p>\n

“We feel like that’s why we were put on this earth. You know, our philosophy is if you’re not here to help, then why are you here?” she said.<\/p>\n

Finding strength and purpose through movement<\/p>\n

Palumbo said he’s not only feeling stronger but mentally healthier, too.<\/p>\n

“I have the diagnosis. I’m living with it. I have a good life, I had a great career, and who knows what life will bring. I’m just gonna live day to day and enjoy it,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The message we try to preach to our members is you can always fight back,” Barker said.<\/p>\n

Parkinson’s Foundation hosts ‘Moving Day’ events<\/p>\n

Those looking to get involved in the fight against Parkinson’s disease<\/a> can join the Parkinson’s Foundation for “Moving Day,” a fundraiser and awareness event.<\/p>\n

The first event<\/a> takes place on Saturday in Miami at Tropical Park. The next one will be held Nov. 8 in Plantation at Central Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Parkinson’s disease began to steal one South Florida man’s balance and strength, he refused to give in.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[506,28,30,29,571,13900,807],"class_list":["post-16308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-broward-county","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-health","tag-parkinsons-disease","tag-south-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}