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Parkinson’s: An Athlete’s Journey is for athletes navigating Parkinson’s, the coaches and clinicians who train them, and anyone who wants real-world strategies for performance and longevity. Hosted by Eric Von Frohlich and Todd Vogt, the show focuses on tactical takeaways: how to train, recover, manage symptoms, and stay consistent when the rules keep changing. Expect honest conversations, tested routines, and guest experts who go deeper on what works.
Eric Von Frohlich (00:32)
Today we're hosting Jimmy Choi, the man, the myth, the legend. I'm sure that ⁓ he's going to take exception to some of that because he's so humble, but it's been an honor to watch you kind of navigate this disorder and give us all hope and kind of shine the light on the bright side of living positively and with intention while having Parkinson's.
And you have an amazing story and we're inspired by you every day and appreciate all that you've done for the community. And we're looking forward to see what the next handful of years has in store for us as we all kind of navigate this terrain together.
So you got the floor, Jimmy. Tell us your resume and bullet points, if you would, because I think people would find it amazing.
Jimmy Choi (01:16)
Hey.
Yeah, Eric and Todd, thanks for having me on. ⁓ I'm in awe of what you guys have accomplished. ⁓ And, you know, I'm always out there looking for like...
what other people are doing and watching things that other people are doing and then taking that as ideas and how I can, I can apply it to myself. And that's what I hope that other people are seeing in the things that I share. ⁓ you know, I've been diagnosed with Parkinson's now for 23 years, 22 years and 11 months, so 23 years next month. ⁓ and so it's been a very long time. ⁓ and since then I've, ⁓ gone through the gambit of being in very dark places myself.
⁓ dealing with depression, apathy, ⁓ and then finally finding sort of my own calling and what I can do for myself and to make changes in my lifestyle to to allow myself to live the best I can with Parkinson's. And since then I've competed at American Ninja Warrior seven times. I've ⁓ completed more than a hundred half marathons, Ironmans,
Eric Von Frohlich (02:26)
Hey.
Jimmy Choi (02:29)
you name it, Spartan races, 16 marathons, ultra marathons. I've done, as the first person with Parkinson's on record to complete a sub five, 100 mile bike ride, sub five meaning under five hours. And I have three fitness world records. All of these things come after being diagnosed with Parkinson's. And I always tell myself that any more gifted of an athletic person than anybody else.
I think I just found myself and give myself opportunities and have allowed myself to prepare my body for the disease might bring. And ⁓ that's kind of how I live these days. Like everything that I do in the gym, everything that I do in life is how is that going to help me live better living with Parkinson's.
Eric Von Frohlich (03:15)
Did you have this insight when you were or is this a change that you've made as a result of that?
Jimmy Choi (03:23)
No, this is definitely a change that I've made since after diagnosis with Parkinson's. I was a mouse running the wheel just like everybody else. I was active in high school and in college. But after I got out of college, man, was just desk, just sitting behind a desk behind a computer and just trying to climb the corporate ladder.
Eric Von Frohlich (03:45)
Amazing. So you had what was essentially a normal life by all standards of measurements. then this thing kind of starts happening to you and you're trying to figure out what it is. What was that process like in the early days before you had a name for what was going on?
Jimmy Choi (04:04)
So to tell you the truth, I never even thought of different symptoms that I was feeling. I never even thought of going to the doctor. Because it could be explained away in my 20s. I was 20s when everything started. Actually, if I think back, everything started in college. But being so young, everything that was happening to me, I can explain away with everyday life.
You know, like I was in a high tech job right in the beginning of the dot com boom and we were working, you know, 14, 15 hour days and like little twitches here and there is stress, right? You can explain that away.
TODD VOGT (04:40)
Yeah.
Jimmy Choi (04:42)
So everything that I was feeling, I didn't even think about going to the doctor. And it was actually a insurance physical. After I got married, I bought life insurance to start protecting my family. there was during that insurance physical, the nurse does these physicals on the side, but she works in a neurology office and she took a look at me and she's like, Jimmy,
I see some things in you that are very familiar enough. She never said Parkinson's or MS or whatever. She never gave a diagnosis because she can't, but she's like, need to talk to your doctor about this and this and this and this and this.
Eric Von Frohlich (05:14)
Right.
Well, that was helpful, I'm sure, at least giving you a reason to connect with your doctor and give you some indication of what was going on. I'm not sure that we, Todd or myself, figured it out quite succinctly. It was more dealing with symptoms and, like yourself, dismissing them because of everyday life and being an athlete. You experience a lot of the tightness and stiffness and...
awkwardness that Parkinson's has. But did you have a loss of smell or was there anything that really kind of stood out that now you think, that was kind of obvious with your eyes today?
Jimmy Choi (05:59)
So loss of smell came later. I lost that, you know, well into after diagnosis. But, you know, like I would say like sleep issues is definitely a precursor that I never thought about back Constipation was another one. And believe it or not, low cholesterol was a sign been associated with people with Parkinson's that I have been experiencing ever since high school.
TODD VOGT (06:24)
Yeah, I had a similar experience with you a little bit, Jimmy, that I was in charge of a rowing club and I was working 60, 70 hours a week. I sort of just thought I was, just like a stressed out mess until I went to see a naturopath and she did a bunch of blood work and she's like, everything looks good here. My advice is you should go see a neurologist. And at that point I was like, oh no, this is more than working myself into the
Jimmy Choi (06:49)
And I think many
of us can share especially just the Young Onset group, just because we're not thinking, because we've been conditioned to think that Parkinson's is for older people.
TODD VOGT (06:55)
Mm-hmm.
Eric Von Frohlich (07:01)
you have children at that point or you were thinking of starting a family or where was your head
Jimmy Choi (07:07)
Yeah, I had just gotten married and my wife and I have always wanted to start a family and that's why I bought the life So, but no, at that point when I was diagnosed, didn't, no kids and first child until almost 10 years later.
Eric Von Frohlich (07:22)
And how was that, was that a difficult decision knowing that you're dealing with Parkinson's and obviously a very confident man because you've accomplished so much. So I would imagine that you carried that dealing with your Parkinson's. But when you're starting a family, that's a big hurdle.
Jimmy Choi (07:40)
It was, it was very scary and, you know, to, to, be honest, during the first eight years of my diagnosis, I was, I was increasingly becoming more depressed. I was increasingly becoming more angry. and to be honest, I didn't think that starting a family was a, was a good idea. but Parkinson's
was becoming a strain in the relationship with me and my that, you know, it's like this, and just thinking back, right, I thought.
that, you know what, maybe having a child will strengthen that relationship, right? You know, but that's not, obviously it's not the way anyone should think, but I'm, I'm, I'm grateful in how things worked out because entire process of, like finding that she was pregnant, it, it started to changes, in the way that I was thinking, cause I was extremely depressed and I don't talk about this much, ⁓ in a previous,
Eric Von Frohlich (08:20)
All right.
