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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)
I'm here with Jeff Martin, an old dear friend of mine. welcome to the show, Jeff. I just wanted to ask you to kind of introduce yourself because I can't do it justice after 20 some odd years of knowing always surprise
Jeff Martin (00:37)
Thank you.
Alright, I had the studio in New York for a long time, like 15 years, and eventually the studios went under and the big gyms took over, like Equinox and Crunch, which I remember you were at 59th Street Crunch as well, correct?
Eric Von Frohlich (00:59)
Yes, it's one of the first gyms I started.
Jeff Martin (01:02)
I remember. And I've been doing that ever since. Actually, this year will be my 47th year of teaching classes and I never gave, I never had a week where, well, except for surgery, back surgeries, I never took off. So I've been teaching for 47 years.
Eric Von Frohlich (01:10)
Bye.
It's like an iron, it's an iron man's effort.
Jeff Martin (01:21)
Yeah, it's been a little bit a while. It's been my life and. Whoa into the thousands. I'm sure many thousands. Tens of thousands exactly yes.
Eric Von Frohlich (01:24)
Did you ever calculate how many classes you actually taught?
Well into tens of thousands, I would think.
Well, you've weathered 47 years of teaching very well.
Jeff Martin (01:41)
Thank you.
Eric Von Frohlich (01:43)
And so we
reconnected and what brought us back together.
Jeff Martin (01:48)
Carol Scott told me she had seen your video, your podcast, and she also mentioned that you had mentioned my name in the podcast. This is even before I knew it had anything to do with diagnosis. So I just watched it, not realizing, and then of course I realized what you were talking about, where you were going with it, and I realized we something else in common, which is why we're here today.
Eric Von Frohlich (02:02)
huh.
Exactly. So let's let the cat out of the bag because I think this is like the first public disclosure that you're making.
Jeff Martin (02:18)
Yes.
I still have an issue with saying it out loud, but ⁓ I had back surgery and after the surgery I wasn't healing that well I had issues, a slight tremor on the right side of my body. I went to an ENT doctor and they me with essential tremors and put me on beta blockers. And that lasted for a couple months until I realized
Eric Von Frohlich (02:41)
⁓ huh.
Jeff Martin (02:47)
The issues were getting, I other issues as well. also sang professionally and I couldn't sing, I could not sing happy birthday anymore. So I went back to the neurologist and got another diagnosis. And finally, all they did was have me walk down the hallway and they said my arm didn't, my arm wasn't swinging. And then they gave me the tapping test. And the way I tap my fingers, that was the two tests, walking and tapping my fingers. And they said, Mr. Cone, Mr.
middle name is Martin, my last name is Cone. They said, Mr. Cone, you have Parkinson's disease. So that was my, that was less than eight, about eight months ago.
Eric Von Frohlich (03:25)
And this is the first time that you've really kind of come out and announced it to the public.
Jeff Martin (03:30)
Yes, when Deborah called me and said about doing this podcast with you, this interview, I was a little apprehensive and I thought, you know what, there's nothing to be, when we spoke the other day, the main thing that I got away with from speaking with you was when you said, we don't have to talk about it as our disease, we'll talk about it as our diagnosis. And that made me feel a lot more comfortable. So here I am, I'm coming out of the closet announcing that I have Parkinson's.
Eric Von Frohlich (03:51)
Great.
Well, congratulations on that because you get a tremendous amount of support from your community. As I'm sure you can tell me some stories because ⁓ it's special when people figure out that you're comfortable talking about it and they're willing to give you the love and the support that you need. So did you have that same experience?
Jeff Martin (04:19)
Okay.
do you remember Caroline Colas from Equinox as well? she runs the Parkinson's Center at the JCC on the Upper West Side affiliated with Michael J. Fox Foundation, and they invited me to a couple lectures, but I was also apprehensive to go because I thought maybe there were going to be classes with people in Parkinson's, people in wheelchair.
Eric Von Frohlich (04:26)
Yes.
Jeff Martin (04:50)
And I felt a little bit like, you know, I wasn't there yet. ⁓ My diagnosis hasn't brought me there yet. And I'm still, hopefully it never will. Yeah, I saw the interview you had the other day with the guy from American Ninja. Jimmy, yeah, exactly. And you guys seem like healthy, fit and ready to work. So I'm hoping, yeah, you never know. You know, they say it's like, everyone's like a snowflake.
Eric Von Frohlich (04:58)
Or hopefully it never will.
Yes, Choy.
Jeff Martin (05:17)
Everyone's different.
Eric Von Frohlich (05:18)
Yeah,
everyone's different and it doesn't need to define you. It's a part of your life, it's not your life.
