WPA poster warning cancer patients to be wary of persons claiming to be physicians and promising to cure cancer. Check with your internist or oncologist before beginning any particular exercise program. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today’s post is from guest poster Melanie Bowen, a regular blogger for the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance. Although this is not a cancer-related blog, I don’t know anyone whose life has not been touched by cancer, whether as a patient or as a loved one of a cancer patient.

Exercise has all kinds of benefits and can continue under unusual circumstances. I’d say cancer qualifies as “unusual circumstances,” although, sadly, not a rare one.

And, with that introduction, here’s Melanie:

In the past, patients with a cancer diagnosis were often advised by healthcare professionals to avoid any kind of physical exertion in order to preserve as much energy as possible.  No longer.

The medical community is finding a wealth of evidence showing the importance of exercise for the cancer patient to maintain weight and maximum health, endure short- or long-term medical interventions, and to improve their quality of life. All exercise programs should have well-defined guidelines and approved by a physician. Each person and diagnosis is unique, and therefore should have an appropriate regimen to follow.

Maintain strength and fight fatigue

Cancer patients may receive long-term medication, chemotherapy,  radiation therapy, or a combination of treatments. Although cancer itself can induce fatigue, cancer treatment itself  often increases weakness, lack of motivation and immobility.

Steps can be taken to help counter and cope with the side effects of cancer treatment. Daily walking, for example, can increase the drainage of toxins from the body and stimulate circulation to renew muscle tissue with oxygen.

In addition, research has shown that immobility restricts the lung function and may cause pneumonia as a complication. Patients with mesothelioma are especially prone to decreased lung function and may only tolerate exercises performed in bed. It is important to find physical activities that you enjoy: walking, weight lifting, yoga, water aerobics, CrossFit or something else.

Chair yoga, for example, is a form of yoga that helps compensate for health issues. Look for things that sound like fun and which emphasize meeting you at your current state rather than competitive exercise programs. If you are interested in CrossFit, it can be tailored to your situation. Whatever choice you make, be sure to find an experienced coach.

Maintain healthy weight to complete cancer treatment

Physical activity can promote appetite and help the patient maintain a healthy weight. Many cancer therapies and procedures are particularly difficult for the body to endure, and as patients lose weight and sometimes struggle to stay nutritionally balanced.

Patients with serious weight loss and nutritional problems may find their therapy postponed until they resume a healthier weight. The main goal of being physically active is to keep your body in a healthy overall state, which may not always entail losing weight — especially when battling cancer.

Maintain healthy immune system and avoid cancer complications

The lymphatic system is part of the immune system and is a network of vessels similar in structure to the veins and arteries of the body. Without a healthy heart to circulate and cleanse the lymph fluid, this system uses the activity of muscle and skeletal movement to cleanse the body of toxins and fight off the bacteria and viruses that enter the body. Simple movement and exercise of the body boosts this process and provides the cancer patient with a vital immune system.

Exercise increases survival rate for cancer patients

More cancer patients are surviving than ever before. With evidence-based research* in exercise and fitness, patients are successfully completing cancer therapies and prolonging their lives. Not only that, patients are reducing the risk of recurrence through healthy activity.

As always, consult with your doctor to find the most beneficial exercise plan for you and to ensure you maintain a healthy weight during and after treatment.

*[Ed. note: Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud by Robert L. Park is an excellent book for non-scientists about evaluating medical claims (and other scientific theories).]

Oscar Pistorius stretching

I wrote the post “Why you gotta hate?” (below the asterisks) last year during the Summer Olympics. Today, my husband asked “Have you seen the headlines?”

“I haven’t been on the Internet yet today,” I replied

“You’re not going to like this,” he said, then clicked to CNN. The breaking news headline?

‘Blade runner’ Pistorius charged with murder of model girlfriend

“Oh, God,” I said. “I hope it isn’t true.”

“I’m afraid it probably is,” said my husband.

Goddammit.

