[Guest Article] Benefits of Yoga for Cancer Patients

 

Benefits of Yoga for Cancer Patients

Liz Davies

Yoga has provided many benefits for a wide variety of physical issues. It provides relief for back and joint pain. Yoga is phenomenal for stress management and overall well-being. The success millions of people have had with Yoga prompted the medical community to take notice of the benefits. Today, many doctors’ recommend a Yoga practice to cancer patients. While Yoga does not cure cancer, it provides powerful benefits to those who suffer with cancer.

Remarkably, Yoga relieves many of the symptoms related to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Cancer patients must undergo these arduous treatments, and must suffer with fatigue and nausea afterwards. The nausea is unbearable for most patients. However, a mild Yoga program relieves the nausea and helps cancer patients maintain their energy. Many will still feel fatigued but to a much lesser degree. For cancer patients this is welcomed relief from the side effects of chemo or radiation therapy.

Yoga also is shown to increase the number of red blood cells. This is particularly important for cancer patients. A regular yoga practice will increase the circulation of oxygen carrying blood cells. Adequate oxygen supplies are paramount in healing the body whether a person has cancer or another illness. The improved circulation and increase in the number of cells helps the body to heal, and keeps the immune system healthy.

Attitude is an important element when fighting any disease. However, cancer patients struggle the most with keeping a positive attitude. This devastating disease is often fatal if not treated early. In addition, many of the cancer treatments cause a host of side effects. Yoga is proven to increase a person's overall sense of well being which can help a person maintain a positive attitude. In fact, many family members of the patient will participate in a yoga practice. Family members are under severe stress while their loved one battles cancer. It provides an outlet for the stress and emotions. In addition, it helps loved ones maintain their strength and well-being.

 

One of the most amazing benefits of yoga is most people discover they sleep better. Sleep is important to maintain a healthy body and mind. For cancer patients and their loved ones, sleep deprivation can cause emotional and physical breakdowns. Even for those who do not have a devastating illness such as cancer, will benefit from a regular yoga practice. People will get a restful sleep and will feel better throughout the day. 

A yoga practice does not have to be strenuous. Many people experience the many health benefits from a gentle yoga class. The classes are 30 minutes to an hour depending on what type of yoga you choose. However, yoga can also be done in the convenience of your own home. If you are new to yoga, you can start with a beginners program by taking a class or buying a DVD. Yoga is beneficial for people with all types of cancer whether that is breast cancer, liver cancer or even rare forms of pleural mesothelioma.

Liz Davies is a recent college graduate and aspiring writer especially interested in health and wellness. She wants to make a difference in people’s lives because she sees how cancer has devastated so many people in this world. Liz also likes running, playing lacrosse, reading and playing with her dog, April.

TED videos

I’ve been enjoying TED videos recently and I just wanted to share some of them I consider worth watching.

They go pretty well with The Switch and The Happiness Hypothesis book. I’ve found these two books very interesting and one of the best non-training (at least on the first glance) books I have read in a while.

The positive psychology approach (concentrating on your strengths) is very interesting to me and it goes pretty well with ’Finding the bright spots’ for the Rider (if you don’t know what the hell am I talking get your hand on The Switch book).

I suppose this can be used in sport coaching as well. For example, in a group of athletes, coaches are often focused on bad performers and provide critique to them („Lift those damn knees when doing skips John!“). Instead I think one should concentrate more on good performers and provide positive reinforcements and specific feedback for them ("Great knee height John. Great arm action"). This is easier said than done of course, because we are biased toward negative stuff. Been there, done than. Trust me. This approach demands a lot of work.

Another fine read on this pedagogic aspects of coaching is Lyle’s mega series Because We Let Them. Really good read when it comes to Motivation 2.0 (see The Drive book) or carrot~stick, punishment~reward. Anyway, behavior can be explained by context as well (’what looks like a human problem is often a situation problem’) as presented in some of the videos above. 