Jeff Martin (05:27)
Yes, except when I was at the gym yesterday, I was changing for the lat pull down, changing the hook, you know, the on the pulling and the clip. That's difficult. That's difficult to do. Do you have anything say about it?
Eric Von Frohlich (05:33)
Yeah, the clip.
That's where
that finger test comes in.
Jeff Martin (05:43)
Yes, yes. What do I do about that? You have to ask for help?
Eric Von Frohlich (05:46)
Well,
yes, if you need to. I mean, it creates, you know, one of the one of the benefits of Parkinson's is it creates a degree of humility that, you know, we can we can step back and confidently be comfortable enough with ourselves to ask for the help we need and expect that we would get the response that we were looking for. And I think that that.
Jeff Martin (05:48)
Yeah.
⁓ yeah.
Yes.
Eric Von Frohlich (06:13)
It takes a tremendous amount of trust, but it makes us better people.
Jeff Martin (06:18)
Yeah, I agree. When you speak about humility, New York, during the pandemic, New York went into change over to city bikes, the electric bikes and the city bikes to get around town. And I used to zoom, never wore a helmet and zoomed around the city, would go to Brooklyn and anywhere I wanted to go on an electric bike. I'd be on my cell phone going through traffic and it was dangerous. And now that's a little bit of humility right there.
Eric Von Frohlich (06:28)
Yeah.
Jeff Martin (06:44)
Now I take my time, I stop at the red lights, I cross slowly, because I don't know if I'll be able to make it across the street in 20 seconds. And that's a little bit of humility right there.
Eric Von Frohlich (06:52)
Yeah.
Yeah, I think we have to make the and work through the problems as they present themselves. It doesn't mean it's going to be every day that we have to do that, but some days when, you know, some days are tougher than others and just being able to say that gives you lot of confidence that you can get through this.
Jeff Martin (07:02)
No.
Yes, last week I was in Florida and I was at a restaurant and I looked over and I saw a woman on the other side of the room and they call it, think, masking in the face. I saw something and I said, it looks familiar, like something that I do or that I have a feature somewhat on my chin, on my jaw. And I felt like it was like a science fiction movie, like other people, you're in that, we're in that same circle.
Eric Von Frohlich (07:27)
Yes.
Jeff Martin (07:44)
I saw someone that I could identify with and thought maybe they have, I wasn't sure, but maybe I have what they have because I saw some facial gestures that reminded me of some of the stuff that I do.
Eric Von Frohlich (07:54)
Well, I think as you look around and you start paying attention to life a little bit more than we usually do, you start realizing that many people are dealing with something that we know nothing about. And, you know, they carry that with them and they work through their day and make the most of their life doing the best that they can. But most people have some struggle that is something that we wouldn't want to necessarily trade with.
Jeff Martin (08:01)
Yeah.
Right, no, I agree. The other day when we spoke, you mentioned living on a golf course and pesticides and dry cleaners. Tell me a little about that. I was concerned about that.
Eric Von Frohlich (08:31)
Well, it seems to be a combination of environmental conditions, pollution that exacerbates or sets off the chain of events that becomes known as they've pointed statistically is a higher rate of people who live next to golf courses because they believe the pesticides and the amount of pesticides that they use in golf courses.
Jeff Martin (08:36)
Wow.
Eric Von Frohlich (08:56)
blows into the surrounding area and has a bad effect on Same thing with dry cleaners. Now it's kind of hard to walk through New York City and avoid dry cleaners, but you don't have to worry about golf courses at least. Whereas Florida has the opposite problem. Probably lots of golf courses and not as many dry cleaners. there seems, those aren't the only two culprits, but there seems to be a...
Jeff Martin (09:09)
Right.
Right, right. The opposite, yes.
Eric Von Frohlich (09:23)
higher rate of incidents with people that have that exposure. So that's just one of the theories on where it comes from. It doesn't seem to be naturally occurring and it doesn't seem to be hereditary in most cases. So I think the statistics are around 15 % is hereditary. So it's something's triggering this and when we figure it out.
Jeff Martin (09:37)
Mm-hmm.
Eric Von Frohlich (09:46)
but we'll be a better world because we'll be able to hopefully reverse some of it or at least eliminate that exposure.
Jeff Martin (09:49)
⁓
And is it true just it's like 1 % of the population does contract this gets the
Eric Von Frohlich (09:59)
Yeah,
about a million people a year. correct. But about a million people a year, it's the second quickest disorder that's growing and it's on the rise.
Jeff Martin (10:02)
A million people out a year. Wow.
No, yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (10:14)
⁓ Which is unfortunate. It would be nice if they put a little more money into research and figure out what's going on and why so many people are being it's currently a mystery as to what exactly causes it.
Jeff Martin (10:14)
Mm-hmm.
And also when I said before about coming out of the closet, also on Saturday, Caroline invited me to do the walk, the Unity Walk in Central Park for Michael J. Fox. So I'm going to do that as well.
Eric Von Frohlich (10:38)
wonderful.
So you're surrounding yourself. You decided that you were going to share this with the public. ⁓
Jeff Martin (10:45)
It just started with you.
It starts with you.
Eric Von Frohlich (10:48)
And that's a beautiful thing. It's something that I wish I would have done a lot earlier. I was very guarded initially about sharing it and how it was going to define me or how I was going to allow it to affect my life. And spent a lot of with that question of whether or not, you know, what's really anyone going to say that's going to change it. And kind of downplayed the support that I wanted, even from my family.
Jeff Martin (11:08)
Yeah.
Hmm.
Eric Von Frohlich (11:15)
And
to my own detriment, now I quickly realized after I kind of embraced the coming out with it and explaining it to everyone, it kind of gave people that knew me some insight into what was going on. They knew something was wrong. They knew something was off, but they didn't have a name for it. know, it made it a lot less of a mystery and a lot more clear cut as to...
Jeff Martin (11:36)
Right.
It's almost a little
comforting. It's a little comforting to just know because I couldn't write, I had the tremor, my voice was a little shaky, I couldn't swallow, my sleep was off. So at least we know where we are. It's not a mystery, like you say.
Eric Von Frohlich (11:45)
Yeah.
Exactly. And
the symptoms range or wide ranging. It can be your balance. It can be your dexterity, as you were talking about earlier. It could be your voice. It can be your facial features. There's a lot of explanations as to is these symptoms pop up brain fog and non-motor-based symptoms that give us a lot of insight. Particularly, I talk about apathy a lot.
Jeff Martin (12:04)
and
Yes.
Eric Von Frohlich (12:22)
because the pursuit of happiness isn't really what produces dopamine. It's the happiness of pursuit. It's the gas and the energy that you get from pursuing something, whatever it is. It could be eating dinner. It could be building a new company. It could be starting a relationship. When you don't have that initial drive to even pursue something, it makes you question a lot of your identity and lifestyle choices.
Jeff Martin (12:29)
I heard you say that, yes.
Eric Von Frohlich (12:51)
it's a difficult problem, and I don't think we speak enough to it's just something that if you're not dealing with it, it seems manageable. It's just a matter of willpower. And there's a lot more to it than that, unfortunately.
Jeff Martin (13:00)
you
I will say that we spoke the other day about depression. for me, I think I have the opposite effect. I was more depressed before my diagnosis than I am now because of this, I chose to live a healthier lifestyle, to get up early, to eat well, to manage my sleep. And I think I'm not happier, but I'm more, I'm humbler about it. I feel better living a healthy lifestyle, which I don't think I really took advantage of beforehand.
I would go to the gym when I felt like going to the gym. Now, it's mandatory.
Eric Von Frohlich (13:37)
those are the things.
Jeff Martin (13:37)
And for people like
us who exercise for doing something regular thing, was easy diagnosis, easy exercise. It was great. Of course I'll exercise.
Eric Von Frohlich (13:47)
Exactly. It's a blessing in disguise if you like exercise.
Jeff Martin (13:51)
blessing in disguise.
Yeah, it really is.
Eric Von Frohlich (13:53)
Is there anything else gift wise
Jeff Martin (13:57)
just think ⁓ overall I'm more, I have more gratitude, I'm a little more humble than I used to be.
Eric Von Frohlich (14:03)
So it makes you a little nicer person.
Jeff Martin (14:05)
A nice yes and living in New York. That's not easy as you know. Right?
Eric Von Frohlich (14:09)
No, that's for sure. Yeah, I think
that there's a lot to be said that. I wish my doctors would have told me that the first day that I got diagnosed. Said it's going to make me a better person in some ways to compensate for the things that it takes from you.
Jeff Martin (14:25)
Right.
Yes, exactly.
Eric Von Frohlich (14:28)
Because, you know, there's that law of compensation that, you know, you can't have anything taken from you without equal advantage being given to you. So ⁓ it's a matter of just your perspective and your mindset to look for the things to be grateful for and trust that you'll have the strength and the courage to deal with whatever the changes are as they progress. So it's a.
Jeff Martin (14:36)
Right.
And they
progress differently for different people, right? Yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (14:53)
Yeah, definitely. mean,
there's a commonality amongst the stories that seem to notice quite a bit, but there is also a uniqueness to everyone's story that is true to themselves. But it's wonderful when you get people to come out and kind of talk about it. It kind of demystifies the experience a little bit.