Jimmy Choi (08:41)
and I will, you know, like starting, I'm starting to talk about it more and more because I mental health is very important for those of us living with I actually tried to hurt one point in 2006. And my wife was traveling. was overseas in Germany. And I drove my car off of a bridge.
And that was it.
Eric Von Frohlich (09:07)
Was that,
was that had an intention behind it or was that an accident?
Jimmy Choi (09:13)
yeah, was, it was, it was,
it was on purpose. It was on purpose, but I told her.
Eric Von Frohlich (09:17)
Wow. Well, I
really, it's the first I'm hearing of this. So I really appreciate you sharing this because I think the depression in the mental state of Parkinson's and what it can do to you if you don't get it under control is the bigger hurdle than the physical stuff that we, you know, generally point to. So thank you for, the time and the trust to explore this information with us.
Jimmy Choi (09:43)
No, I think it's important, right? And I don't think I talked about mental health enough in the past and it's something that this is definitely a new, it's gonna be a focus of moving forward. But you know, of course when it happened, I told my wife that it was an accident, you know, and things like that. But I tell you, let me tell you, I had no idea.
that right off of the edge of that bridge was a barrier that keeps people from driving into the river. and, and I hit that barrier and, ⁓ airbags went off, everything in my car. walked away from it and, the paramedics came. I was fine. I was completely fine. And I, and, and they, I called my wife or they called my wife and she's like, my God, what's going on? You I'm like, I'm fine. And she was going to be home in a couple of days. I'm like, look, I'll just, I'll talk to you when you get home. I'm fine.
Eric Von Frohlich (10:11)
Wow.
Jimmy Choi (10:31)
worry about it the cars totaled blah blah blah and then she came home three days later right and and I was talking to her and she told me that she was pregnant with our first child right with Karina and I just remember I'm like holy you know holy shit what what am I doing right and that news like changed
Eric Von Frohlich (10:45)
Wow.
TODD VOGT (10:45)
Wow.
Jimmy Choi (10:56)
change my perspective. I don't want to say that I was no longer depressed because that's not the right? But I will say that it made me think three times about taking any more action against self-harm.
Eric Von Frohlich (11:12)
is an amazing, amazing moment for you to deal with in a matter of 72 hours of trying to injure end it and realizing that the purpose of your life or at least the purpose of many people's lives is your children to have a gift of your come just at the right moment to re-prioritize mental state.
you know, I could put it nothing short of a miracle and God touching your life in a way that you couldn't possibly have imagined.
Jimmy Choi (11:44)
Yeah, and I just also want to mention that, know, like everything up to this point that was like kind of boiling over my own head and everything, you know, it was all on me. And I was making life difficult for my wife, being how stubborn I was, being apathetic I was. I didn't want to do anything. there was nothing that you can make me do.
other than, you know, like staying, all I was trying to do is, is to make sure my wife is going to be okay. So I was trying to make as much money as I could in my professional but you know, up until this point, it has been all me.
And I think for all of us living with Parkinson's, I think at some point we all have to admit to ourselves that yes, we have, we have our care partners. We have our caregivers, but you know, what are some things that we're doing to put a strain on their lives? what, can we do even though they're caring for us? What can we do to, ease that a little bit better? And up until that point, I was doing none of that, right? She's giving, she's giving a hundred percent and I'm, and I'm just focused on tunnel vision.
But...
Eric.
Eric Von Frohlich (12:53)
It's
incredibly challenging, the apathy that can come into your life. And No one really talks about apathy, but to me, that was the stranglehold on me, was the apathy. then soon to follow depression was something I really wasn't prepared for. I figured I could out exercise it and I could out, you know, I was built to deal with adversity and built to overcome challenges and spent a lifetime doing that.
That it just seemed like I could outwork it. And then I had a back injury, which I'm sure was psychosomatic and stopped me from able to train and train as hard as I was to avoid any of the potential downsides of Parkinson's. And ⁓ that kind of sent me down the realization that exercise was the thing that was keeping me sane and not being able to do that kind of took away all the hope I had in control of fighting this battle.
with the tools that I developed my whole life. And now I was in this place where I needed to recalibrate what and how I was going to deal with this disease and work my way through it. you thank God for yourself. You had, I'm sure it didn't happen right away, but to realize your wife's pregnant and you have this child who's going to be relying on you ⁓ is a powerful motivator to giving you purpose.
beyond your own, needs.
Jimmy Choi (14:21)
And I will tell you this,
that even after I found out my wife was pregnant with our first child, I it was still years until I finally took action
made a significant change in my own ability to live well with Parkinson's, right? It is that that mental change didn't, it wasn't a snap. It didn't happen and it continued on like battling depression, battling apathy. there was just a constant reminder that, you've got a child, you've got a child coming. You've got a child. This is a constant reminder that helped ease the mind from going really dark.
right? But it didn't, it didn't take care of the problem, so to speak. And, and, and I can tell you even to this day, 23 years later, it hasn't taken care of the problem completely because there are still days.
you know, where I, where I question myself, where I question, you know, how much longer can I fight and things like that. Right.
but I just, I want, I don't want people to think that it can be easily fixed with like one moment in life. It's a continuous effort, just like everything that we're doing, athletically, mentally, you know, and, and, and just your everyday life, nothing is a quick fix
and there are no quick fixes.
Eric Von Frohlich (15:41)
Well, I think the thing that we've demonstrated amongst the three of us is that resilience is a superpower. And if we're willing to outwork this and outlast this disease, we can stay in control and give ourselves hope. I guess hope is really the word I'm looking for more than anything else. It gives us some control in how we're dealing the symptoms and the effects.
TODD VOGT (15:42)
That's awesome.
Jimmy Choi (15:49)
Yep.
TODD VOGT (16:05)
maybe reframing this in athletic perspective, sometimes I think dealing with Parkinson's, especially for the young onset group, people like us, it's like an ultramarathon almost, you know? Which is a good way to maybe frame it, but also by the same token, it can be because you can just, I mean, sometimes this is a challenge I I sometimes get in my head and think,
Okay, I'm here now, I'm eight years in diagnosis and I know what my symptoms are now at age 51, what is it gonna be like in 10 years? And that thought can be depressing. When can just anticipate the drip, drip, drip of how your symptoms are gonna get worse. That can be, that can be real source of psychological stress and depression, so as you were saying, Jimmy.
Jimmy Choi (16:44)
Yeah.
No, absolutely. And you know, I look at, when I look at other people, because I speak at a lot of events and I see a lot of people with Parkinson's that are much older than I am and who are living with it in much less number of years, right? Like some of these people are 80 years old, but they've been diagnosed only for a couple of years and they're already, you know, well advanced by at least by, by sight, right? When you see someone you're like, you're thinking, they're, this person is more advanced than I am.
than I am and am I gonna be like that? But you compare yourself to that, right? Because I'm not 80 years old and who knows, if I was diagnosed in my
Eric Von Frohlich (17:15)
Right.