I have given Lance Armstrong a hard time in some of my blogs. I owe him an apology. He may be a driven man, but his “disgrace” is nothing by comparison. I’ve met enough “heroes” over my life to know that not all of them are people I’d want to hang out with. I know that a drive to win or succeed or survive doesn’t automatically mean the individual has great character–some do, some don’t, just like the rest of humanity.

Lance Armstrong arguably wasn’t cheating. The Tour de France awards haven’t been given to anyone else, because they’d all been doing the same thing. At what point is it no longer cheating? I don’t have the answer for that, but if the point is to prevent unfair competition, it appears that the top contenders were competing “fairly” if they were all doping in some fashion. If it’s to preserve the health of the athletes, please. Look at two champions in their respective fields: Muhammad Ali and Earl Campbell. The sport itself was enough to damage them.

Lance Armstrong in his heyday. (Photo credit: goat karma)

I hope Oscar Pistorius is innocent, but in high profile cases like that, most law enforcement officers and prosecutors want to be very sure before they move on it. Look at how the LAPD was taken to task in the O.J. Simpson trial. And I mean “innocent.” I don’t mean “not guilty.” A verdict of not guilty doesn’t mean that the suspect didn’t do the deed; it just means the jurors didn’t feel there was quite enough evidence to convict. I’ve talked to plenty of jurors who believed a criminal defendant did what they were accused of, but not deeply enough to send a man to prison.

But, like O.J., Oscar will never be a hero again. Lance Armstrong has the capacity to “redeem” himself; what he did was not intrinsically evil, the kind of crime that is called “malum in se” in legalese. Oscar, if believed by the majority to be the murderer regardless of the outcome of any trial, cannot rehabilitate his legacy.

And that’s tragic. Not just because I’m personally embarrassed to have taken a strong public stance supporting him and now feel like an idiot, but because Oscar had, far more than O.J., put himself in a position where he was a role model.

That pressure is enormous; Sidney Poitier hated being “the Prince of his People” because he had to be very mindful of everything he did. He was, by his success, placed in the position of being a representative for an entire group of Americans.

Lance Armstrong and Oscar Pistorius had inspirational stories, magnified by their successes. Lance Armstrong is still inspirational, because he beat out other people in their own game, but the luster is dimmed. He has distanced himself from his foundation, LiveStrong, and I respect him for that.

Oscar Pistorius, no matter the outcome, will be replaced as an inspiration. Luckily, there are more parathletes coming up that may be able to compete at the Olympic level, and do so with grace. Oscar hasn’t set the bar very high for another to eclipse him.

*******************************************

Here beginneth the post that was, and should be no more:

One of the most inspirational  athletes in the London Olympics is South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius. Why? Because he learned to run, when even walking should have been impossible for him.

And yet, even though he has no problem with competing against able-bodied athletes, you read over and over, in almost every article about him, people are whining that the carbon fiber legs give him an unfair advantage.

Excuse me?

First, I’d like to see a show of hands of how many competitive runners will voluntarily amputate both their legs below the knees so they can presumably run faster? Anyone?

Next, just how big a problem is this? Are there scores of bilateral amputees who are going to qualify for the Olympics? If the entire group of qualifying athletes are running on carbon fiber Cheetahs or similar prostheses, then maybe it should be seriously addressed. Until then, why exclude one guy who has the willpower to have gotten himself to the point that he could possibly qualify? How many years did it take to begin policing the far larger problem of steroid usage when it was pretty clear to everyone that a significant number of gold medals were taken home by folks that clearly looked as though they’d been pumped up by something other than weight lifting?

The Flex-Foot Cheetahs that Oscar Pistorius wears (which are cool in a sci-fi way) demonstrate how far prosthetics have come. It should be a source of inspiration that Pistorius can run fast enough to compete with the able-bodied. Instead of celebrating that fact, everyone got bogged down into whether the prosthetics gave him an unfair advantage.

