Impact of aerobic and heavy resistance exercise on fitness and emotions breast cancer survivors experience cancer-related tiredness

Objective: This study examined how two simultaneous supervised exercise programs affected breast cancer survivors with initial tiredness. Methodology: Thirty two female breast cancer survivors, aged 49 ± 4 years, were randomly assigned to aerobic (n = 16) or heavy resistance exercise (n = 16) exercise programs. Both programs included eighteen weeks of resistance training, but the aerobic component in the former was more vigorous and supervised, with a perceived exertion rating of 7–8, compared to 6 for the heavy resistance exerices interventions. Most of the study addressed felt weariness. Baseline and eighteen weeks endpoints were measured. The Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons placed the statistical significance level at 0.004. Results: The aerobic and heavy resistance exercise program reduced waist circumference (p = 0.035) and other anthropometric parameters (p = 0.029). Elevated p values in pre- and post-intervention comparisons show that aerobic exercise did not provide these advantages. No significant differences were seen between therapies, since all p values surpassed 0.004. Conclusions: In breast cancer survivors, further research is needed to determine if concurrent heavy resistance exercise is better than aerobic.