Jimmy Choi (17:25)
how much of the things that I do today, realistically, how much of that can actually translate to an 80 year old, 80 year old will have their versions of the things that I do today that can help slow a progression or whatnot. But you know, just who knows that everybody, we just have to understand that everybody is different. Now the people that I look you know, when, whenever people ask me like, Jimmy, are you, are you afraid of, of what
you're going to look like yourself and you know, and when, when you're 70, 80 years old or even 60, like you said, Tom 51, uh, you know, like, when am going to be when I'm 61? Right. But I look at people like Rhonda Foulds and I look at people like John Ball, both of them have lived with the disease longer than I have. And both of them, if we are, the three of us sat in a room and talked to each other and someone walks by and that person walking by would never look at the three of us and say, those three people have Parkinson's.
You know, and John's been living with it for almost 50 years, right?
Eric Von Frohlich (18:21)
It's amazing.
Well, I think it's so important that you have a sense of purpose and you have a sense of control in addressing your symptoms and your, know, in your case, you've done an amazing job with your voice and with your you have a very natural smile, which is one of the first things that I noticed was kind of taken away. And now I'm working hard to get that back, that natural responsiveness to
people and being able to converse and articulate a smile on my face is something that I miss about myself but lots of things, it's kind of like whack-a-mole, you don't know what you're losing until you've kind of lost it and then you fight like hell to get it back.
You've done obviously a great deal of voice work, I take it.
Jimmy Choi (19:02)
Yeah.
Yeah, since 2010 LSVT LOUD every day practice.
TODD VOGT (19:13)
LSVT Loud.
Eric Von Frohlich (19:13)
Excellent.
It's something we really haven't addressed much, I would imagine it's presentation a lot better and a lot clearer.
Jimmy Choi (19:23)
And you know what? At the end of the use it, use it or lose it, right? You practice, you practice, you practice. joke sometimes, like, you know, sometimes screaming at your kids is good voice training.
TODD VOGT (19:23)
Yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (19:34)
I'm sure my kids want that.
TODD VOGT (19:37)
I used to be in college, I was like, I had a pretty good voice. I was in the college chorus and I used to sing a lot. And so it bums me out a little bit that I can't sing as well as I used to back when I was, whenever in my twenties, because I can feel my voice is strange. I'm sure you guys can appreciate it. It just feels like there's not like the vocal strength there, you know? And by the end of like a long sentence, you can trail off. So
I still like the saying, so when I'm by myself in the car, like if somebody drives up alongside me, they're gonna see me like belting out like whatever it is I'm listening to at like full volume, you know? So people probably drive by me like, what is this weird dude doing over next to me? But that's like, that's like what I do a of times. I'll just like crank up whatever it is. It can be, you know, some like punk rock or whatever. And I'm just like seeing it at the top of my lungs. So anyways.
Jimmy Choi (20:08)
Love it.
always tell my kids when you're driving alongside or you're out in public when someone sees you and, embarrassment responses can, can close a person off real quickly. like if someone looks over and you're like, you're just like you said, Todd, you're belting at the top of your lungs. You're singing and sometimes there might be feeling of embarrassment.
I always tell my kids and a lot of people that who cares? never going to see that person. Chances are you're never going to see that person again in your life, right? That person has no bearing on you or what you do moving forward. No one cares.
Eric Von Frohlich (20:48)
Right.
TODD VOGT (20:49)
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
yeah, there's a lot, the embarrassment factor goes beyond just that too. Like say for example, you're at, you know, when I go to my like favorite coffee shop around the corner, you know, I'm just going in to get a cup of coffee, but part of my brain is like self-conscious that, you know, that my hand is tremoring or the, you know, the barista, when I go to give him my credit card or whatever the cash is like.
your self-conscious because you don't want to be viewed as like a weirdo or deficient or you don't want them thinking like, man, this person must be drunk or whatever it is. yeah, that self-consciousness is there and I can see that at some points if it's so much, it could limit your daily activities, I'm sure.
Jimmy Choi (21:24)
Right?
Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I learned to be, I guess you can call it that who gives a shit attitude, right? ⁓ so, and, and, and I saw this very powerful social experiment once. It's this, this, this one YouTuber, I forget his name, but I think it's a very, very powerful social point was exactly no one gives a shit. No one cares about you.
as much as you care about yourself, which is, think everyone can understand that. So what he actually did was he went out in the middle of, he's a college student. He was in some school. forget which one, but he'd laid down right in the middle of a building, right? He just laid down and just laid there. Everyone just kind of walked around him, stepped over him. No one questioned whether or not this kid was okay, right? Cause he was conscious. He's he's laying there. He's like, no one cares. Basically his point and his.
experiment he does a lot of these various different types of experiments all over campus is that no one cares about anybody else except themselves right everybody's wrapped up with their own lives so so what are you worried about again in an instance of yes you you might feel embarrassed right but you know that's that's you that's that's what you're feeling
Eric Von Frohlich (22:33)
.
TODD VOGT (22:38)
Absolutely, they're all wrapped up in their own lives. They're thinking things actually. Yeah.
Jimmy Choi (22:52)
and at that point but everyone else around you they might like they might think about that situation that interaction while it's happening but after the interaction is gone they've already forgotten you
Eric Von Frohlich (23:05)
Yeah, gyms are filled with
mirrors so people can stare at themselves, not to stare at you.
Jimmy Choi (23:10)
Absolutely. Yep.
TODD VOGT (23:11)
Yeah, exactly.
And this is what we, and I have talked about, like how Parkinson's is almost it's like forced enlightenment, you know, because it's like accelerated aging, forced enlightenment, you know, there's what we've talked about before, because you have to come to terms with lot of things you might not have to deal with until later in life.
Thank you to Parkinson's providing me with the opportunity to figure that out now and not when I'm 70 or whatever.
Jimmy Choi (23:31)
Right.
Eric Von Frohlich (23:32)
Well, I think that that's the bright side. It's almost like an upgrade to you, to your emotional growth and spiritual growth is that, know, Todd became an Olympic silver medalist because of Parkinson's. It kind of gave him an opportunity live a dream that he previously wasn't didn't have access to. And Jimmy, you've created a platform that has changed your life in.
the lives of thousands of people in a direction that you couldn't possibly have imagined if you didn't have Parkinson's. And myself, similarly, it's been created opportunities for me and a platform for me that previously life was almost too easy in a lot of ways. And now quote Marcus Aurelius, that which obstructs action, advances action.
you know, what becomes the obstacle becomes the way. You start to develop the skills and the mental fortitude to overcome a lot of these challenges that Parkinson's has put in our way that you wouldn't have otherwise really had the opportunity to do.