The more I am involved in coaching the more I realize that psychology is crucial things. To be honest, I suck at it. But hell, I admitted and I am learning :)

More on time-motion analysis

I have just received more good stuff from Miša Filipović (phyical preparation coach for FC Partizan) and I wanted to give heads up for my readers as well. For anyone that found The Revolution of the Measurement of Metabolic Power in Soccer interesting, there is the blog by the same authors at Metodologia dell'allenamento. Make sure to check the latest seminar and the following slides as well: 

pdf report of Prof Peter Henry Prampero Of Prampero

pdf report of Prof. Roberto Colli Colli

As always you can use Google Translate  to translate the documents and Google Chrome to translate web pages while surfing. 

I am looking forward to the new time-motion research based on power, acceleration besides velocity only. That should give us more information on the nature of the team sports.In the mean time check this free research paper by Randers, Mujika et al.

Performance Analysis and Mark Upton

I am big fan of Mark Upton, the creator of Team Sport Coaching website and his work. Mark provides free info on performance analysis in team sports and one of the last video series is just below. Make sure to check the videos and his website, along with the free e-book Developing a Playing System.

Performance Analysis & the Coaching Process – Part I

Performance Analysis & the Coaching Process – Part II

Performance Analysis & the Coaching Process – Part III

In the videos above Mark show us how to utilize SportsCode software for video analysis. This gave me a heads up for other Sportstec products as well. Thanks Mark for providing such a good information on video analysis and team sport coaching in general. 

The Juggernaut Method

I forgot to mention in yesterday's Good Reads one really good read: "The Juggernaut Method" by Chad Wesley Smith. It is a strength training system aimed at (advanced) intermediate level lifters that is basically 'improved' (if I dare to say it ) Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 system, that also utilize some elements of Block Periodization (only when it comes to third level of planning - loading: accumulation, intensification, realization) and most importantly AMRAP (As Much Reps As Possible) tests (in Realization week) to gauge new working max (that all percentages are based upon) compared to Wendlers +5kg for lower body and +2,5kg for upper body lifts. Something like APRE, but way better.

The Juggernaut Method gave me couple of neat tricks regarding programming of the strength training and I suggest to check this book ASAP.  The book is also available over EliteFTS.

I have been on the simple 3x5 for beginners (and broken) for about two months with erratic training frequency (sometimes 2, sometimes 3 full body sessions  a week) and now I plan switching to Upper-Lower 3x/week since I plan doing more conditioning and maybe joining MMA classes at Kaizen MMA club. Thus, I designed the following routine utilizing ideas from The Juggernaut Method.

Bench Day	Squat Day	Military Day	Front Squat Day
Clap-Push up & Jumps	Hang Clean	MB Throws	Clean / Squat Jump
Bench Press	Back Squat	Military Press	Front Squat
Pull-ups	RDL	Pull Ups (BW)	Pendlay Row
Dips / DB Bench	Lunge	Bench Press (3x5@65%)	Hip Thrust
DB Row	Shrug	Curl / YTWL	Calves
Core / Chest	Core	Core / Shoulders	Core

The lifts in yellow are main lifts that are programmed utilizing Juggernaut Method. The lifts in Blue are power/explosive lifts. Everything else is assistance done for 2-3 sets of 5-10 reps.


I am going to try this to see how it goes. I will probably tweak something as I go, so don't take this as written in stone. Anyway, is my bench press calculated utilizing Juggernaut Method. Please note that I choose 5s Wave for Upper Body and 3s Wave for lower body (when you get the book it is going to be clear what the hell am I talking about). Don't make fun of my lifts, even if they are in kg :)

	Bench Press
Working Max	110
Accumulation (week 1)	6x5@77,5
Intensification (week 2)	1x2@72,5
	1x2@80
	4x5@85
Realization (week 3)	1x5@55
	1x3@65
	1x2@77,5
	1x1@82,5
	1x1@87,5
		Reps
	1xAMRAP@92,5	10
Unload (week 4)	1x5@45
	1x5@55
	1x5@65
Big Working Max	113
Projected Max	125
Difference	9,7%
Increment	0,5

Till next time... read the The Juggernaut Method.

Good Reads

I have been absent from Complementary Training blog for some time, but I haven’t been lazy though. I am working on one simple way to individualize and organize energy system development (a.k.a. conditioning) for intermittent sports based on work by Dan Baker and Martin Buchheit (who I plan interviewing soon).   

What I manage to realize is that interviewing is very potent approach to get the right information from the right people.  We need more good interviews with good questions.

