In a warehouse in west Eugene, Lori B. Havas began her second workout class of the day with some stretching.
“Let’s settle our feet, legs nice and wide. Clasp your hands, turn them out, and push it up. Inhale,” she said, taking a deep breath.
The stretches, exercise and boxing lessons done at this gym are backed by research to specifically target the needs of people in Havas’ classes – all of whom have Parkinson’s disease.
Parkinson’s is widely recognized as the fastest-growing neurological disorder in the world. People with the disorder can have trouble with movement, balance and coordination.
With a combination of physical and mental strength training, Havas’ workouts have helped a growing number of people in Eugene with Parkinson’s slow the condition’s progress.
Founded by Havas in 2018, the Parkinson’s Warriors Gym has grown from six members to more than 60, with Havas teaching 10 classes a week.
After opening at a new location in west Eugene in September 2024, Havas worked to find sponsors who could equip the new location with the weights, punching bags and other materials that now line the warehouse.
A giant framed poster board on the entry wall shows the names of organizations and donors who contributed to the gym.
“This project stands as a testament to the many individual donors whose belief in our mission turned hope into action,” the board reads. “We could not have done this without you!”
Almost one year after its soft open, Havas is holding a grand opening at the facility at 4065 W. 11th Ave. #50 on Saturday, Aug. 16 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. The event will include a ribbon cutting, free food, a silent auction and class demonstrations.
Havas said she hopes the event will bring awareness of what Parkinson’s is and how it affects people.
Havas had a longtime career as a physical trainer, teaching water aerobics and other classes. But she had not specialized in Parkinson’s or had much awareness of how to do so, until someone with the disease approached her and asked her to train them in 2010.
“I said, ‘Okay, but I know nothing about Parkinson’s.’ So, we learned together, and I continued taking classes and learned more,” she said.
In 2017, as the Rock Steady Boxing program became well-known for helping people with the disease, a few people asked Havas to teach boxing for Parkinson’s.
“And I said, ‘I don’t know anything about boxing, but I’ll learn,” she said. After a year of helping her clients with Parkinson’s, she decided to start the Parkinson’s Warriors Gym.
This summer, Havas took on two interns from the University of Oregon’s Human Physiology department, who help set up each day, and provide one-on-one help for warriors.
Kaya Bentel and Christina Johannesen, both rising seniors at the university, said the most rewarding part is the gratitude the warriors show.
“Today, I was working with someone for a lot of the time, and he is always like, ‘Thanks, Christina. It means a lot having you here. It makes a difference,'” Johannesen said.
“It's so special here, the community coming in every day. They want to talk to you, they want to hear about your life, and you want to hear about their life,” Bentel said. “You can see it on all their faces, how every day they're excited. Sometimes they're a little bit tired, but they're excited to be here.”
Since 2018, Havas has seen much success from the gym, both with its growth in membership and staff, and the individual success of each warrior.
When Billy Safier was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, he did Tai Chi, which helped him regain balance. But he said the gym helped him in many other ways.
“This is whole body, whole mind, plus a community,” he said. “There are times that I’ll come three times a week. It’s just a good overall body experience. (It) makes up for some of the things that I can’t do anymore.”
Havas makes sure to include exercises that challenge the warriors physically and mentally, while reminding them of the importance of each movement.
“Remember the reason why we’re doing this,” she told the class during a 30-second set of jumping jacks. “We’re doing this to trigger our brain, to get stronger, to build stronger mitochondria in every cell of our body.”
While she explains the benefits of the exercise, Havas also pushes the class on with an intermittent “You got this!” or “Can you feel it working?”
Don Cross said it’s Havas’ attitude, as well as the movement, that has kept him going after his diagnosis.
Cross remembered being diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2016, when his neurologist told him, “You have Parkinson’s and there’s no cure.” Struggling to be optimistic about life with the disease, Cross said he fell into a bout of depression.
Then, three years ago, he found the Parkinson’s Warriors Gym.
“Maybe most importantly is the social contact I made with these people, and they’ve become my friends over the years,” Cross said about his classmates. “We all struggle sometimes, and we look at one another and see, there’s Kathy doing it, I can do it.”
There’s an unspoken understanding in the class because everyone is dealing with the same condition, although it affects them all in different ways.
Safier said they don’t have to ask each other, “What’s your condition?” Only, “What condition is your condition in?”
For Safier, the condition affected his stamina and balance. For Cross, the challenge was walking.
When he joined the gym three years ago, Cross struggled to walk more than eight steps without freezing. With Havas’ help and the support of his classmates, he’s now up to 12.
But Safier and Cross’ favorite exercise at the gym is boxing.
“I get to take out my anxiety on the bag,” Safier said. Havas said some warriors told her, “It’s like I’m punching Parkinson’s right out.”
Boxing provides a kind of empowerment for the warriors that other exercises might not – a cathartic opportunity to (literally) fight against the symptoms of Parkinson's. Havas has seen how members of the gym become taller and stronger as they hit the bags harder. Havas said watching the warriors’ progress has made it easier for her to show up to work every day. She knows how challenging it can be for the warriors to come to class on their harder days. But, she said, they still show up.
“These people come in and they want to work so hard, they want to work because they know it's saving their life as it is right now. They come in with determination. They come in knowing I'm going to push them, even though it might be hard,” she said.
“And people with Parkinson's very often get the masked faces where they're happy inside their body, but you'd never know it, because they're not smiling. To see somebody look up and smile at me is enough to make me keep going. I just–I love these people. I love them so much.”
More details on Saturday’s grand opening and the Oregon Parkinson’s Warriors Foundation can be found at the foundation's website.