Jimmy Choi (24:38)
Yeah, absolutely.
Eric Von Frohlich (24:40)
So Jimmy, prior to you having your children, was your wife your primary caregiver? did you allow her to be your wife as well?
Jimmy Choi (24:49)
we had kids, those first few years, she kind of took cues from me, right? if I said things were fine, then things to her was fine. ⁓ and she'll tell you that that's, that was one of the mistakes that we as a, as a couple made, early on in my diagnosis was
Eric Von Frohlich (24:55)
Uh-huh.
Jimmy Choi (25:08)
You know, like she didn't want to overstep. didn't want to, be like the nagging wife. that's always.
You know say hey, have you have you looked into this have you tried that? So she's always taking cues from me say do you need? What are you doing? And my my response was always nothing. We're good. I'm okay, so She would say okay, then then we're okay, but it wasn't until And you know a lot of people know You know the moment that that I started making change in 2010 was when I fell down the stairs carrying my And and it was
It was that moment where we both knew that this wasn't gonna work.
And it was also in that moment we both knew and moments just after that, that we both realized that we don't know shit about Parkinson's. Like even though I've already been living with it for eight years, I don't know nothing about And she didn't know anything about Parkinson's, right? Because she's been taking her cues from me. so I guess up to that I've been preventing her from becoming the caregiver in the relationship.
trying to and and I tell you that it it didn't work well for us in those first eight years because I ended up just pushing her away.
Eric Von Frohlich (26:23)
Right. Yeah, I think that that's a very story. Even if you rely on rely on them too much to become your caregiver, then you lose your wife in the process and you end up with someone who's, you know, trying to control your life or trying not controlling the bad way, but trying to protect you from all the consequences of Parkinson's. And it just changes the dynamic in a way that I don't think any of us were willing to make that trade.
TODD VOGT (26:51)
Jimmy, all right, you hit on something you were start of your journey. How did you go from Jimmy the guy with Parkinson's to being like the Fox Ninja, you know?
Jimmy Choi (26:59)
Everything started after that fall. I didn't know how or what I was going to do because at that point I was walking with a One of the reasons I fell was because I kept losing my balance.
and you know I was so inactive I was quite heavy for my size. I 5'8 and 250 pounds is quite chunky for a 5'8 guy. ⁓ And you know so I really didn't know what I was going to do.
Eric Von Frohlich (27:18)
Wow.
Jimmy Choi (27:26)
always said, you know what, can't, I'm not smart enough to find a cure. I'm not, certainly didn't have the money to pay for a cure or to fund it. So the next best thing that I can do for myself is, sign myself up and join the fight to sign up for clinical trials. I give my body up for And one of the clinical trials that I signed up for was the forced exercise study.
And this was back in 2010, towards the end of And this forced exercise study, essentially exactly what it says, it forced me to exercise. And how they did it was the first few sessions was a physical therapist, just manipulating my limbs and making me move and things like that. And then the later sessions I was put into a ⁓ powered recumbent bike and powered
treadmill where it just moved and it forced me to keep up. Right. what I noticed during those sessions was that, you know what? not just after the session, I was tired. Yes. But I was feeling a little bit better and, ⁓ and, and, and I was feeling like my, my symptoms and my medication was a little bit more under control.
a longer period of time afterwards, for like sometimes even days afterwards. So I started thinking maybe there's something to this exercise thing. So, and this is how it started. I started doing just a little bit more every day on my own. And then I read a some fitness, and remember this this back then, this is before influencers, but it was some and this says one percent, the 10 % rule.
you don't have to like, you know, go from zero to, to a hundred miles per hour in two seconds. Uh, but 10%, like make yourself better 10 % every month. If you can do that, you're winning. Right. And so I kind of adopted that. like, I'm just trying to push myself a little bit every, every day. And that little bit since 2010, like every little bit, 10 % of the time, every month, every week or whatever it was, uh, you know, got me from walking with,
without my cane, know, like just getting to my mailbox and back to walking without a cane to the end of the block and back, right? And then I started jogging. started running. It just kind of kept going. Every time I hit that next 10%, I added the 10%. I wanted to get to that next goal. And you know, over the years, that's 2010 until now, it's 14 years. It's added up to all those things that I mentioned, marathons, Ninja Warrior, World Records.
But it was constant. It was a consistent commitment to doing those every single day, trying to get just a little bit better every day.
Eric Von Frohlich (30:10)
is that the mindset that shifted when you broke away from the apathy and the depression or was it something that pulled you through that previously?
Jimmy Choi (30:21)
I think, I think initially this was something that, pulled me through the apathy because it's like, okay, I don't want to do anything today, but got that 10 % to hit right by the end of the month. I can't do that sitting here on the couch. So I forced myself to get up and do something like, even if it's, even if it's a little bit today, even if I didn't get through what I planned to do, it's something.
Right? So I think just like forcing myself to get up and go pulled me through the apathy portion of it. And then as time went along, we all know the repetition develops habits and develops.
you know, more like consistencies become, it becomes like a second nature. And I think over time it just becomes less of a, it's on my calendar and I have to do it today and more of an actual lifestyle change. that any change that we make is meaningful until it's become an actual lifestyle change.
Eric Von Frohlich (31:22)
a great insight. It's something that action dispels fear, but the right direction is more important than moving fast. And when you get down to it, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Or all the things that kind of tap into that, get yourself moving and just keep it going to the best of your ability.
Jimmy Choi (31:31)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
My daughter growing up loved watching the television show and every year when it came on she begged me she's like hey dad you should sign up
And I'm like, no way. One of the first things that it requires is balance, right? Ain't no way a guy like me is gonna be able to do that. And I was just running back then a lot, right? I was doing cycling and running. I'm like, I don't have any upper body strength. Are you kidding me? Right? But she was, you know, she enjoyed it. And I was taking her to the gyms to do like kids programs and competing in kids, Ninja Warrior obstacles but she just kept bugging me and she's relentless, like kind of like her dad, I guess.
And one day I just I just shut it up. I said, okay, if you if you shut up about it, I will apply You know and to be honest, I never thought that they would they would ever call me, But but I applied and then they called they said hey man, we're We're Jimmy we're gonna give you a and this is 2017 They're like we're gonna give you a shot. So you've got four weeks to prepare yourself You know, let's let's see what you got
TODD VOGT (32:49)
In
Eric Von Frohlich (32:49)
Wow.
TODD VOGT (32:51)
the great scheme of the athletic training world, four weeks is nothing really.
Jimmy Choi (32:54)
It's nothing.
