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69-year-old man fights Parkinson’s Disease with vigorous exercise

Posted at 10:59 AM, Mar 24, 2017
and last updated 2017-03-24 08:39:45-04

When walking through Lakeshore Fitness Center in Muskegon, there's tons of stories and reasons why people go there to work out. Whether it's to lose weight or trying to recover from an injury, everyone goes there to better themselves.

One of those people is 69-year-old George, who not only comes to Lakeshore Fitness to get in shape, but also to fight Parkinson's Disease.

In 2013, George was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, which is a disorder in the nervous system that affects movement. Parkinson's progresses gradually, starting with a barely noticeable tremor in the hands, but eventually causes stiffness or slowing of movement in the body.

When George learned about his condition, he started to do some research on how he could slow down the disease. He found out that working out daily and vigorously would slow down the progression of symptoms in Parkinson's Disease.

So instead of sitting at home feeling sorry for himself, George scheduled a Body Age Assessment at Lakeshore Fitness, created a workout routine, and set fitness goals for himself.

"If you don't set a goal you really don't know what you're working towards, you're just randomly working out," George said.

While George continues to fight against Parkinson's, he enjoys playing racket ball when he's not lifting weights at the gym.

"Racket ball is an intense sport," George said. "There's a lot of power involved, speed involved, and it's a pretty powerful workout because you can work out for an hour and don't even have to think of it as a workout. You just have fun chasing the ball around."

George says he also always looks forward to the different events that Lakeshore Fitness puts on like dance classes, spin classes, and anything else they have to offer.

"I've been very successful in [my fitness journey] so far, so I'm going to keep at it."

Lakeshore Fitness Center is located at 900 West Western Avenue in Downtown Muskegon. For more details on the Next Step Program, call (231)-722-9322.