Parkinson's: An Athlete's Journey

Rob Warner’s athletic life was built one challenge at a time. First it was climbing stairs. Then Mount Whitney. Then cycling. Then triathlons. Each step gave him a new way to measure effort, build confidence, and stay connected to what his body could do. When Parkinson’s symptoms first appeared, Rob thought he was dealing with an injury from a triathlon fall. Instead, after a long diagnostic proce...

Larry Grogin is nearing the end of one of the most demanding endurance challenges imaginable: 100 marathons in 100 consecutive days. With only a few runs left, Eric catches up with Larry as he nears the end of a journey that has taken him more than 2,500 miles across the United States. What began as a challenge built around Parkinson’s, exercise, and possibility has become something more personal,...

Ryan Cotton has been part of Rock Steady Boxing since it was thirty boxers in an aerobics room. With more than 20 years of clinical experience and a Doctorate in Health Science, he joined as a board member before becoming Chief Scientific Officer and eventually President and CEO. When his father was diagnosed with Parkinson's, the work became personal. By then he already understood what the resear...

Jorge Quintero’s work with Parkinson’s began in the operating room. As an electrical engineer working in neurotechnology, he supported deep brain stimulation surgeries and watched people with severe tremors experience immediate changes once stimulation was turned on. That experience led him deeper into clinical neuroscience and into a question that now shapes much of his work: how much can the bra...

Garrett Salpeter’s work began with a personal injury and a question that stayed with him: why did recovery often feel so limited? As a hockey player and engineering student, he became interested in the nervous system, direct current stimulation, and the ways the body responds after injury. That path eventually led him to found NeuFit, where his work focuses on helping people improve movement, reco...

Larry Grogin is halfway through running 100 marathons in 100 consecutive days. He started in New Jersey on March 24 and is making his way toward Southern California as part of Strides for Humanity, a run raising awareness and support for people living with Parkinson’s. Each day starts with the same challenge: cover 26.2 miles, manage what Parkinson’s brings, and get up the next morning to do it ag...

Before Gaia Forlani became a neuroscientist, she was a professional ballerina. Ballet gave her a direct understanding of movement at a high level: control, rhythm, timing, strength, coordination, and the constant feedback between the brain and the body. That background still shapes how she sees Parkinson’s. Today, she works at the intersection of neuroscience, coaching, and Parkinson’s performance...

Jay Freyensee has always moved through life as an athlete. Cycling, mountain biking, martial arts, Muay Thai, cross-country skiing, running, and Spartan-style events have all shaped how he understands effort, progress, and identity. His athletic life has never been about one discipline. It has been about staying active, learning what a sport asks of him, and finding the next way to challenge himse...

Jeff Martin helped shape what group fitness looks like today. Over nearly five decades, he built one of the early studio environments in New York City where people trained together, showed up consistently, and stayed connected to the work. That model spread, and companies like Equinox and Crunch grew out of foundations that started in studios like his. For 47 years, Jeff has been teaching classes....

Greg Schaefer is used to long races. Kona, Ironman, and years of knowing what his body could do. When that started to change, he noticed. In 2023, he was diagnosed with Young-Onset Parkinson’s. He still trains and races, but the approach is different, and some days require more adjustment than others. He speaks openly about the days when he pulls back, when patience runs thin, and when the mental...

Eric and Todd check in on training, setbacks, and where things are at right now. Eric shares how rethinking his heart rate approach has allowed him to start pushing intensity again. Todd talks through the cycle of trying to return to running and encountering the same knee issue tied to motor control on his left side. They also touch on the early phase of Parkinson's after diagnosis, when you're st...

Brendan Cusick wanted to do something big for his 50th birthday. That idea led him to ocean rowing, a four-man team, and eventually a 2,800-mile row from Monterey to Kauai. Patrick Morrissey came into the picture as Brendan’s friend, a fellow endurance-minded athlete, and someone recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s who initially thought he might help as a spokesperson. A couple months later, he wa...