It's nothing. So, you know, so I was thrown into the fire, you know, but because Karina has been, she was doing Ninja Warrior and she had coaches and actually a couple of her coaches had been on the show before, you know, like in the show's earlier days. And when she went back in and she told him like, Hey, my dad's gotten down. Can you help him? They all, they all jumped on and said, Hey man, we're gonna, we're gonna help you out. We're gonna get you, just at least the minimums that you should, you should know, or things that you should be aware of or things that you
should be working to ⁓ get on. And I'll be honest with my first year on Ninja Warrior, I was terrified, terrified. And I think I got to where I got to on that first year, which was the third obstacle. there was a little luck involved for sure. And, but I think I...
TODD VOGT (33:42)
Sure, because you never know what the course is exactly
going to have, right?
Jimmy Choi (33:45)
Yeah, we don't know what we're getting until we get there. And it was a little luck involved. then, know, I just kind of, I got there and I had that, I had that thought in my head that, you know what? I was like, I'm here and it doesn't matter if I fall on my first step or if I make it all the way through.
Like I'm here to make the most of it. Just kind of like let go and don't think about it and just do, just do whatever. and I did well in my first year, of course. So, it got me hooked. And then the more I trained doing obstacle stuff, the more I realized that it was teaching me how to move my body with Parkinson's outside of the gym. Because essentially what I was doing is I was working with my own body weight.
Right. And if I'm training with my own body weight, how to, how to shift my body weight, how to keep balance, how to do this and that, and like really how to move my own body around. Like how better, there's no better way to translate things that you do in the gym into real life than learning how to move your own body.
TODD VOGT (34:48)
Yeah, you're right. mean, lot of, always say like, for kids, one of the best ways to start in athletics is doing gymnastics, because yeah, it's same, it's akin to that, so. Yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (34:57)
Well,
you obviously have mastered moving your body, so that gives us a lot of hope that we just need to put in the work and be intelligent about not pushing too hard or doing things that are counterintuitive. But ⁓ it's amazing to see what you've accomplished with Ninja Warrior.
Jimmy Choi (35:09)
Yeah.
TODD VOGT (35:16)
of my favorite things that you do online with your, on Instagram or whatever, your social media is when some fitness influencer will do some sort of push-up challenge and then of course you're like, oh, I can do this except maybe with one hand, know? It just is like, bless your soul, Jimmy, that's awesome, you
Jimmy Choi (35:33)
don't do that to, like, to like show up the other, the other people, right? Because a lot of times these other people can do what I do. They just, they just didn't, they just didn't post it that and, and I, I, I do that. Yeah. I do that to show the possibilities, of, yeah. and, and I don't want people to think,
TODD VOGT (35:45)
Sure, yeah, of course, yeah.
Yeah, absolutely.
Jimmy Choi (35:56)
that I am, I get a lot of ⁓ comments from people that say, you know, that, that, you know, you're, you're, you're, putting us down because we can't do that. And when people say this stuff like that to me, number one, I don't engage to that because 99 % of the people that engage with me are very positive. when people say things like that, it's like, Hey man, my content is not for you. That's I hope you find your inspiration somewhere else.
But you know, at the end of the day, want people to understand that.
I'm not doing those challenges as a form to say, you should do these challenges too. No, no, no. That's not what I'm saying. I'm doing these challenges because I've trained my body so that they're able to do these challenges, right? I'm doing these challenges so that you can see the possibilities of, exactly what the training has allowed me to do. It's all the training that led up to this moment that allowed me to do this challenge, no matter how hard you might perceive it is right. Or anyone else might see, think of it.
But it's definitely not like exercises that I'm doing reps and reps of like I'm not doing push-ups on tables as reps every day in the gym. That doesn't make any sense right? But I'm able to do it because of the training that I do in the gym.
You know, and, and a lot of people still don't understand the progressions that it takes to get there. Right. ⁓ but I just, want people to understand that there are progressions to everything. Right. Don't say that I can't do it because I can't do what Jimmy is doing. I say that, you know, I'm not asking you to do what Jimmy is doing. I'm asking you to do, you know, to, to do all of the things that, that might add up to one day doing some of these things for yourself.
TODD VOGT (37:16)
Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. You're just showing what's possible, even with somebody who has advanced Parkinson's. You did something recently that was inspiring for me You did a strength, sort of like a condition, a strength how many reps of deadlift, how many reps of bench press. mean, I was impressed, man. Your strength across the board, your lower body strength, your upper body strength.
That was impressive. What were the details of it again? was like deadlift, bench press, right?
Jimmy Choi (38:10)
Yeah, is that squat done?
Eric Von Frohlich (38:11)
I think it was this thousand
pound club.
Jimmy Choi (38:13)
It was a thousand pound club. Yeah. It was, it was, was dead. It was dead lifts, bench press, and squats. And then I think I also did ⁓ a pull up and a dips, ⁓ you know, a challenge as well. And thank you Todd, because I, I, I just, want people to know that it's not like, it's not always chest day in the gym, right? It never skipped leg day. And when people talk about core, ⁓
TODD VOGT (38:16)
Yeah, that's what I want.
Back squat. Yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (38:37)
You
Jimmy Choi (38:42)
Everybody always thinks six pack abs. No, no, no. When you talk about core is all the stuff back here that you're not working on too, that you just need to be balanced. need to, you need to have your, your body balance. You don't have to be in the thousand pound club, right? But I just want like your, balance of your legs being just as, as, as strong in proportion to your arms and your core and everything else. Your body has to be very balanced across the board because Parkinson's just has a way of
Pulling us in one direction for many of us is is one side or the other or one side of more than the other I should say But and for sure it's pulling us like developing a balance having that a good strong back as well is definitely going to improve your posture. So I just I just that was the message that I want to bring across is that let's be balanced athletes. Let's not specialize
TODD VOGT (39:37)
Yeah, up questions. Medication is your typical medication, what do you take and do you manipulate your medication timing when it comes to exercise and things like that? I know you did a video, I loved the one where you had the chart of your on off phases and everything like that.
Jimmy Choi (39:51)
I always preface with, I'm not a doctor, you know, I'm, don't do anything without checking with your own, your own care team.
Everything that I do is based on my own, uh, the data that I collected for myself in my own body. Right?
So, ⁓ I, I, I self micro dose. That's the best way that I, that I can, I can explain how my medicine schedule works. And what that means is that I don't just take, you know, threes. So I take Carbidopa, Levodopa, Cinnamate. ⁓ I don't just take like three cinnamon every three hours and be done with it. Right.
Eric Von Frohlich (40:25)
Thank you.
Jimmy Choi (40:28)
I know after years of tracking my exercise, my food, and I know years of tracking that I know what causes spikes and like when I need more medication, when I need less medication. ⁓ So I dose my medication based on my daily activity.