Jeff Martin (15:18)
question to ask My friends and family members that I have told that want to help me, sometimes they will like email shots from social media about a special vitamin or something called brain Vax or different ⁓ minerals you can take. And I know they're trying to help. But I mean, some of the some of these things that come over my desk are like, really outrageous. Red light therapy and go to Mexico and get your blood transfused.
And I know they're trying to help and it's a way of helping, but I have a doctor that I see regularly every three months and I think they will tell me what to do. Do you agree with that or how do you feel about that?
Eric Von Frohlich (15:56)
I totally agree. think it's hard to get annoyed because of where it's coming from. It's coming out of a place of concern and love, which you should feel good about. ⁓ But it does, you know, in their mind, they want to try to simplify the process for you and take away some of the uncertainty. And so I think they're grasping for straws because
Jeff Martin (16:07)
Yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (16:22)
They don't know how else to just sit there and be supportive.
Jeff Martin (16:25)
They want to help. Yeah. All right. That's good to know.
Eric Von Frohlich (16:28)
You know,
so the best way people can help is to ask, how can I support you where you're at? Or at the very least just be quiet and listen because I think most people want to just get it off their chest if they're struggling with something and they just need some silence to have a moment to share that. But that's a great question.
Jeff Martin (16:33)
Yeah.
Thank you.
So, yeah,
I've had some issues with that over the past month.
Eric Von Frohlich (16:55)
did the question, why me?
Jeff Martin (16:57)
well, first thing was like the first thing I did was Google right away. What percentage of the populations gets diagnosed with Parkinson's? was number one because I thought to myself maybe it's 10%. Maybe it's men more than women. Maybe it's men in their 60s. I want to know right away what category I went into.
Eric Von Frohlich (17:06)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Jeff Martin (17:15)
And then
I realized when it was just 1%, when I realized that small population, I thought, whoa, this is like, this diagnosis chose me, specifically me. So then why me?
you start to think about it, but then I have friends when I bring up issues, everyone has something at some age, at a certain age, everyone has something they're dealing with. So I mean, of it. Why not me? Exactly, why not me? And I'm gonna make the most of it. And like I said before, if exercise is the cure and the only thing to really combat this diagnosis,
Eric Von Frohlich (17:39)
Why not you?
Jeff Martin (17:52)
then exercise is one thing that I love to do, is my lifestyle. So, no problem for me. I don't have feel guilty going to the gym.
Eric Von Frohlich (17:57)
And wonderful.
Exactly. Is there a invisible part of Parkinson's been hard for you to deal with that other people don't see or?
Jeff Martin (18:08)
Yes, yes there is. In the mornings I like to go and get order a coffee at the place that I go to is like a Starbucks. And I know the woman that I go in and I notice sometimes in the morning, especially in the morning, I have a little bit of a tremble in my jaw and I think she's looking at me thinking he needs to speak up and he's speaking correctly. And I realized she has a pimple on her face and she's obsessing about the pimple on her face that I'm looking at her.
Eric Von Frohlich (18:23)
.
Jeff Martin (18:38)
So she's looking at me, I'm looking at her and we're both, you know, it's like, like I said before, everyone's got something.
Eric Von Frohlich (18:39)
Exactly.
Yep, very, very true.
Jeff Martin (18:46)
And I think we'd spend
more time looking at ourselves, more time looking at ourselves.
Eric Von Frohlich (18:52)
Right, well we project a lot, right? So any insecurity we have, it comes out pretty quickly. What is surprised you about your own strength in dealing with this? If you kind of come to appreciate something that you're doing, that's good?
Jeff Martin (18:54)
Yes. Yes.
Yeah.
I think I used to have the FOMO of being out at night and socializing and going to parties. And now I like to actually stay home and cook dinner in the evenings. I don't like to go out to restaurants. I don't like the loud noise. I don't like eating late at night. I like being more gentle with myself. I think being more gentle with myself.
Eric Von Frohlich (19:30)
That's a great answer. So when did you realize that your attitude or that you still had agency over this diagnosis? Did that come fairly soon or did it take a while for you to kind of work that out?
Jeff Martin (19:32)
Yeah.
Just recently,
just as of the last two months, just now. Yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (19:50)
And what
do you think, what do you think that was just because you've had time to live with it a little bit and kind of figure it out or?