I’ve got a friend who works in prosthetics and who met the man. I asked him about the “unfair advantage” thing, and, aside from saying that Pistorius is an incredibly cool dude, he became very passionate about the fact that the prosthetics DO NOT give him an advantage. I didn’t know the science; I just thought raising the question sounded like it came from petulant children.

Part of the problem is that the two main studies that have been discussed are the one commissioned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) and the one commissioned by Pistorius. On the face of it, that’s a problem because both studies could clearly be considered biased. They also took different approaches, so we end up with apples and oranges.

IAAF is always fighting an uphill battle to level the playing field, sometimes getting bogged down in some truly esoteric trivia. And they seem to assume anything new is an unfair advantage, as reflected in the decision outlawing the full body swimsuits which seem to me to be something that anyone can get, provided they have the money. Oh, wait, the rationale *is* that not everyone can afford them. Qua? Since when have we had any problem with the national budget of any country competing in the Olympics. The ban doesn’t seem to have ended the problem, given that a different swimsuit purportedly may give an edge to the Brits.

But isn’t the entire sports world about doing everything they can to get that slight edge? And let’s face it, the nations with the most money to spend on the Olympics intrinsically have an unfair advantage. Maybe they should consider a spending cap of some sort across the board, instead of just picking on the swimsuits, although policing that would be as much of a headache as trying to keep up with the newest, bestest drug. Even better, perhaps they should just require that everyone in every sport has the same haircut, same height, same weight and, most of all, compete completely in the nude.

On the other hand, the report commissioned by Oscar Pistorius is problematic because it’s hard not to believe that the study was done to prove that there was no advantage. Even if the science was unimpeachable, the fact that it was not independent makes it automatically suspect.

The best evaluation of the information comes, surprisingly enough, from an article published in the Boston University International Law Journal. For those of you not familiar with law journals, they are rigorously scrutinized to verify every citation the author uses. Members of the journal’s staff will look up every citation and make sure not only that it is there, but that the cited material says what the author purports it to say.

Anyway, Patricia J. Zettler examines the Pistorius case in her article “Is it cheating to use Cheetahs?: The implications of technologically innovative prostheses for sports values and rules.” After an extensive discussion of both of the studies mentioned above, she reviews the scientific literature of the Cheetah and similar prosthetics and concludes, quoting Peter Weyand, a biomechanist at Rice University at the time, and now at Southern Methodist University:

In summary, “existing evidence doesn’t prove Pistorius has an advantage, [but] it doesn’t prove that he doesn’t have one, either.”

So, those of you complaining, either chop off your legs to get on Pistorius’s level, or man up and stop fearing the guy missing some body parts.

This is the Tune Belt I use. Love it, but read the post for the warning!

Quick version: I’m an idiot.¹

Longer version: I was in Tampa visiting my mother and went to her condo’s well appointed workout room, including industrial strength treadmills. No one there but me. View out the window of the pool and a very pretty tree². I’ve got my Tune Belt on my arm, my earbuds in and my exercise mix playing with the volume turned up to the point just before it inflicts pain.

Now my treadmill in my home is nice, but it wouldn’t stand up to constant running and has a very laid back traction surface, one that doesn’t seem to be all that interested in doing its job. It also is a little narrower than the bad boy I was using that oh-so-fateful day. So if I do stupid stuff on my home treadmill, I usually brush some portion of the side of my body against the arms and can correct.

This kind of rasp. One for horse hooves.

This monster treadmill I was using was great — like getting to drive an old car with far more cylinders than you’re used to. “This is bad ass,” I thought, perhaps not consciously, but I was pretty pleased with myself. I’d been consistent with my exercise routine during this entire visit. And now I’m working out in what would be my fantasy home gym, all by myself.

What I didn’t take note of was that the embrace of this bad boy was several inches wider than the one I had at home, and the tread on the sucker looked like a rasp. If treadmills had bouncers, this treadmill would have its arms crossed outside the trendiest treadmill bar in town.