So when I know I'm going to the gym and even in the gym, if I'm running, I know I need more medication than I do if I'm cycling. And I know I need more medication if I'm, if I'm
I'm doing a high intensity interval training, then I, you know, I need more medication for that than I do if I'm cycling. I need less medication if I'm swimming. So I need like, I noticed patterns over all these years of different things that I'm doing and what levels of medication.
does the best for me. So that's when I start microdosing, meaning I do half pills, even quarter pills. instead of, for example, instead of three pills every three hours, I might break it down into half pills every, every 25 minutes or, you know, like a full pill every 45 minutes, just depending on the activity and depending on what I ate. So
It gets a lot more complicated than that, but essentially what I do is I dose based on my movement needs and how quickly my body metabolizes certain doses based on the activities that I'm doing. on any given day, I don't tell people that I take like 12 pills a day. No, I take anywhere from, to be honest, I think on average I take anywhere from, from 12 to 14 pills a day, depending on my activity. And then it depends.
on the timing of when those activities happen. Sometimes I take more in a three hour period and sometimes I take less. So hopefully that gives you an idea of exactly you know what my medicine schedule is like but at the same time that you know it I want people to understand that it took a lot of data collection on my daily activities over many many months and now I mean I've been doing this since 2000.
2012 so you know all these years of like collecting data on myself
TODD VOGT (42:40)
Cool. It's interesting you mentioned that because up until basically this last year, I'd just been taking Carbidopa Levodopa Cinnamede on a very regular schedule, like, you know, a tablet and a half every three hours. then starting maybe last over the summer, last spring, something like that, it started to feel like it wasn't enough. So all last fall I was just like tracking like how I felt and how much I'd taken. So now I'm pretty much doing some kind of like something you're doing. know I'll take like a.
Eric Von Frohlich (42:51)
Okay. ⁓
TODD VOGT (43:06)
sort of baseline dose and see how I feel. And if I need a little more, I'll take a quarter tablet. And I just keep my, know, carbidopacin, know, lot of it everywhere, know, just half a tablet more if I'm still feeling tremor-y, you know. And especially for exercise, you have to sort of tighter it based on how you're feeling.
Jimmy Choi (43:23)
Right. Now, if you think about it, ⁓ you know, all the, all the various different, the newer treatments that have come out in the last couple of years, right. And that includes, that includes like things like Crexon, which is a, which is a time release Carbidopa Levodopa that includes things like Violaf, which is that, that skin patch. ⁓ You know, these are all ways of getting to the micro dosing.
Eric Von Frohlich (43:25)
Yes, sir.
Jimmy Choi (43:48)
right? Without somebody having to remember to But same thing, but those are all very consistent in their deliveries. But remember we all live in a very inconsistent life in terms of our activities and things like that. So this works well for me. Again, it's not for everybody. ⁓ And you understand that. I know both of you do. It's not for everybody. But if I had a very desk like life that everything was pretty consistent throughout
TODD VOGT (43:49)
Yes.
Jimmy Choi (44:17)
date, things like the Krixon might work great for me. Things like ⁓ those pumps might work great for me. But it's just because of my activity level and my goals in life. Right now is to take care of my son and the things that I need to do around that. I need to be able to have that flexibility when it comes to my medication.
TODD VOGT (44:38)
I love that you said that because that that's like I've been struggling a little bit personally like over the last couple months is like Yeah, I take Rytary as well right Rytary like a time release So that's sort of my baseline and then I just like I said I had a little more depending on my activity so and I wasn't sure if that was the right approach but I actually like I that's what I figured sort of figured out for myself is the right approach but It's it's reassuring to hear that that's essentially what you've done,
Eric Von Frohlich (44:44)
Thank
Yeah, I think we're all in the same boat. I'm on Crexont now and I've cut my dose down from three times a day when I was on my Carbidopa Levodopa to two times a day. And I've been able to manage it with my diet and exercise program that kind of gives me a little longer. I don't blow through my dopamine as much as it kind of inspires me to move better and feel better. And so it's been beneficial to.
kind of play with it a little bit. And obviously you need to consult with your care provider, but it's something that you don't know if you're taking too much until you try to cut it back or you're taking too little until you try and play with those numbers a little bit. So I'm excited that you guys figured it out for yourselves and have optimized that it's part of the process of living with this is that you have to be willing to experiment a little bit.
Jimmy Choi (45:58)
Yep, and that's the hard part. You don't have to be perfect, but you need to be consistent enough to be able to see the trends.
TODD VOGT (46:07)
Yeah, so what are your, okay, if you're comfortable talking about this, are your typical symptoms like now? I see you have a little bit of, I would say a little bit of dyskinesia going on right now, I don't know. Yeah, what do you have to deal with on a sort of daily basis?
Jimmy Choi (46:19)
⁓ So yeah, dyskinesia is something that I deal with and for You know, I mean I've been on I've been on meds for for 20 plus years So that's that's so I you know, that's something that's gonna happen my biggest
The biggest symptom that I have to deal with on a daily basis is dystonia and My tremors are okay. They don't bother me that much. ⁓
But really the hardest part is rigidity and the dystonia. When the dystonia onsets, it's everything on my right side from my neck all the way down to my calves, all on the right side. So I can easily just be bent over or curled over to one That is the biggest thing that I battle and I battle that every morning. It takes me quite a while to get out of bed. And once I get myself onto a on ⁓ state, then it's a battle to stay there.
for as long as I can. I will be honest with everybody things that people see on social media that is a 45 second clip of my entire day right
and I do those things when I'm when I'm on but usually when I'm like in late in the afternoons things just kind of start piling up from the day so to speak so I'm definitely a lot less active and a lot less mobile
TODD VOGT (47:30)
Yes.
Jimmy Choi (47:46)
during the nighttime hours. ⁓ But I think at the end of the day, worst thing that I think I have to deal with from a movement is rigidity and dystonia. From a non-movement side, ⁓ I do have ⁓ sleep issues still. I do have night terrors and acting out my dreams and things like that.
Constipation is still a big issue with me and loss of smell. I think a lot of us can relate to this. I lost my sense of smell before COVID made it cool. ⁓
And yeah, but those are, those are the things that I still, I deal with every day. I don't ever want to tell people that, my progression stopped. I believe, I truly believe that the work that I've put into myself have slowed the progression. But I, I know it hasn't stopped because once every six to eight weeks, I will go completely off meds, especially when I go and see my movement disorder specialist, I will go.
off-state just so that we can get an accurate UPDRS number and that's my that's how I know my progression.
was when I'm completely off meds what, yeah. But then as soon as I get to the office, I take my medicine because it takes that 45 minutes to kick in, right? So that my doctor can see me in my off state. We do our UPDRS reading and then we come back after I'm on to do another UPDRS, right? To see where the differences are. So I always do that.
TODD VOGT (48:56)
Interesting. That's really interesting.
