TN SJR0880

Black Dog Fitness and owner Zach Guza received the Business Award at the 24th Annual John J. Duncan Sr. Awards for Senior Advocacy, which honors those who advocate for older adults in Tennessee's Second Congressional District.

Zach Guza founded Black Dog Fitness as a boxing gym specifically for people with Parkinson's disease, launching Rock Steady Boxing-Knoxville in 2016 in honor of his father, Sam Guza, who died with Parkinson's disease.

The gym has grown over ten years to include over 170 members, six coaches, seven exercise programs, a YouTube channel with over 4,000 subscribers, and twenty-two weekly classes.

Guza is a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate who served nine years as a helicopter pilot before transitioning to the fitness industry after experiencing how exercise helped his own depression.