training with a lifelong view during cancer recovery

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello, I’ve been working my way through your beginner template for some time - off and on because of medical and work issues. But I’m now in the last block and soon I’ll graduate to either hypertrophy or powerbuilding (I bought both, not sure which I’ll do yet). My goals are 1) general strength and fitness for an active and long life, and 2) fat loss to potentially reduce recurrence of ER+ cancer. I’m on trastuzumab and tamoxifen to complicate matters.

Anyway, my focus is on consistency of training rather than the amount lifted. I’m taking the lifelong view here. My questions:

1 - I know the general recommendation is to move on once you can’t advance with a program anymore. However, is it ok to sometimes repeat weeks several times with the same or lower weights (based on RPE) if my main focus is a calorie deficit and consistency of training? I want to progress, but sometimes I’m just extremely exhausted.

2 - I’ve been ignoring the conditioning part of your program (sorry) and instead aiming to do one of these each day via running, a rower, bike or swim, whatever I feel most motivated to do: medium intensity intervals for 30min, medium intensity steady state for 30mins, or HIIT for 15mins. 2a) Is that too much variation to make progress / be beneficial? I get bored easily. 2b) Is there benefit to adding high intensity steady state to the mix? Ie10mins on the rower at RPE 9-10.

3 - Any advice on grinding through this while on trastuzumab and tamoxifen? Should I aim for a bigger calorie deficit or MORE training time because of the tamoxifen?

Thanks!

2

Mx0,

Thanks for your post and questions. A few thoughts:

  1. I would just continue on week-by-week with the program. If the weights go down, that’s fine, but I wouldn’t repeat the weeks multiple times either. What you attribute to an energy deficit and fatigue may also be programming related.

  2. I think this is fine. I don’t think there’s a huge upside to HIIT unless you really like it.

  3. I don’t think that either agent is likely to have a huge affect on your training results or weight management. In other words, I would approach training you very similarly to an individual not on these agents and adjust, tweak, modify, etc. based on your feedback and individual results.

-Jordan