Jimmy Choi (49:18)
And I do that for myself in the gym. Also, like sometimes I just, just go off and see, see what I'm capable of to know what I'm capable of in case I get stuck somewhere outside and I know when to ask for help and when, what I can handle. ⁓ but I will tell people that my UPDRS numbers completely off meds is, is in the high sixties. And if you take that into anyone, into everyone else, that's a stage four. If you follow like the stages of Parkinson, that's a stage four Parkinson's patient, right? ⁓
But when I'm on meds, people see the things that I do. They can say, Jimmy, you're not even a stage one. I can't even call you a stage one. I'm like, yes, that's the biggest, that's a big difference, right? But I think people need to understand that I am aided with medication, with exercise, and with nutrition. And I think I had to.
Over the years, I had to find the right balance it was for me be able to still live the way that I can today. And I think it's possible to all varying degrees that people can achieve ⁓ that type of big variance between their on-state and their off-state.
Eric Von Frohlich (50:31)
So Jimmy, I think you've covered most of it, but what does a day in the life look like in Jimmy Choy's life?
Jimmy Choi (50:37)
I never missed a gym session in the morning. doesn't matter if I'm traveling, it doesn't matter where I am. I get out there and I and I stopped telling people my, my exercise because they want to know, Jimmy, what are you doing? And and I stopped telling people what I actually do.
And it's because all different people. Like if I tell people go out and run 10 miles and they're not runners, they're not going to do it. but instead I tell people now that no, absolutely. You're not going to do it if you don't like
Eric Von Frohlich (51:04)
Right, well comparisons to the theft of joy.
Jimmy Choi (51:12)
But
routine now is that I go into gym, have two goals in mind when I walk in. Number one is adhering to the Parkinson's Sparks study, right? Which is getting the high intensity heart rate up over 80%. The Sparks study recommends 30 minutes, four times a week for anybody with Parkinson's. But my fitness level is way above that. do my 85 % of my max heart rate for 45 minutes.
minimum.
⁓ six days a week with one rest Okay. So that's what I do. When I get into the gym, I always focus on hitting those metrics first. And it didn't matter if it was running, cycling, you know, doing burpees or whatever, whatever it is to get my heart rate up. Okay. I will do that. And then that is the number one priority. Number two then is I work on any of the, what I call accessory work that I need to do. So back in Ninja Warrior, that's when I worked on obstacles. That's when I worked on balance.
that was the accessory where that was on top 85 % heart rate work. Uh, nowadays I mentioned, you know, I care for my son. Uh, so I have to do a lot of strength training because he's a bulky teenage boy and I have to be able to be there to, move him and lift him when I need. So I focus a lot on strength training. So the typical exercise for Jimmy Choi is that I, I, I hit and make sure I get the minimums.
⁓ recommended by Sparks. And then I work on my auxiliary ⁓ work. And then after that, I come back, I recover, I make sure I eat well, I make sure I'm feeling my body, I make sure I'm getting enough in to maintain caloric ⁓ balance in the body so that I'm not losing weight or losing muscle.
And then I go out basically the I go on the rest my day I answer the emails that I need to answer I take care of things that my son needs.
I start the wind down process at night right around dinner time. my dinner time is where I, because of the amount of medication that I take and because of my body needs, my dinner time is usually heavy, heavy loaded in
Just so that I have that overnight period to kind of absorb everything that I have eating and protein and maintain my muscle mass for the next day. then we do it all over.
again. Seven days a week, one rest day and even the rest day is active recovery day for me.
TODD VOGT (53:38)
That's excellent man. Yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (53:39)
Well,
Parkinson's is a great disease to have if you love exercise.
Jimmy Choi (53:45)
Absolutely.
Eric Von Frohlich (53:46)
kind of
gives me an excuse to work out all the time. I always got in trouble for that. people would complain that I was in the gym too much or training too much. And now I'm being like, well, it's just my Parkinson's. need to, I have to go. I'm not doing it because I love it. I'm doing it because I need to do it.
Jimmy Choi (53:57)
Yeah.
TODD VOGT (54:00)
Now you know, I have to go. I have to go, right? So, yeah.
Jimmy Choi (54:04)
Absolutely, absolutely,
yeah.
Yep.
TODD VOGT (54:09)
Yeah.
Yeah, now we have an excuse to be gym rats, right? So before we were just vanity or whatever weird obsession we had, you But now it's like we have to do it, so.
Eric Von Frohlich (54:12)
Exactly.
Jimmy Choi (54:16)
You know, I
think the three of us are built the same in terms of that kind of mindset. But I think the three of us also know that unfortunately for most people, going to the gym hurts. Going to the gym is hard. It's intimidating, absolutely.
Eric Von Frohlich (54:34)
it's intimidating.
Jimmy Choi (54:39)
And, you know, I don't, I like, travel a lot, right? And I walk into the gym and sometimes I'm unstable, I'm shaky and I don't care. I go on there and I do, I do the things that I got to do,
Again, that whole mentality of you're never going to see these people again in your life. So if they ask a question, I always take that as an opportunity to educate and to remove stigma, right? Sir, do you need help? And I said, Hey, you know what? I'm thank you for asking. I really appreciate it. This is what I'm dealing with. And ⁓ this is actually pretty normal for me.
But you know, if you see me doing X, and Z, then I might need help. Otherwise, I'm pretty good unless I ask for help. And then I always find that as an opportunity to start a conversation, especially with people in the gym, because they're always in awe. Like, ⁓ a person with Parkinson's would come in and do all this stuff. But I always take that as an opportunity to educate to remove stigma.
Eric Von Frohlich (55:38)
Yeah, is there anything that you want to share with the general population that they wish they knew about Parkinson's?
Jimmy Choi (55:44)
You know, and I share these things based on the things that I'm asked most, the things that I'm asked most is, Jimmy, have you tried X, Y, and Z? Have you done this and have you done that? What kind of supplements do you take and this and that and this and that, right? tell people that while it's good to understand what options you have,
I think it's also best to understand that there's no shortcut. Right? There's no shortcut when it comes to living, treating Parkinson's. Like, you know, do what, do what, what is that that my...
Eric Von Frohlich (56:15)
Right?
Jimmy Choi (56:22)
craziest things that I heard was that, a cold plunge, Jimmy will cure it. I'm like, dude, you know, no, it's not right. I understand if you enjoy a cold plunge and there are, there are as many papers that says it's good for X, Y, and Z as there are that says it's bad for X, Y, and Z. But if it works for you, absolutely go do it. Right. But there is no shortcut.
Eric Von Frohlich (56:29)
haha
Right.
Yep.
Jimmy Choi (56:48)
There's no shortcut. Stop looking for the shortcut. You gotta put in the
work. And I'm not even talking about the work in the gym. I'm talking about the work of really understanding how the disease is progressing in your within your own body, right? Things like what is food doing to your not just your medication, but what is food doing to, to, to how you feel your inflammation levels and like how your body's feeling? Is it affecting your symptoms? Do you find any correlation in that? How is your medication, you know,
the synthesizing of a medication in your body, how is it effective based on food and exercise and all that. Understand exactly what your body's going through. And that takes a lot of work. That takes a lot of work and it takes time. People don't see results from doing those things in like three days. like, no, it's not working. Forget it. But yet they're willing to take this, this, this, you know, X, Y, and Z supplement and pay hundreds of dollars for it and not knowing exactly what it's doing for your body or not knowing exactly how much to take.
that for it to be effective in your body, right? Because you don't know until you start tracking that information. So, ⁓ you know, I think the bottom line is there's no shortcut. You got to put in the time. You got to put in the effort.
