LIFT
As I explain in my book, Moving Through Cancer, cancer patients and survivors need to pay attention to maintaining their muscle mass. It is common to decrease muscle mass during and after cancer treatment.
This contributes to the feeling expressed by many patients and survivors that they have aged more than would be expected for the time they went through treatment. We strongly recommend that you develop and maintain a program of progressive resistance training before, during, and after your treatment to address the expected loss of muscle, function, and increased fatigue.
Below are resources to get you started.
In the book we outline specific programs according to timing with regard to treatment (before treatment, during chemotherapy or radiation, during hormonal therapy, during survivorship). We also explain that immediately post surgery you should stop doing any resistance training until all surgical wounds are healed.
Finding Heavy Things to Lift
There are several ways you can progress resistance in your lift program at home. The least expensive to start with are soup cans and bottles of water. When those become easy, you can get 2 plastic shopping bags and put increase numbers of cans of beans or bottles of water into the bags and lift the bags rather than weights. If you would like to purchase weights for your lifting program, here are some ideas.
Individual dumbbells cost about $1 per pound.
If you start with 3, 5, 7, and 10 pound dumbbell pairs, it should cost you about $50 at a sporting goods store, Target, or Walmart. You can go back and purchase 12, 15, and 20 pound weights when you are ready. This approach avoids a large outlay of cash at one time.
Adjustable dumbbells.
This approach saves space and likely means you have all you will need without having to head back to the store later. There are several brands. Here are a few I recommend, all of them can be ordered online and delivered to your home.
PowerBlocks.
- The Sport 24 set goes from 3-24 lbs for $169
- The Sport EXP 5-50 stage 1 set goes for $369
- Bowflex Home Gym Series 5-52 pounds
Here are resources for the LIFT portion of the program
Here is a handout of the basic exercises that you can print out and use at home
Here is a video explaining these exercises from MyVictory.com
Here is a video where the trainer does each of the exercises one time through, so you can do the exercises along with the trainer from MyVictory.com
On our video page, we have alternative videos for strength training exercises when you feel you have mastered the basic exercises from Maple Tree Cancer Alliance
In addition, you may want to find a program of your own to follow. These are resources I trust:
• MyVictory.com is a subscription service with over 2000 high quality exercise videos for people living with and beyond cancer. If you buy the Moving Through Cancer book, you get a free 12 month subscription to MyVictory to give it a try.
• Hire an exercise trainer with specific training to work with cancer patients. I strongly recommend Linda Gottlieb at www.fittraining.net who can do virtual sessions with you from any locaction.
• If you prefer to find a program near you, go to the Moving Through Cancer exercise program registry at the Exercise Is Medicine website. There are over 1700 programs loaded onto the registry. Many of them are free! Exerciseismedicine.org/movingthroughcancer
• There are multiple online options for exercise during and after cancer treatment. My favorite is FitSteps for Life, which includes prerecorded you tube style videos as well as live Zoom classes: cancerfoundationforlife.org/exercise-videos/
• Try the Cancer Exercise App. It was developed by expert Dr. Anna Schwartz and is available at the App Store.
• Talk to your oncology care team about a referral to a physical therapist or an exercise program. They may know of resources in your area and will tell you about them if prompted.