And then the fateful moment occurred: “ABC” came up on my mix.³

Maybe it’s because the Jackson Five’s tune hit the top of the charts in 1970. I was nine. When we got back to the states⁴, one of the last cartoons I gave up was the Jackson 5ive⁵, and it was the theme song.  For those of you who didn’t know Michael Jackson was born a poor black child, here is a video from back in the day, purportedly from the Ed Sullivan Show:

Whatever the deal is, I cannot seem to keep from dancing (badly) whenever that song comes on. It goes from audio processing in the brain straight to the movement center without consulting the part of my brain that says, “Whoa, fella, slow down.” So I started dancing within the wide arms of the treadmill and caught some part of my foot on the non-moving portion of the dance floor, sending me to my knees.

Mostly my left knee. The bad one. It’s probably a good thing I had on my yoga pants; even so, I ended up scraped by the bite the treadmill’s surface gave me, holding me down a few seconds while I processed what had happened and how the hell to get my knee detached from rotating blades^6.

It didn’t bother me all that much at first; I iced it and by the next day had a big C-shaped bruise circling my knee. Bruise? No big. But when I went to see Stephanie, queen of the physical therapists, she said it was a lot looser than it had been and that I may have sprained my ACL. It’s not gotten much better since I saw her a couple of weeks ago and I’m guessing she’s going to tell me to get it evaluated by the doc when I see her next week.

I’ve been through a scaled down grief cycle and am back at acceptance. Every setback makes you want to throw up your hands and say “Why bother?” But not doing it means there’s no chance; you can’t win if you don’t play. So after enough of a pity party, and a couple of workouts I cried through, I’m back on the upswing, even though icing my knee is the order of the day and I’m going to have to rebuild it.

Too bad you can’t order bionic parts off Amazon.

You’ve probably seen Carly Söderström’s work if you have liked any CrossFit-related Facebook pages. I have been trying to track down this designer since I saw the infographic she did explaining the fundamentals of CrossFit; unfortunately, it wasn’t attributed.

[Note to graphic designers: Get your website name on your graphics and watermark the bloody things so you can earn what your creativity deserves!]

Everything on her gallery is gorgeous, and she is does have a storefront for her posters and such at http://www.crossfitgeelong.com.au/store/#!/~/category/id=0&inview=category3441185&offset=0&sort=normal.

Go, enjoy! Lust away!

From Crystal’s Pinterest board

I started CrossFit recently and I am so addicted. I refer to myself as “Chunky Girl Works Out.”

I started referring to myself as “chunky” after my first pregnancy. I’d developed a serious B12 deficiency which triggered a case of RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) of epic proportions. The baby came and the RLS never went away. Baby number two was also a fan of B12. Lets just say RLS is here to stay.

As a result, I am constantly sleep-deprived which has resulted in weight gain. I would never have called myself an athelete, but I spent years weight training and doing cardio. As long as I kept an eye on what I ate and made sure I was physically active, my curvaceous body was kept in check. The minute the RLS hit and sleep was something I could not accomplish, the curves turned to “CHUNK”! I even have a Pinterest board (http://pinterest.com/massagemomma/chunky-girl-works-out) named for it.

I waited two years to get into CrossFit for many reasons. I found out about CrossFit by way of Facebook, of course. I had reconnected to an old high school friend and she was always talking about going to “CrossFit.” I asked her about it.

I have what I lovingly refer to as “Exercise A.D.D”. I get bored so easily. I find running boring so I started doing mud runs like the Warrior Dash and the Merrell Down & Dirty. I got bored weight training on my own so I started taking BodyPump.

So, when my friend tried her best to explain the beast that is CrossFit, I was very intrigued. I turned to Google to find out more. Thirty minutes into my research I knew that sooner or later I was going to start CrossFit! The idea that it was mix of cardio and weight training and could happen indoor or outdoor and then you throw in kettle bells and a garage type atmosphere … I was in Exercise A.D.D heaven!!

One of the reasons for delaying my first CrossFit experience was “Super Fit Girls + Super Ripped Guys= WTF stares at Chunky Girl Works Out.” I had the itch to try it so bad I even had thoughts of setting up a backyard CrossFit.