TODD VOGT (58:01)
I would call it proactive approach. awesome. Okay, you touched into something that's like, something I rant about and Eric and I have talked about this is like exactly what you're saying, you know? And I remember when I first got diagnosed, an acquaintance pulled me aside and was like, like I gotta talk to you, I got something that's gonna cure you. Then this person was like, have you eaten yogurt before? Have you ever eaten yogurt? You know, we gotta work on your gut health.
Jimmy Choi (58:25)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
TODD VOGT (58:25)
You just eat yogurt, you're gonna be cured.
You know, and I appreciated that person's concern for me, but at the same time, was, you know, shook my head a little bit. Yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (58:36)
If it was only that simple.
Jimmy Choi (58:38)
if it was only
that simple. Right?
TODD VOGT (58:41)
Yeah, exactly. If I could just cure by
eating a couple containers of Dan and whatever a day. Yeah, exactly.
Jimmy Choi (58:46)
No,
you can't eat Danon because that has processed sugar in it. You have to eat, you have to eat plain Greek yogurt, right? If you eat plain Greek yogurt, Todd, you're going to be cured. But be careful because if you eat too much Greek yogurt, then it becomes a neurotoxin in your brain and that can, you know, do the exact opposite. Yeah, it's right.
Eric Von Frohlich (58:51)
I was aspartain in it.
TODD VOGT (58:51)
Okay, fine, Nancy. Okay, fine, Nancy.
Yeah, exactly, exactly.
Well, the other thing I rant about is like, I'm saying this because you probably appreciate this is like, somebody comes up to you and says, well, my next door neighbor had Parkinson's and they stood on their head for 10 minutes a day and they had no symptoms, whatever. And you're like, well, great, I'm glad that worked for them. I'm really happy that it worked for them, but I don't think that's gonna work for me, but I appreciate your concern.
Jimmy Choi (59:26)
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
So, you know, I, one, one thought that I want to, I want people to understand is whenever somebody comes up to me and they send me a link of
some doctor in Mexico or some doctor in Germany or some doctor in, in wherever, right? That, that, claims that they have some type of approach protocol to curing Parkinson's that, that people pay like $15,000 upfront for, right? When someone sends that stuff to me and I always ask, give me one person.
who has gone through this protocol, who was clinically diagnosed, like documented, diagnosed with Parkinson's and that they claim to be cured or reversed, right? And that they're willing to be peer reviewed. They're willing to make that statement publicly. A person who has gone through it. Okay. And guess how many times people have actually raised their hands to say that they're willing to do that? Zero. None.
TODD VOGT (1:00:31)
Absolutely.
Yeah, I feel as though I'm making a joke a little bit here. but at the same time, I don't want to come off as like ungrateful and I do appreciate it. Like people's concern for me, you know, and I'm sure you feel the same way, but it's just sometimes it's, know, sometimes you have to laugh at at your situation, I guess.
Jimmy Choi (1:00:52)
Yeah.
Yep, yep, I'm with you.
Eric Von Frohlich (1:01:04)
⁓ Well, what else do we got that we haven't covered? You've done a thousand of these interviews and, you know, I'd love to tap into any knowledge that you feel like we're not addressing to help people with Parkinson's or caretakers or really anyone that has an interest helping us work through this. Is this something that jumps out at you that we should be diving into?
Jimmy Choi (1:01:31)
Yeah, you know, I, the, the three of us are, are athletes. The two of you are elite athletes. I'm just a guy that does crazy social media stuff. but you know, I, I, I think it's important. ⁓
for people to see that just the three of us are talking here. But I earlier in the podcast, I named off a couple of other people, right? I'm sure you guys all follow and you can name off other people who are just as quote unquote crazy as, as we are or quote unquote, ⁓ you know, moving as well as, as, as we can, that with Parkinson's. And I don't think people realize, ⁓ just how many of us they
are and how that number is growing. And I think that's important to mention ⁓ because people look at, you know, look at the three of us here and they think we're,
like they think we're outside of the norm when it comes to Parkinson's. beg to differ. think we're within our own abilities and we're all different genetically. We're all different in lifestyles. We're all different in what we eat. think everybody can achieve their best version with Parkinson's. But the biggest like
biggest mental block that we need to get through is in our own head. A lot of people who are still dealing with that depression side and apathy side, and like I said, it's still something that I deal with today. know, it's until you can get over that, your own mental barrier, it will be a challenge. And I don't want people to give up because of that. I want them to keep fighting and keep,
you know, like understanding exactly what they are dealing with with Parkinson's, not just physically, but mentally as
There's no shame in getting mental help from professionals. There's no shame in talking about these things with counselors and your friends and your family. There's no, don't think Parkinson's is a weakness unto you or a shame unto something you have to deal with, right? ⁓ So the sooner you can get over that mental barrier of it being.
some type of weakness or some type of shame, you in the long run. I think at the end of the day, I want people to be more open to discussing it, especially men, when it comes to the mental health side. Because we all have our egos and we don't want to admit or we don't want to cry at other people.
Working on our mental health probably should be close to the number one priority for adults with Parkinson's as well as exercise and nutrition.
Eric Von Frohlich (1:04:34)
I completely agree.
And ⁓ that you had the courage to share your story earlier gives us a lot of hope because I really feel that it's an under-discussed...
that we deal with and it's probably the most dramatic symptom we deal with because we do it in silence and we do it, know, we have a tendency as men to to lone wolf it instead of reaching out to our community and to our support staff and lean on them to, you know, release some of that burden or just to hear us talk through it. It's a I applaud you again for for having the courage to share.
your story because I think many of us had lived through similar types of thoughts, if not have taken direct action to harm ourselves. You're breaking new ground in helping people come to terms with, you know, being diagnosed and and finding this finding a support group around them and the help that they need because it's out there. It's just you have to be willing to to be proactive and
Jimmy Choi (1:05:38)
Yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (1:05:42)
reach out and say you need help and people like yourself and Todd and hopefully I'm doing my part in trying to shed the light we deal with on a daily basis and give people some hope and some humility and some gratitude for having great people that are willing to help you through this process. And so I really appreciate everything you've done, I hope to.
get in the gym and work out with you one day. And ⁓ Todd, that goes for you as well. We will all find ourselves maybe at the World Conference or at one of the conferences and we
TODD VOGT (1:06:15)
Yeah.