How Exercise Helps This Peloton Member Manage Parkinson’s Disease

Peloton Member Anthony G. has never been one to sit on his laurels. A fitness and health fanatic since he was a preteen, he was known as the health nut in the New Orleans office where he worked, trying to get his younger colleagues hooked on wheatgrass juice and raw-egg smoothies—they even dedicated the office’s fitness center to him when he retired from the job. So when Anthony learned six years ago that he had Parkinson’s disease, he knew that he wouldn’t let the condition get in the way of his active lifestyle. In fact, that commitment to healthy living has proved to be a crucial part of managing the disease and feeling good in his own skin.

Anthony was diagnosed on his 60th birthday after noticing some symptoms that were hard to ignore. “I would be walking and feel like I was drunk, kinda wobbling, and my right arm wouldn’t swing,” he says. “And my head wouldn’t fall into the pillow at night because it was so stiff.”

Soon enough, he came around to fighting the disease the only way he knew how. Combined with medication, regular exercise and healthful eating have been very important to his treatment. “Exercising helps with the stiffness,” Anthony says. “It comes and goes. Some days are better than others. But the days that are better are usually the days that I’m working out.”

“My doctor says I’m the poster child for Parkinson’s,” continues Anthony, who works out once a week with a trainer in his local gym and does the rest of his workouts in his home gym, which is kitted out with, among other equipment, a Peloton Bike, a treadmill and club-worthy disco lights (a fun and almost necessary addition for the former disco DJ!). He and his wife added the Bike just as the Covid-19 pandemic hit—fortunate timing indeed. He rides about three times a week, usually low-impact or beginner rides with his favorite instructors, Hannah Corbin and Leanne Hainsby. He generally does 20- to 30-minute classes, supplementing with strength training, and also enjoys the scenic rides when he doesn’t feel like being pushed too much. “I’m not way up on the Leaderboard or anything, but I’m not at the bottom either,” he says. “I love my Peloton Bike!”

But his true, lifelong passion? Water skiing. He’s been doing it since he was 14 and shows no signs of slowing down. Did we mention he does this barefoot? He also used to compete in slalom water skiing. He still goes out on the water two or three times a week. No offense to Peloton, he says, but “water skiing is my favorite thing to do.” It’s great exercise, he says, because it’s a low-impact, whole-body workout that strengthens the core, arms, and legs and helps improve balance.

Anthony, who also stays busy running his own event photography company in New Orleans, is matter-of-fact about living with the disease. “It is what it is, as they say,” he says. “Probably about 99 percent of the time I stay positive. Because if you don’t, you’d just sit on the sofa and waste away.”

Inspired by Anthony’s story? Read on to meet Carie, who trained with Peloton to become a kidney donor.