MOVE
Recommendations from the American College of Sports Medicine, National Comprehensive Cancer Network, American Cancer Society, Clinical Oncology Society of Australia, Exercise Sport Science Australia, and many others suggest that people living with and beyond cancer will have better outcomes if they become and stay regularly physical active.
On this page we review recommendations for AEROBIC activity. Migrate to the LIFT page to learn more about strength training. Benefits of aerobic exercise before, during and after cancer treatment includes improved fatigue, anxiety, depression, quality of life, physical function (physical ability to get things done in your life), sleep, and bone health. For more details about these benefits, see the book, Moving Through Cancer!
Doing ANY activity is better than none.
Please move at least a few minutes every day. To garner the most benefits, the recommendations for the amount of aerobic activity to do vary according to where you are with regard to cancer treatment, as follows:
• Before treatment starts: build to 150 to 300 minutes per week of aerobic activity
• During radiation or chemotherapy (or the combination): 3 times a week 30 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity or daily 30 minute lighter intensity walks if symptoms preclude higher intensity activity.
• Post surgery: get out of bed as soon as it is safe to do so and gradually increase duration over the course of 8 weeks to 150-300 minutes per week of aerobic activity. The focus post surgery is on duration, not intensity.
• During hormonal therapy: build to 150-300 minutes per week
• Post treatment: build to 150-300 minutes per week
Trackers
There is some evidence that tracking your activity during cancer treatment could be useful to your doctors. It will help you know how you are doing objectively, over time. If you would like to purchase a tracker, here are a few we like:
Least expensive:
Mid-range:
Most Expensive:
Trusted Resources
• Here is a handout of the chair exercise program for you to print out and follow.
• Here is a chair exercise video for you to try from MyVictory.com, if that seems like a good place to start
• 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 location.
• 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.