When you’re going through chemotherapy, exercise may be the last thing on your mind. But it might actually help you manage the side effects of treatment.
“The biggest benefit for most people is helping manage fatigue,” says Nancy Campbell, a clinical exercise physiologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Zakim Center in Boston, an American Council on Exercise (ACE) certified personal trainer, and an American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) certified cancer exercise trainer. That might sound counterintuitive, she says. “People think: ‘I’m exhausted. Why would I want to exercise?’”
Keep in mind that everyone’s treatment (and response to exercise) is different, so always talk to your care team before starting to work out during chemotherapy. Your unique plan will vary depending on your diagnosis and treatment, how active you were before cancer, and where you are in your current chemo cycle, Campbell says.
But once you’re cleared and ready to try some gentle exercise, here are three ways to start.
1. Walking
Campbell recommends starting with a short walk, like to the end of your driveway and back. When that feels good, you can walk to the neighbor’s driveway and back. Building up in time and distance incrementally allows you to scale back or progress as you need to, she says.
If your treatment is cyclical, you can do shorter walks during a treatment week and increase your distance and intensity as your side effects ease up, Campbell notes. “Your routine doesn’t look the same every single week when you’re on chemo,” she says.
2. Yoga or Stretching
Yoga will give you some cardio and strength work, but it also has the added benefit of being meditative and calming, which might soothe your nerves during treatment, Campbell says. “It can provide a quiet time to turn inward for a lot of people,” she says.
And you don’t have to go to a studio, either. Try following along with a yoga video on YouTube or doing some gentle stretches on the couch. “It doesn’t have to be this very formal thing to keep the body limber,” Campbell says.
3. Strength Training
Loss of muscle mass is another common symptom of cancer treatment, and you may be able to slow the decline with strength training, according to Campbell. This is especially important for people in their sixties or older, when it’s harder to regain muscle, she adds.
You don’t have to go to a gym, and you don’t even need weights: Try body-weight exercises, or use household items like soup cans or water bottles in place of dumbbells, Campbell says.
Start with one set of 5 to 10 reps of just three or four exercises that target your major muscle groups, and build up from there when you feel ready for more, she says.
She recommends always incorporating the following:
- A type of squat (like a wall squat or a chair squat)
- A pushing movement (like a wall or countertop push-up)
- A pulling movement (like a bent-over or upright row)
- A core exercise (like a plank or a dead bug)
