Aerobic Exercise Subjectively Improves Life Quality in Cancer Patients –

Published

1 year ago

October 24, 2024

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Aerobic Exercise Subjectively Improves Life Quality in Cancer Patients –

While there was no objective data for cognitive improvement, study participants self-reported clearer thinking and, thus, a better quality of life.

According to a recent study, aerobic exercise showed promise for breast cancer patients’ perception of their quality of life while undergoing chemotherapy. However, at the same time, researchers noted that it didn’t appear to make a notable difference in cognitive function or protect against decline.
While chemotherapy remains a standard and necessary treatment for many cancers, including breast cancer, it often brings with it a range of unwelcome side effects, including hair and weight loss, weakness, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction. This phenomenon, often referred to as “chemo brain,” can impair memory, concentration, and genera thinking abilities, affecting daily life for patients. With a focus on this challenge, researchers have been investigating whether aerobic exercise might offer a solution by helping to maintain (or even improve) cognitive function during this mentally taxing time, just the same as it can help with maintaining muscle strength and reducing the detrimental effects of rapid weight loss both from the treatments and the cancer itself.
Up to 75% of women treated for breast cancer have reported experiencing problems such as difficulty remembering things, staying focused, and processing information. Objective tests, too, reveal that many patients show impairments in areas like executive functioning, verbal ability, and spatial reasoning. Even more troubling, these deficits can persist long after chemotherapy ends, making it difficult for survivors to return to their previous routines, work, and social lives.
Photo by Ivan Samkov from Pexels

Aerobic exercise has long been promoted for its physical health benefits, particularly for improving cardiovascular fitness. However, studies have also shown that it can have positive effects on cognitive abilities, especially in older adults and those with mild impairment. Given these findings, researchers have turned their attention to cancer patients, hoping that similar results might apply. Despite this hope, the evidence has been somewhat inconsistent to date, including in the current study. Many studies have been performed with the intent to examine the connection between exercise and cognitive function in cancer patients. Yet, they’ve been flawed and limited in scope, such as using small sample sizes or a reliance on subjective self-reports rather structured assessments.
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The latest study, conducted across two Canadian cities, involved 57 women with breast cancer, all preparing to undergo chemotherapy. Participants were divided into two groups: one group engaged in a program of aerobic exercise during their chemotherapy treatment, while the other followed standard care and began exercising only after completing their treatments. The exercise routines were a mix of supervised sessions and activities that could be done at home. Over the course of 12 to 24 weeks, the researchers monitored both groups using neuropsychological testing designed to objectively measure executive functioning, alongside self-reported assessments of cognitive function and quality of life.
At the end of the period there was no significant difference in cognitive function between the group that exercised during chemotherapy and the control group. This finding was somewhat surprising, given the expectations. However, when looking at the patients’ own reports of how they felt cognitively, the exercise group showed clear improvements. They reported feeling sharper, more focused, and better able to manage daily tasks, which translated to a higher perceived quality of life compared to the control group.
Several factors could have contributed to the disconnect between the objective tests and the patients’ self-reports. First, the assessments used may not have been sensitive enough to capture subtle changes brought on by incorporating exercise, or these changes might only be noticeable in everyday life rather than in a controlled testing environment. Additionally, the participants may not have experienced severe cognitive impairment to begin with, meaning that the potential for exercise to produce measurable improvements was limited. It’s also possible that the exercise intervention period wasn’t long enough to bring about significant objective results.
Whether functioning truly improved or not for those who engaged in aerobic activity, the findings suggest that incorporating this form of exercise into a care plan for breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy could help improve their sense of well-being, and maintaining mental health is just as important during this period as maintaining physical health.

Sources:

Cognitive benefits of aerobic exercise in breast cancer care

Aerobic exercise and Cognitive functioning in women with breast cancer (ACTIVATE): A randomized controlled trial

Clinical trial suggests aerobic exercise helps prevent brain fog caused by chemotherapy

Put the fun back in your fitness routine with this 10-minute follow-along workout from The Curvy Girl Trainer Lacee Green

Published

11 hours ago

April 22, 2026

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Put the fun back in your fitness routine with this 10-minute follow-along workout from The Curvy Girl Trainer Lacee Green

Ever feel like beginner-friendly workouts are anything but?

That’s how BODi Super Trainer Lacee Green felt, so she devised a three-week, entry-level program designed for genuine newcomers to exercise—or those just getting back into it.

“My beginner-only plan is for every body and everybody,” Green tells Fit&Well.

Green’s program combines low-impact cardio, strength, core and mobility workouts for a total of five sessions a week and 30 minutes a day.

One of the routines she loves—that she says will provide a flavor of the plan—is a total-body cardio workout inspired by seven different sports.

“There is no repetition, it’s all bodyweight and super fun,” she says. “We do basketball, we do pickleball, we do soccer, and it’s really going to get your heart rate up.”

It will all count toward the CDC’s recommended 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity per week, while incorporating resistance training elements to strengthen your bones and muscles, she explains.

And Green has provided the full 10-minute routine below for you to try.

10-minute cardio workout for beginners

Press play on the video above and Green will guide you through the workout, or keep reading to see what’s in store.

Green’s 10-minute beginner-only cardio workout is inspired by seven different sports that she says will help channel your inner athlete.

Each sport links to an exercise during the routine. Follow the short warm-up, then perform each move for 40 seconds and rest for 20 seconds, for one round per sport.

In the video, another trainer demonstrates variations of each exercise so you can make it slightly more challenging as desired. The workout concludes with a short cool-down.

Here’s a brief breakdown of each exercise.

1. Basketball catch and shoot

Step to your side, then reach up into full extension as if shooting a three-pointer. Repeat by shuffling from side to side.

2. Quick football feet

Lower into a quarter squat with your feet wide apart and alternate quick stepping onto either foot. On Green’s cues, switch the direction you face from center to left and right.

3. Skater side-step

Step side to side as if skating, hitting an imaginary hockey stick across your body.

4. Soccer kick-up

Keeping light on your feet, hop from side to side as if juggling a football with your feet.

5. Pickleball shuffle

Lower into a half squat with your hands together in front of you. Keeping low, step or jump forward, then shuffle back to the start position.

6. Boxing jab cross

Stand side on with slightly bent knees and your guard up. Alternate throwing jabs with your left and right, switching your stance after 20 seconds.

7. Baseball squat to high plank

With your feet wide apart, lower into a deep squat with your hands up like a catcher. Place your hands on the floor and step back into a high plank, then back to the low squat.

About our expert

Lacee Green

Lacee Green is a BODi Super Trainer, certified personal trainer (CPT) and coach with more than 10 years of experience. She hosts a number of BODi on-demand fitness programs that are designed to challenge and motivate you while also providing a supportive and inclusive environment.

Fitness

Higher fitness levels linked to lower risk of depression, dementia – Harvard Health

Published

23 hours ago

April 21, 2026

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Higher fitness levels linked to lower risk of depression, dementia – Harvard Health

research review

People with high cardiorespiratory fitness were 36% less likely to experience depression and 39% less likely to develop dementia than those with low cardiorespiratory fitness. Even small improvements in fitness were linked to a lower risk. Experts believe that exercise’s ability to boost blood flow to the brain, reduce bodywide inflammation, and improve stress regulation may explain the connection.

Fitness

These 20-Minute Burpee Workouts Replaced His Entire Gym Routine – and Transformed His Physique

Published

1 day ago

April 21, 2026

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These 20-Minute Burpee Workouts Replaced His Entire Gym Routine – and Transformed His Physique

While many swear by them, most people see burpees as a form of punishment – usually dished out drill sergeant-style by overzealous bootcamp PTs. Often the final blow in an already brutal workout, burpees are designed to test cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance and mental grit. Love them or loathe them, they deliver every time.

For Max Edwards – aka Busy Dad Training on YouTube – they became a simple but highly effective way to stay fit and lean during lockdown. Once a committed powerlifter, spending upwards of 80 minutes a day in the gym, he was forced to overhaul his approach due to fatherhood, lockdown and a schedule that no longer allowed for long, structured lifting sessions.

‘Even though I was putting in hours and hours into the gym and even though my physique was pretty good, I wasn’t becoming truly excellent at any physical discipline,’ he explained in a YouTube video.

‘I loved the intentionality of training,’ says Edwards. ‘The fact that every session has a point, every rep in every set is helping you get towards a training goal, and I loved that there was a clear way of gauging progression – feeling like I was developing competence and moving towards mastery.’

Why He Walked Away From Powerlifting

Despite that structure, Edwards began to question whether powerlifting was sustainable long-term.

‘My sessions were very taxing on my central nervous system. I was exhausted between sessions. It felt as if I needed at least nine hours of sleep each night just to function.’

He also noted that his appetite was consistently high.

But the biggest drawback was time.

‘I could not justify taking 80 minutes a day away from my family for what felt like a self-centred pursuit,’ he says.

A Simpler Approach That Stuck

‘Over the course of that year I fixed my relationship with alcohol and I developed, for the first time in my adult life, a relationship with physical training,’ says Edwards.

With limited time and no access to equipment, he turned to burpees. Just two variations, four times a week, with each session lasting 20 minutes.

‘My approach in each workout was very simple. On a six-count training day I would do as many six-counts as I possibly could within 20 minutes. On a Navy Seal training day I would do as many Navy Seal burpees as I could within 20 minutes – then in the next workout I would simply try to beat the number I had managed previously.’

This style of training is known as AMRAP – as many reps (or rounds) as possible.

The Results

Edwards initially saw the routine as nothing more than a six-month stopgap to stay in shape. But that quickly changed.

‘I remember catching sight of myself in the mirror one morning and I was utterly baffled by the man I saw looking back at me.’

He found himself in the best shape of his life. His energy levels improved, his resting heart rate dropped and his physique changed in ways that powerlifting hadn’t quite delivered.

‘It has been five years since I have set foot in a gym,’ he says. ‘That six-month training practice has become the defining training practice of my life – and for five years I have trained for no more than 80 minutes per week.’

The Burpee Workouts

1/ 6-Count Burpees

20-minute AMRAP, twice a week

How to do them:

Start standing, feet shoulder-width apart
Crouch down and place your hands on the floor (count 1)
Jump your feet back into a high plank (count 2)
Lower into the bottom of a push-up (count 3)
Push back up to plank (count 4)
Jump your feet forward to your hands (count 5)
Stand up straight (count 6)

20-minute AMRAP, twice a week

How to do them:

Start standing, feet shoulder-width apart
Crouch down and place your hands on the floor
Jump your feet back into a high plank
Perform a push-up (chest to floor)
At the top, bring your right knee to your right elbow, then return
Perform another push-up
Bring your left knee to your left elbow, then return
Perform a third push-up
Jump your feet forward
Stand or jump to finish

Kate is a fitness writer for Men’s Health UK where she contributes regular workouts, training tips and nutrition guides. She has a post graduate diploma in Sports Performance Nutrition and before joining Men’s Health she was a nutritionist, fitness writer and personal trainer with over 5k hours coaching on the gym floor. Kate has a keen interest in volunteering for animal shelters and when she isn’t lifting weights in her garden, she can be found walking her rescue dog.