Jeff Martin (19:57)
I so and by listening to your podcasts and researching online. yeah, just, and I don't, you're the only, I don't know anyone else that has this diagnosis. So I don't really have anyone to speak to about it. And like I said, Caroline did invite me to the JCC. So they have lectures and events, but I'm a little apprehensive because I feel like what if I'm gonna, if they sit in a chair and, you know, just do chair exercises, I'm not there. And one day if I am there,
I'll be glad to join the group at this time right now. I'd like to help help others. I could teach the class. I would like to teach them not be a participant.
Eric Von Frohlich (20:33)
Right. And that may
be a beneficial aspect and may be very therapeutic for you to take that on when you can pain your purpose and kind of give some payback to a community, maybe almost paying it forward in a lot of ways.
Jeff Martin (20:44)
Yes.
Exactly, even when Deborah called and said about doing this interview with you, I was like, you know what, Jeff, it's not about me. Maybe I can help someone else will listen to the interview and that could help them. And I said, yeah. And like I know this is geared towards athletes. I'm not an athlete, but I'm a fitness professional. And I thought this is right up my alley.
Eric Von Frohlich (21:08)
Well, I think of you as an athlete because you're training for an event living and you're out a training block and you're approaching it, you're periodizing it and you're...
Jeff Martin (21:11)
All right.
Yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (21:21)
you know, going to test what's working and what's not going to work and you're going to refine it and you're going to continue to advance find things at work, you'll double down on it. And so you're building an athletic program and approaching it more as an than most people. I think that it's...
Jeff Martin (21:34)
Right.
Not like you, I heard you
tell Marion that you were doing a five, she was telling you about your five minute mile.
Eric Von Frohlich (21:42)
Well, that was back in the day.
Jeff Martin (21:43)
Yes,
no, I know. I know. But I never I was never there. But that's right. Right. That's true. Right. That's true. How about you? How do you feel about that? Being your exercise regime not being the same as it used to be?
Eric Von Frohlich (21:48)
Well then, you never lost it.
Well, I kind of feel like that's something that as you age as an athlete, you're going to come to terms with anyway. You're never going to be what you were when you were in your 20s. Hopefully you're wiser and more humble and you can trade off wisdom and growth for some strength and for some speed.
Jeff Martin (22:08)
Yeah, that's yes.
Right, right.
Eric Von Frohlich (22:23)
It's something that if you live long enough as an athlete, a moment where you look back and marvel at what you used to be able to do. And I think that that's a special place to be to have accomplished something to that extent or an ability do things gracefully and with power and effort. And you lose that, at least you had it at one moment and you maximized it and benefited it as much as you could.
Jeff Martin (22:31)
break.
Run.
Eric Von Frohlich (22:49)
I think that there's a lot to be said for just accepting the reality of what we're dealing with. that takes away, the acceptance takes away a lot of the struggle and a lot of the difficulty.
Jeff Martin (23:01)
the acceptance does. By the way, meant to tell you, have you read You Are the Placebo by Joe Dispenza?
Eric Von Frohlich (23:08)
I haven't and it's a book that's on my to-do list. Did you enjoy it?
Jeff Martin (23:13)
I just started. I
didn't finish it yet, I just started it.
Eric Von Frohlich (23:17)
And what's your initial thoughts on it?
Jeff Martin (23:19)
Amazing, amazing.
Eric Von Frohlich (23:21)
Excellent.
Jeff Martin (23:22)
I'm getting
some great ideas from it, yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (23:24)
Well, make sure I put it on my audible today and dive into it. How has the adversity changed your definition of strength?
Jeff Martin (23:28)
good, good.
Well, coming to terms that ⁓ I don't need to most powerful guy at the gym anymore. don't need to. ⁓ I take things a little softer, a little easier. My workouts more gentle. But the point is that I show up. That's the most important thing. And I love what you said, by the way, I said on the phone the other day, the hardest part, the heaviest weight at the gym is the front door. That was my favorite line.
Eric Von Frohlich (23:57)
Yeah, well
I'm glad that had some insight for you because it really is where most people struggle the hardest is the first rep or getting in the front door and realizing that that's the biggest hurdle to getting back in the game.
Jeff Martin (24:01)
Yeah.
That's our medicine, correct? That's our medicine.
Eric Von Frohlich (24:16)
Yeah, it seems to be
to this point, it seems to be the only medicine.
Jeff Martin (24:22)
Yeah, I also mentioned to you the other day that the Lepidova, the medication that we're on, if I skip a dose, I don't really feel different from skipping a dose. So I need to talk to my neurologist about that as well.
Eric Von Frohlich (24:23)
So...
Yes, I would and I think it's ⁓ very interesting that that's the case, but it's kind of a blessing in disguise in that.
Jeff Martin (24:45)
I know you mentioned
that, so I'm a little concerned about that. I need to speak to them.