For now I just wanted to give you a head up for the following good reads I was reading recently.  

 

The Science of Running – This is awesome blog by Steve Magness. I was really enjoying reading some entries (see below). It is really refreshing to read about some real life training and coaching instead of listening to HIIT oriented research and coaches (yes, CrossFit-ers) about the importance VO_2max and VO_2max intervals all the freakin’ time. Make sure to check to following entries along with downloading his The Science of Running Literature Review.
 

Aerobic Training is NOT the devil and the fallacy of muscle fiber type conversions

The Physiological Map: What’s wrong with the traditional training model

Fallacy of VO2max
Practical Implications of Fallacy of VO2max paper

The Evolution and History of Training: Volume and Intensity

Do we need VO2max workouts? No

Interval training-Why it's misunderstood and what you can learn from the Igloi method

Or just read everything from the Archive

Joel Jamieson and 8weeksOut.  There have been great articles by Joel and his crew over the 8WeekOut over the last couple of weeks. Joel is also preparing Ultimate MMA Conditioning 2.0 and  I can’t wait to get my hands on it. Make sure to check the following articles and follow the Specificity Continuum series.

Fundamental Concepts for Exhaustive Programming

The Truth About Injuries

Never Gas Out – MMA Interval Training

The Specificity Continuum Part I: What is Specificity?

Research Review: Molecular Responses to Strength & Endurance Training – Are They Incompatible?

Intensity of Training (goes very well with the Steve Magness articles)

A New Perspective On Energy Systems Video

Research Review: Energy Systems, Interval Training, & RSA (make sure to check my comment below)           
 

Very interesting review/article Eric. Couple of comments thought: Soccer or any team sport is NOT repeat-sprint sprint sport, but rather HIIA – High Intensity Intermittent Activity. RSS or repeat sprint sequence is a SEQUENCE that happens now and then during the course of a game. If you take a look at this poster by Martin Buchheit, you will get data that RSS actually doesn’t happen that often in a competitive game. http://www.martin-buchheit.net/Dossiers/Poster%20BUCHHEIT%20-%20RSS%20youth%20soccer%20%28Science&Football%20congress%29.pdf The research is still inconclusive (and that was actually said in the review articles on RSA you were referencing) about the role of glycolysis in the RSA (Repeated-Sprint Ability). Athletes with higher amount of glycolytic energy system activity actually had BETTER total times in RSA tests compared to the athletes whose glycolytic energy system decreased over the number of sprints. So, to improve RSA should we increase or decrease reliance on glycolytic system? Although these two point might seem to conflict the notion of alactic-aerobic, they actually support it. First, intermittent sports are NOT repeat-sprint sequences. RSS happens couple of times during the game and it is questionable how much specific RST should be done to improve it (if the athlete is doing sprint, power, strength and intervals/aerobic training anyway). Thus, game specific endurance is not solely RSA as we portray it, thus although glycolytic energy system is important in RSA and RSS it doesn’t mean HIIT should be done day in and day out, because RSA is not that actually important. So, for team sports alactic-aerobic is still the key to game specific endurance. Just my 2 cents…. Keep up the good work

              

 

Intermittent Fasting – Free Review by John Berardi. Great and free (self experimentation) review of the Intermittent Fasting approach to dieting. Glad to see John Berardi exploring the world of IF. My respect toward Berardi growth even more. Besides Lyle McDonald, I highly suggest checking John Berardi’s Precision Nutrition. 

 

 

Martin Buchheit and 30-15IFT. Last couple of weeks I was reading research papers by Martin Buchheit and everything that was available on English on his website. Martin’s ideas behind 30-15IFT (a test, way better than YoYo Intermittent Recovery by Bangsbo) and training individualization are very interesting and should be explored by every physical preparation coach out there. I plan interviewing Martin and writing more about the geniality of 30-15IFT very soon. Make sure to read the following papers:

The 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test : 10 year review

Assessing inter-effort recovery and change of direction ability with the 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test" published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2011)

To finish with some music, for all the Danza Kuduro fans out there, and for those who are sick of the song repeating the whole summer on the radio, here is the remix that I found way more better than the original song. Till the next time.