Mike McCastle doesn’t talk about strength the way most people do. His definition of strength was shaped by watching his dad live with Parkinson’s. Watching the effort, patience, and composure it took to get through everyday moments most people barely think about. That stayed with him. It also inspired the Twelve Labors Project, Mike’s mission to take on a series of extreme endurance and strength c...

Jimmy Choi is known for doing things most people do not associate with Parkinson’s. Ultramarathons. Triathlons. American Ninja Warrior. World records. What comes through in this conversation is everything underneath that. Jimmy talks openly about the years after his diagnosis, when depression, apathy, and anger took over. He shares the reality of trying to live with a progressive disease, and the...

Parkinson’s changes how the brain controls movement. But movement can also change the brain.  In this episode, Todd Vogt and Eric Von Frohlich sit down with Julie Hershberg, neurological physical therapist and founder of re+active therapy & wellness, to talk about why exercise may be one of the most powerful tools we have for living with Parkinson’s. They get into neuroplasticity, symptom vari...

In this episode, Eric and Todd catch up on Eric’s latest health updates, including how he is managing AFib, recent cardiac testing, and the way those challenges are shaping his training. They talk through what it feels like when the numbers do not quite line up, including HRV, unexpected heart rate spikes, and body composition readings, and how they are learning to navigate uncertainty without spi...

“How are you doing?” For most people, it’s small talk. With Parkinson’s, it can feel like an exercise in figuring out what people really want to hear, and how much truth is too much. Todd Vogt and Eric Von Frohlich talk through the lived experience of that moment, when you want to answer honestly, but the honest answer can come out sounding like a list of what isn’t working. They unpack how the an...

Parkinson’s doesn’t just challenge your body. It challenges your identity. In this episode, Todd Vogt and Eric Von Frohlich talk candidly about what happens when Parkinson’s forces a shift in career, competition, and self-perception: what do you do when the thing that defined you starts changing? They explore nostalgia, gratitude, job hunting, and the difference between outcome goals and process g...

Adaptive sport asks a simple question: what does the sport require, and how do you build the athlete to meet it. Todd Vogt and Eric Von Frohlich sit down with Ellen Minzner , elite rowing coach and leader in adaptive and Paralympic sport, to discuss coaching athletes with disabilities through standards, structure, and respect. From Parkinson’s to para rowing to the Paralympic Games, the conversati...

Parkinson’s doesn’t only show up during workouts; it shows up when you’re putting on a shirt, tying shoes, walking the dog, or getting up off the floor. In this episode, Todd Vogt and Eric Von Frohlich share how they “gamify” everyday tasks to turn normal life into training: adding constraints, timing tasks, using the non-dominant hand, and stacking small challenges that build mobility, coordinati...

What did Parkinson's look like before we knew it was Parkinson's?  In this first episode, Todd and Eric walk through the early signs they noticed, what the diagnostic process looked like, and the strange moment you leave an appointment with a folder of pamphlets and no real game plan.  They talk about the athlete brain and how it helps you push through hard days, but also how Parkinson’s adds a hi...

What happens when you’ve spent your whole life letting a time or a ranking define you as an athlete, and then Parkinson’s changes the rules? In this episode of Parkinson’s: An Athlete’s Journey, we talk about performance pressure, athlete identity, and how the “clock” can quietly become your self-worth. Todd breaks down why sports like rowing (and even swimming) can wire your brain to chase tenths...

Some days you wake up and feel sharp. Other days, you can barely get through the warm-up. In this episode of Parkinson’s: An Athlete’s Journey, we talk about the real day-to-day variability of Parkinson’s, and how we keep training anyway. We get into what helps most (and what’s just “interesting”): the basics like training and sleep quality, plus recovery tools like foam rolling, massage guns, sau...

Parkinson’s changes everything. But if you’re an athlete (or you’ve got that athlete mindset), you don’t just stop: you adapt, get strategic, and keep training. In this short trailer, hosts Eric Von Froehlich (EVF Fitness, Row House) and Todd Vogt (Paralympic rower + coach) introduce Parkinson’s: An Athlete’s Journey, a podcast built for people navigating Parkinson’s in real time, with a focus on...