A White Plains, New York nonprofit is using boxing, yoga, and Zumba to help slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease.
About 1.1 million people are living with Parkinson’s disease in the United States, with 90,000 new people diagnosed every year. It’s the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the country, after Alzheimer’s.
And not only is there no cure for Parkinson’s disease, there’s also no standard treatment—each individual is different.
However, while treatment varies from person to person, exercise is one of the best ways to manage symptoms and even slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease. What’s more, a 2025 systematic review found that boxing exercise can improve Parkinson’s disease symptoms, helping with strength, mobility, balance, depression, and overall quality of life.
That’s where the White Plains, New York-based nonprofit FitWell Foundation comes in.
The foundation is affiliated with the thirty-year-old Belmars Martial Arts and Fitness gym, created by boxing and Muay Thai champion (and Olympic marathon runner) Peter Belmar.
“Mostly we're trying to make fitness accessible,” said Toni Mafes, the president and director of the FitWell Foundation, adding, “We're training people to have a better quality of life.”
Peter Belmar, the owner of Belmar and the director of the FitWell Foundation, said they’d often have people with Parkinson’s disease come to their beginning Muay Thai, boxing, and kickboxing classes.
These people had heard how boxing and martial arts can benefit people with Parkinson’s disease. However, the general classes were not designed specifically for people with Parkinson’s disease or any other disability.
“That program is not specifically aimed at people with Parkinson's, because it's a disease where they have to do special things to aid their improvement, their quality of that our boxing for beginners sessions wasn’t addressing,” Peter said.
To fill this need, Toni and Peter worked together to create the FitWell Foundation, which not only serves people with Parkinson’s disease but also individuals with disabilities. In addition, they offer self-defense classes for women and girls as well as yoga and Zumba classes.
As part of their mission to give everyone a chance to discover the benefits of exercise and movement, FitWell Foundation offers low-cost or free programs to low-income and individuals.
“We don't turn people away because of money, because that's their medicine. You need to be able to work out,” Toni said.
FitWell Foundation is an affiliate of Rock Steady Boxing, which was founded in 2006 by Scott C. Newman after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 40. Scott began boxing with his friend and former Golden Gloves boxer, and discovered it helped his symptoms. From there, he and his coaches developed a Rock Steady Boxing curriculum. Today, there are more than 800 Rock Steady affiliates throughout the globe.
Toni said she’s seen the benefit of this training firsthand.
“We have people that come in with walkers. And they train with us for a little bit, and after a little while they're able to put the walkers aside while they do their classes,” Toni said
Even if a person comes into the gym in a wheelchair, Toni asks them if they are able to walk. If so, she tells them they should try walking in the gym.
“I am the type of instructor that pushes the norm of what people think they can do,” Toni said.
Even if someone needs assistance to walk—either from a coach or walking sticks—Toni and the other coaches encourage them to push their limits.
That approach has paid off.
“I would say that group of people is probably more fit than people of their age without Parkinson's. I would bet I would bet money on it,” Toni said about the people who come to her FitWell classes.
While boxing—and Zumba and yoga—won’t get rid of Parkinson’s disease, Toni has seen firsthand how it slows the progression of the disease.
“Instead of progressing over that year, two years, three years, however long you've been coming to the gym, you're seeing that you are not as far progressed as somebody who has not been working out,” Toni said.
What’s more, the people in Toni’s classes can do things many Americans can’t.
“These people can do pushups on the floor. They do burpees. They do real lunges where their knees touch the ground. This month we're planking for a minute and 15 seconds, and almost everybody in the class can do a plank for a minute and 15 seconds,” Toni said.
Peter added that some of the class time is focused on helping people get up off the floor, even if they need to use a walker to get around.
“We have a system to get them on and off of the floor by themselves,” Peter said, adding that they practice fall drills in every class.
“They work on getting on and off of the floor in case they fall. And many people have said that that really helped them if they did fall, because they were able to just kind of relax and get on and off of the floor,” Peter said.
Boxing helps improve bone density, and learning the various combinations is a cognitive challenge that works the brain. The participants also practice fine motor skills, including a shirt-buttoning station, and they count their stretches out loud because Parkinson’s disease causes the voice to get softer as it progresses.
“There's a lot of yelling and being loud, answering questions for the day,” Toni said.
An unexpected—and positive effect—of people with Parkinson’s disease taking these classes is that many times they are working out harder than they would if they didn’t have Parkinson’s disease.
“Everybody should be working out like this,” Toni said, especially as they age.
“You have a choice of how you're going to age,” she said, even if you have a disability.
“You can be sitting in a chair all day or you can work out and you can have a better quality of life,” Toni said, “and if you can't get on the floor, how are you going to play with your grandkids?”
At the end of the day, no matter what they do to work out, Toni and Peter are dedicated to making both Belmars and FitWell Foundation classes a welcoming place for people of all ages and abilities.
“We want to make a space where people feel comfortable to come work out and spend their time and be a part of the Belmars family,” Peter said.
About Author, Hilary Achauer