What is aerobic exercise?

Aerobic exercises are activities that involve continuous, rhythmic movement of large muscle groups. These activities make your heart rate and breathing faster over a continued period of time. These activities improve heart and lung fitness, and overall function! 

There are many ways to perform aerobic exercises, including (but not limited to) walking, bicycling, hiking, yoga, dancing, and more! Be sure to talk to your health coach if you need help finding aerobic activities that are right for you.

Aerobic guidelines for cancer survivors

Cancer survivors are recommended to achieve 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity, as well as two days of muscle strengthening exercises of all major muscle groups each week¹. 

STRIVE Cardio aerobic exercises

For this program, we ask that you gradually work your way up to 150 minutes of exercise by your final week. Gradually increasing rather then starting all at once will reduce the risk of injury as your body adjusts to your new routine. Even aerobic exercise levels below 150 minutes a week can benefit your health as you work your way up!

If you are new to these types of exercises don't worry! Throughout the program your health coach will help you talk through ways to find aerobic exercises that are best for you that help make building up to 150 minutes realistic to you. 

Follow the steps below to exercise at moderate intensity safely!

Logging the exercises

Be sure to complete all of your exercise logs to get credit for your hard work! these logs will help you and your health coach to track your progress and adherence to the program. You may complete these logs on the paper logs included in your participant binder or electronically using the logs emailed to you by the research team.

Please record all aerobic exercises under the best fit intensity during that day, and record the total minutes spent in that intensity. An example of this can be found on the paper exercise logs provided in your participant binder. 

It is best to keep track of your aerobic exercises as you go. This way you are less likely to forget how long your exercise session was and how you felt. If you chose to use any of the paper exercise logs, please keep it safe in your participant binder and bring them with you to your final study visit.

Gradually increasing your aerobic exercise

There are several ways to gradually increase your aerobic exercises. During the program, the research team will help you find ways that are most realistic to you! 

The list below provides ideas to get you started. During your study check-in sessions, ask how you can incorporate these into your new exercise routine!

1. Start slow. To avoid risk of excessive soreness and injury, start slow and listen to your body. 

2. Slowly increase the intensity. As you become more comfortable with your aerobic exercises, increase your amount of effort slowly. 

3. Gradually increase the amount of time. Once you feel you are able to comfortably exercise at a moderate intensity, gradually add time to your aerobic exercise sessions. This can be as simple as adding an extra five minutes to your daily walk, for example.

References

1. Campbell KL, Winters-Stone KM, Wiskemann J, May AM, Schwartz AL, Courneya KS, Zucker DS, Matthews CE, Ligibel JA, Gerber LH, Morris GS, Patel AV, Hue TF, Perna FM, Schmitz KH. Exercise Guidelines for Cancer Survivors: Consensus Statement from International Multidisciplinary Roundtable. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019 Nov;51(11):2375-2390. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000002116. PMID: 31626055; PMCID: PMC8576825.