Bob Contri does modified push-ups Wednesday afternoon at James Porter’s Sweatbox Gym inside Terre Haute Fitness Center. Contri said the “Rock Steady Boxing” exercise regimen has helped his golf game.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The sounds of leather popping mixed with rap music in the background echoed through the Sweatbox Gym recently as retired pro boxer James Porter put three clients through a rigorous boxing-themed routine.

But two of the prizefighters in training were actually patients with Parkinson’s disease.

Porter, 42, let 64-year-old Bob Contri of Hillsdale pound the mitts he held in the ring as part of his Rock Steady Boxing Terre Haute program, which meets three days a week.

“I have everyone do basically everything that a boxer would do, the exact same things,” Porter told the Terre Haute, Indiana Tribune-Star after a recent class. “They hit the heavy bag, the speed bag and the wind bag. They work the hand mitts. They practice their foot work. It’s the same as if they were training for a world championship fight.”

Without getting hit back, of course. After all, Porter’s class is primarily for people with Parkinson’s.

Rock Steady Boxing Terre Haute is one of 126 affiliate programs in the United States and abroad.

Rock Steady Boxing (RSB) bills itself as “a first-of-its-kind, Indianapolis-based nonprofit gym founded in 2006 to provide an effective form of physical exercise to people who are living with Parkinson’s.”

“Though it may seem surprising, this non-contact boxing-inspired fitness routine is dramatically improving the ability of people with Parkinson’s to live independent lives,” the brochure continues. Rock Steady Boxing was founded in 2006 by Scott Newman, a former Marion County prosecutor who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at age 40.

Contri, a retired counselor at Riverton Parke High School, has had Parkinson’s for 10 years. He has taken part in Porter’s RSB class for four weeks.

“I couldn’t walk backward when I first started,” he said. “I didn’t have the balance. Now, once I get moving, I can really go. Before I take my medication, I have the shuffle steps and the freezing episodes. But once I get my medicine to start exercising, I can walk normal.”

Contri described how he felt when he first realized he had Parkinson’s.

“At first, I had trouble writing,” he recalled. “My handwriting got smaller as I wrote. I was a counselor at Riverton Parke and when I would walk down the hallway, my right arm would not swing as I walked.”

Fortunately, medication and exercise have helped those symptoms diminish.

Nowadays, Contri is using the Rock Steady Boxing classes to improve his quality of life.

“It’s helped with my golf, my flexibility for golf, and my stamina,” he said. “I don’t get tired playing golf like I used to. … I stay real active.”

Nina Youngblood, 88, almost always uses a wheelchair to get around. She’s had Parkinson’s for 13 years, but she enjoys participating in the class with her daughter Dee Personette, who serves as her “cornerman,” and granddaughter Wende Personette, who helps run the classes.

Youngblood said the classes have helped her “quite a bit, really” since early April.

“My speech is improving,” says Youngblood. “Physically, my head had been leaned over to my chest. Now I’m able to straighten up pretty good, much better than I had been.”

“Nina, she’s sitting up so straight now,” Porter noted. “I noticed when she first came to the class, I was looking at the top of her head, like I couldn’t even see her face. Now I can see her face. I know what she looks like.”

Porter hasn’t fought professionally since December 2011. An eye injury forced him to retire. But being active with his five Parkinson’s clients helps him feel like he’s still part of the sport.

“I get tremendous pleasure,” he said. “During class, I can see people improving as the rounds go by. If someone were to watch me in class, I’m jumping around all hyper, whooping and hollering. It’s very exciting.”

Hughes writes for the Terre Haute, Indiana Tribune-Star.