Exercise during cancer treatment isn’t one-size-fits-all—and it shouldn’t be. Exercise physiologist and PhD candidate Brent Cunningham explains how auto-regulation helps patients adjust training on the fly, why both aerobic and resistance work matter, and how to dose sessions to support recovery instead of draining it. We cover safety considerations by treatment type, what to expect in a session, and practical ways to find programs and support in Australia.
Key Points:
The “three buckets”: prevention, during treatment, survivorship
Why intensity helps—and how to make it safe with RPE-based auto-regulation
Picking the right levers: load, sets, reps, rest, and especially volume on high-fatigue days
Aerobic vs resistance: cardiotoxicity considerations, muscle preservation, power, and function
Peripheral neuropathy, bone metastases, radiation skin changes—what to modify and how
Training timing around infusions; early research on the tumour microenvironment
Supervised vs unsupervised: outcomes, behaviour change, and building self-efficacy
How long it takes to move the needle on cancer-related fatigue (think 12–16 weeks)
Finding services: Cancer Council, cancer-specific organisations, ESSA, ACSM
Australian access: GP Chronic Disease Management Plan for subsidised sessions
Brent’s project: building practical tools to adjust training day-to-day during chemo
Guest links:
LinkedIn: Brent Cunningham
Research: ResearchGate – Brent Cunningham
Coaching & education: tmrwlabtraining
Scope & Show Notes: