Weightlifting and Cancer

[Onerepmaximum]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060327/...fitness_cancer

ATLANTA - Weightlifting appears to improve breast cancer survivors' outlook on life, suggests one of the first studies to scientifically measure the effects of such exercise.

About 80 percent of women who took up twice-a-week weight-training saw improved scores on a quality-of-life survey, researchers said, in a study to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Cancer.

In contrast, 51 percent of participants in a control group did.

The physical and psychological benefits of exercise are well-documented. But this study is the first to apply scientific methodology to looking at how weight-training helps women who have had breast cancer.

"This may seem like common sense to most folks, but there's really been no literature or science where researchers tried to quantify and verify the effect," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.

Researchers recruited 86 women from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in late 2001 and early 2002. Each of the women had completed successful treatment of breast cancer within the previous three years.

Half the women were assigned to an exercise group. For three months they met twice a week with personal fitness trainers to develop a weightlifting regimen. They were then encouraged to follow it for another three months.

The second group had no such regimen.

Researchers asked women in both groups a series of questions about physical well-being, marital happiness, sexual activity and other aspects of life.

Women in the exercise group had a modest improvement over members of the non-exercising group, Lichtenfeld noted.

However, the women in the exercise group said they felt they had more strength, speed and self-confidence as a result of the workouts. It appears the weightlifting helped them regain a feeling of control of their bodies, researchers said.

The more women improved on bench press, the better they said they felt overall. That may be because breast cancer treatment can reduce the ability to lift and carry things, said Kathryn Schmitz, a University of Pennsylvania researcher who co-authored the study.

The study also tried to observe weight-training's effect on depression. The researchers didn't measure any significant effect, but they said that might be because such a small number of women were deemed to suffer from depression at the outset of the study.

[LOGAN]

its always good to hear studies like this

[hanuri]

It´s a really good sport we have. How I wished people would use it for getting their health better , not worse.

[liftsiron]

Inspireing read.

[g3cko]

Men get breast cancer too.

[Reverend Satan]

It's good to see a study back up what is common sense to most people. I haven't worked out in a while and I feel like shit and I don't even have cancer.

[Mr.X]

training and diet are key to health

[iron man ang]

well iam 19 and i had luekemia wen i was 12, and i started lifting wen i was 13, my doctors said not to lift cause of the chemo, but i didnt listen, and bc of lifting, my doctors said that i handled the treatment and kept a positive attitude more than other kids that where undergoing the same treatment.....i believe that it was my attitude that got me through it and i kno the lifting helped, cause all i concentrated on was try to bench press alot of weight i did my first competition when i was 14.....so far i have done 7 competitions some of which are both national and international....and i also set four bench press records....

iam only 5 1
112 lbs
max bench 235

i love being an inspiration to other ppl and i love to set examples, especially for ppl who going through wat i ahd to go through as a boy....

the article is just evidence that shows wat i say is true.....and iam glad it was posted.....very inspirational

[Onerepmaximum]

Thanks for posting Iron Man Ang. I'm glad that you didn't let the doctors make up your mind for you about lifting weights. Best of luck in all you do.

[iron man ang]

thanks alot....