Eric Von Frohlich (24:50)
you mentioned earlier that you got a quick diagnosis. Is there anything that you wish your doctors would have told you that would have been beneficial to getting the diagnosis?
Jeff Martin (25:03)
just felt that just doing a walking down the hallway and tapping my fingers, I thought there would be more a ⁓ neurological exam, which there wasn't. So I thought by tapping your fingers, they can tell you have Parkinson's. That was pretty amazing to me. So, I, you know what? know what I hear about the diagnosis, I know I have what I have. So I'm accepting of that. What do you know about
They mentioned when things if not when if things progress there's DBS.
Eric Von Frohlich (25:38)
Yeah, deep brain stimulation. And it's brain surgery, but it seems to be fairly effective, particularly for tremors.
Jeff Martin (25:48)
Do know anyone that's gone through that?
Eric Von Frohlich (25:50)
I know I had one other girl that used to work for me that had dystonia, which is like a cousin of Parkinson's. ⁓
Jeff Martin (25:57)
Yeah, tell them to get rid of
the stoma. What is that? I've heard about that.
Eric Von Frohlich (26:00)
I don't know that other than it's a relative of Parkinson's. She had a tremor, she had some brain fog, she had all the symptoms and she had it since she was 12 years old. So she had quite a long history
Jeff Martin (26:11)
Mm-hmm.
Eric Von Frohlich (26:15)
had the deep brain stimulation. She would have to go in every couple of years and have her batteries changed
But she said it changed her life and really made a profound impact and was very beneficial for her to do that. And I think at the time she did it, it was cutting edge. It's probably a good 20 years now at this point.
Jeff Martin (26:28)
really?
Eric Von Frohlich (26:35)
So hopefully I don't progress to the point where I need to look into DBS, but available to people the need for it some relief from it.
is quite a bit out there that's happening on the research front. that's a very positive.
Jeff Martin (26:51)
Right,
when I said before about my friends offering advice on different remedies and medicines, they also talk about the GLP, which people take to lose weight. They say that's a cure for Parkinson's as well. I've heard that.
Eric Von Frohlich (27:05)
I've heard it, haven't looked into it at all. ⁓ I figured my neurologist will know a lot more about it than I'm gonna dig up. So when it becomes something that has some legs and efficacy to it, then I can get the information from him and move forward with it. I like being top of what's potentially happening, but I feel like sometimes you dive down the rabbit hole and much like yourself.
you kind of get lost and overwhelmed with the hopium and good, misguided intentions of people and how we deal with this and how we move forward and live with it on day-to-day basis.
Jeff Martin (27:33)
overwhelmed.
Now I also want tell you, other than my every three month visit to the neurologist, I'm also doing physical therapy, occupational therapy, and do you know about the Lee Silverman or Speak Out program?
Eric Von Frohlich (28:00)
LSVT.
Jeff Martin (28:01)
Yes, I'm also doing that as well. They tell me to, when I talk to people, to project my voice and talk like, even though it sounds a little bit like I'm on stage, it helps you from getting your voice down and meek and quiet to speak up and speak loud, which I'm doing as in this interview, which is not easy, by the way.
Eric Von Frohlich (28:20)
Well, you're doing
a great job at it.
Jeff Martin (28:24)
I know, it's not easy. This is not my regular voice. I'm really trying to breathe and talk as clearly and as loudly as I can.
Eric Von Frohlich (28:34)
You're doing a great job. I need to do a little more practice with LSVT and support that program. It would definitely help me quite a bit, especially given how I'm spending a lot of my time now talking with people. It would definitely make
Jeff Martin (28:35)
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Right, you're doing the podcast.
Eric Von Frohlich (28:50)
What would you say to the person who's up at 2 a.m. and Googling and going down the rabbit hole and just kind of spinning their wheels? Do you have any advice for them?
Jeff Martin (28:58)
I would say be careful the
way you phrase your question because I noticed if I go on ChatGBT and phrase the question a certain way, I get the answer that I'm looking for. It's the way you phrase the question. So I think that's important. And of course, it's an addiction. You can be online for hours and days getting all the answers that you want by the way you phrase your question. And sometimes it's beneficial, but it can drive you a little bit crazy.
Eric Von Frohlich (29:24)
Yeah, probably it's more important to be sleeping at 2 a.m. than it is be googling.
Jeff Martin (29:28)
Yes.
Right, and that's become another other than exercise. think sleep is a big factor as well, I don't sleep through the night the way I used due to this diagnosis, but I'm also taking sleep medication now as well.
Eric Von Frohlich (29:42)
Right, and you said that made a big difference for you, correct?
