What would become personal trainer April Sargeant’s life’s work first began as a request.
It came from Lisa Murray, a fellow attendee of a women’s group who asked Sargent to work with her husband, Ed. He had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative condition that weakens motor skills and often slurs speech.
Sargeant had been working with elderly patients but hadn’t done anything with those who have Parkinson’s.
“I did some research and told her, ‘Yeah let’s do it,’” Sargeant said.
She enrolled in an LA program called Neuroboxing, and three years later she runs her own Neuroboxing classes in Santa Maria. The program taught her how to work with patients who suffer from Parkinson’s.
Sargeant was shepherding her class on Aug. 14 in the space she rents on the third floor of the Marian Regional Medical Center at 116 S. Palisade Drive. By October, she hopes to move across the street to the Marian Health and Wellness Center on 1207 E. Main St. She said a new gym under renovation there can accommodate her classes, which often number more than 20 students.
Sargeant said the skills and techniques associated with boxing help people with Parkinson’s adjust. They punched and punched the air, moving their bodies, doing things their bodies have forgotten how to do.
“Their brains have to forge new neural pathways,” Sargeant said.
She ran her 13 students that day through drills. Sargeant uses interval training on a circuit, just like the pros, but she keeps each station somewhere between 30 seconds to two minutes.
“There are people in this class who had never worked out before,” she said. “You use it or you lose it.”
That lack of activity had stagnated the reflexes and neural response of Gary Peterson, who has been attending the classes for two years. When he began attending, he wore slip-on shoes.
“They were hideous and his wife hated them,” April said. “Then one day I got a text from Gary that said, ‘I can tie my own shoes. First time in 10 years.’”
There’s all kinds of success stories like that, Sargeant said, and it’s not really about boxing. It’s just about moving and forcing the body to find new ways of doing things.
But elements of boxing training are broadly represented in her program. She has participants doing agility drills and incorporating squats into punching-bag exercises.
There are also the non-boxing exercises. She pushes her students to speak loudly because many speak softly. She brings in shoes for them to practice tying, preschool toys, and miniature shirts so they can work on buttoning them.
At Neuroboxing, it’s about the little things.
Learn more about Neuroboxing by calling (805) 698-1983 or emailing neuroboxingsantamaria@gmail.com.
Highlights
• Marian Regional Medical Center is hosting a blood drive on Friday, Aug. 30, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The drive, in partnership with Vitalant, will be located at 1400 East Church St. in Santa Maria. To donate, visit blood4life.org.
• For the third year in a row Cal Poly has hosted the California Cyber Innovation Challenge from June 21 to 23. Winners of the 2019 challenge were honored on Aug. 19. The teams, made up of high school students, received their awards in Sacramento. The cybersecurity competition aims to stoke interest in the subject.
Staff Writer William D’Urso wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Send ideas, news tips, and interesting tidbits to spotlight@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Aug 22-29, 2019.