I turned to my dear friend Google and his girlfriend Pinterest to see what it would take to create a “box” in my own backyard. I found I could do it on the cheap. But, honestly, I still didn’t totally grasp the whole of what CrossFit was and felt like I needed more instruction. And, quite frankly, I run a house and family and I am constantly in charge and making decisions. Sometimes I just want someone to tell me what to do and how to do it so I don’t have to think about it. I know, sounds lazy. But I’m a Mom, a wife, and I have a part-time Massage Therapy business. I don’t want to have to come up with my own workouts. I want someone to tell me what to do for once.

I have two boys. Very. Busy. Boys! My oldest will be seven in November and is in the first grade. My youngest is four and now attends all day PreK at the same elementary school as my oldest. I was overwhelmed at what the heck I was going to do all day. The idea that my baby was going to start school totally knocked me down. I knew that I was going to have to find something to do that would excite me or I was going down for the count.

We are a “traditional” family, I guess you could say. My husband works and I, for the most part, stay at home with my kiddos. The idea that I was no longer going to have my little buddy to take care of all day still brings me to tears. So, I set my sights on CrossFit. I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to see if it was as awesome as I had made it out in my mind to be.

So, I found a CrossFit box and signed up.

Finding a CrossFit box in my area wasn’t easy. When I first looked into CrossFit, there was nothing close to me. One day, I happened to be talking to a nurse in my doctors office  and she mentioned she did CrossFit. She raved about her box. She said the coaches were awesome and the members were like family and that she was in the best shape of her life. So, I went to the official CrossFit website and looked it up. Two CF boxes had opened in a somewhat close proximity to my home.  I only visited one of them. My nurse was so passionate in talking about her CF box, CrossFit of Locust Grove (Georgia), that I never doubted that it was the one for me. When I met the owner, Todd Springer, I was impressed with how he continually talked about CFLG being a family.

I started on a Monday morning. There were about twelve people in the class. There were men and women ranging in age from early twenties to late forties in a spectrum of fitness levels.

The first day I almost puked because I knew these people were going to die when they saw Chunky Butt walk in. But, you know. I have never met people more eager to help and guide and cheer a person on. I have belonged to many gyms…Gold’s, local athletic clubs, YMCA…. never have I ever had people so willing to help me catch on and want me to succeed.

The first person to speak to me, other than Todd the owner/coach, was a very fit, thirty-something woman. During each part of the WOD she made sure I knew where the equipment was, showed me what to do, and gave me encouragement. I was shocked. I tell you, I spent hours at my local Y before anyone ever even spoke a word to me. But, during a WOD that consisted of way too many push ups and box jumps, I had people that I had only laid eyes on that day telling me not to stop, to push through and that I could indeed finish the last round.

Since that first day I have attended morning, afternoon and evening classes. Each person I come in contact has been as helpful as the first. We have a Facebook group for members. People are always posting about getting together to go to events, or telling another member how great they did during the day’s WOD or just posting life stuff. They are family. We are family.

I have been apart of CrossFit of Locust Grove for two months. And, when my Dad was recently diagnosed with lung cancer, the outpouring of understanding and compassion from my CrossFit family rivaled that of my church family. Sometimes when you are mad at the world and feel like you have no control over anything—you just need to drag a tire across pavement, do a hundred burpees and seventy-five squat jumps and then hear someone tell you just how beastly you are because you finished.

CrossFitters, for the most part, really seem to have a passion for athleticism and really want for others to feel the same euphoria they do when finished with a WOD.  But, believe me, I know the fear of walking into a crowd of super fits….YIKES!!…..but I strongly urge everyone that is curious about CrossFit to visit their local box. The outpouring of support and  camaraderie that you get being apart of a CrossFit family far out weighs the nervousness you feel when walking into your first CrossFit class.

You can contact Crystal Mayhue by email at massage_momma (at) att (dot) net.