Jeff Martin (29:45)
Yes, it made a big difference, yes. Yeah, otherwise I don't know if I'd fall asleep.
You get cramps and I also get cramps in the right side of my body cramps up all night long.
Eric Von Frohlich (29:53)
I haven't
had that in months, like probably six months. then ironically this morning I woke up at like 4 a.m. with my calves cramping on my right leg and jumping around on one leg and my wife frantically trying to rub it out was, know, made me realize it. Was it the leg workout I did yesterday or did I take my medication at the wrong hour and kind of set myself up for that?
Jeff Martin (30:11)
Bye bye.
That's nice
to hear about Deborah, very supportive, that's great. Wow. Wow. Now what do you attribute, ⁓ when you said you haven't had pain in your leg for months, what do you attribute that to?
Eric Von Frohlich (30:25)
She's very supportive. It was...
I think I've been on top of my nutrition. I've been stretching. I've been kind of conscious of how much liquid I'm taking in and making sure that there's some sort of electrolyte in that. you know, just trying to have good nutrition is a general rule, I think makes a substantial difference in the leg cramps. hopefully they don't repeat themselves and doing everything I can today and mindful of. ⁓
Jeff Martin (30:37)
⁓
and
Eric Von Frohlich (31:00)
they are terribly painful.
Jeff Martin (31:02)
What about supplements on your end? Are you taking supplements?
Eric Von Frohlich (31:06)
Yeah, ginkgo for brain health, you know, a handful of supplements think are fairly common, magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin D, kind of a checklist of just what we have a tendency not to get in our nutrition, just trying to support and creatine, which I was very happy to see all the benefits of creatine given I've been on it years or 40 years.
Jeff Martin (31:14)
Yeah, 19.
Right. And create a
You're too, yes.
Eric Von Frohlich (31:32)
At this point,
I should probably be a genius by now, but apparently it has limitations how much it can improve your life. But it seems to be very beneficial for cognitive health. So I'm happy that I've been a big supporter of creatine for a lot of years now.
Jeff Martin (31:36)
Haha
Okay.
heard two things that people talk about with Parkinson's is crossword and boxing classes.
Eric Von Frohlich (32:00)
Well, boxing classes, I'm on the board of Rocksteady Boxing. So I'm a huge proponent that program. It works balance, it works coordination, it works core strength. There's a lot to be said for hand-eye coordination. cognitive thoughts of putting punches together and moving around at the same time, multitasking is something that Parkinson's people have a tendency to have some difficulty with.
Jeff Martin (32:26)
Yes, yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (32:28)
So I was told as part of my diagnosis that the days of multitasking are over. So in order to train to disprove that, I try to juggle with standing on one leg or standing on one a couple seconds and just kind of move a ball back and forth between my hands and try to train for whatever deficits or whatever symptoms I seem to have coming up. I think that that's again,
Jeff Martin (32:35)
Mm.
Absolutely.
Eric Von Frohlich (32:55)
Why I define it as an athletic pursuit or an athletic journey is that we train for our weaknesses and for the things that we know are going to come up and get exposed and try to make up for those deficits the best we can. that seems to be more of an athletic pursuit than most people think about when they get a diagnosis.
Jeff Martin (33:07)
Thank
The other thing also is breath work and release work. Lavinia from Equinox now has a program Joy Lift, and it's breath work and release work, and that's supposed to be really beneficial as well.
Eric Von Frohlich (33:28)
So how do they do the release work? Is that emotional or psychological or is it physical?
Jeff Martin (33:35)
It's physical, it's emotional, it's all three actually. But it also takes place in a general class where the breath work is done together in a group. Have you ever done a sound bath?
Eric Von Frohlich (33:38)
Uh-huh.
I've done sound baths and I've done some work with a guy He's a work guy in the vein of Wim Hof. But he built his program to treatments.
Jeff Martin (33:52)
yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (34:02)
I think that that's what it was. And he built the program. It was like a three hour class and a lot of emotional release and a lot of brings up a lot of issues for and spiritually. And it was a very powerful program. I'm a big fan of it. But he unfortunately is he travels around the world doing it. And I only have access when he's in California. Right.
Jeff Martin (34:25)
not always in your area. Well,
you live in Newport Beach, could be on the beach, right? That's probably.
Eric Von Frohlich (34:31)
Yes, yeah, there's
certainly access to all the programs and stuff, but tell me about her class. What's the format?
Jeff Martin (34:41)
it starts out like the first 15 minutes is release and breath work and then turns into a regular either dance. Some days it's dance, some days it's body sculpt, but the beginning is all breath work and release, releasing energy. I'm going to, I'm going to look into it a little more as well.
Eric Von Frohlich (34:44)
using
Fantastic. sounds like the breath work is really, I think, underappreciated when you get it dialed in. It's one of my morning things that I do every day, including sunlight, low angle sunlight, breath work. I'm fortunate enough to have a power plate, so I'm on the power plate doing a lot of movement and getting my foosha loose.
Jeff Martin (35:03)
Mm-hmm.
great.
Eric Von Frohlich (35:16)
And it's just one of those stackable things that I feel like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle if I don't lay down and do some breath work for 20 minutes.
Jeff Martin (35:24)
and stay off your phone in the morning to drink coffee?
Eric Von Frohlich (35:27)
I don't drink coffee, but I take ⁓ a ketone supplement, exogenous ketone supplement that has caffeine in it. So that kind of supplements for my coffee.
Jeff Martin (35:29)
It's up.
button.
I'm a big advocate of caffeine.
Eric Von Frohlich (35:41)
Definitely. I think it's of that community that speaks to a lot of people appreciating caffeine in the morning. It seems like the world wouldn't evolve, wouldn't turn on its axis if people stopped taking coffee.
Jeff Martin (35:42)
Ha ha.
and it's the reason to get out of bed.
Eric Von Frohlich (36:00)
Exactly. So here's a question for you. What has Parkinson's tried to take from you that you refuse to surrender?
Jeff Martin (36:08)
Wow. ⁓
think I am surrendering a little bit by by mellowing down in my life. I'm not going to give up. not going to give up. I have given up social activity. I have given up. I'm a little shy away now from group activities and parties and events, but I'm not going to give up. I'm not going to give up entirely. Even even doing this interview with you, I was apprehensive. I didn't want to do it. I thought about it overnight and I said I'm not going to know. I'm not going to give up. I'm going to continue. So no, I'm not.
Eric Von Frohlich (36:38)
Excellent.
Jeff Martin (36:39)
I'm not gonna give into it.
Eric Von Frohlich (36:41)
Right, well, you certainly should keep your social component because that's a tremendously beneficial aspect of, I put it right there with exercise, maybe even on par with exercise. If you can exercise in public or with a group, has all the benefits mixing those two layers together.
Jeff Martin (36:47)
So what I hear
Wow.
Well, I had one little embarrassing moment. was walking down the street and a guy I ran into saw me, which I hadn't seen in like a year or two. And he goes, Jeff, what happened? I said, excuse me? He goes, what happened? I'm like, nothing happened. What do you mean? He goes, you look very different. Did you lose like 15, 20 pounds? I go, yeah, I lost a little weight. And I got a little bit pulled back a little bit. I said, I have to wear a cap over my head and stay home and hide in my apartment. But I'm not gonna give into that either.
Eric Von Frohlich (37:32)
Well, it's a beautiful thing that it was a compliment and you were taking it as a pejorative.
Jeff Martin (37:40)
Maybe it was, yeah, yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (37:42)
but you know movement's been a big part of your life for I mean 47 years. It's I'm sure that the dance singing and the vocals have all been aspects that the degree of strength and fortitude in dealing with Parkinson's because it's exactly if there was things that I was better at dancing would certainly be high on the list of all beneficial right left brain.
Jeff Martin (38:03)
Thank you, yeah.
Eric Von Frohlich (38:08)
benefits and the cognitive benefits of dancing
Jeff Martin (38:11)
one of the videos of yours, I saw you talked people sometimes look angry when they're not, when they have this diagnosis, they look a little angry. Some people call it resting bitch face, I've heard. What is that about?
Eric Von Frohlich (38:18)
Right. Yep.
Yes.
Well, I don't think all those people that have resting bitch face have Parkinson's. I wanted to spell that out I'd be more empathetic to them if that was the case. I think it's part of the masking feature. Your body is on a quest to save energy as much as possible. And so it takes less muscles to frown than it does to smile.
Jeff Martin (38:30)
Of course.
Right.
Mm-hmm.
Eric Von Frohlich (38:47)
And
I think it's one of those things that it's a low energy, it's a low effort way for your body to conserve some energy. You were talking earlier about how hard it is to project your voice and to make an effort to move as well as you can move and to be as animated as you can be animated and maybe exaggerate all the things that we take for granted. And I think that the resting bitch face
Jeff Martin (39:04)
All right,
Eric Von Frohlich (39:12)
is just another example of that. And I'll catch myself every now and then I'll look in the mirror and I'm like, God, I look miserable. And I'm not miserable. It's just, you know, my body's trying to, so I have to force a smile or try to overanimate my energy. And to your point, it does become exhausting at a certain level.
Jeff Martin (39:18)
I'm you know.