Effects of Functional Exercise on Fitness and QoL in Cancer Survivors

Potential volunteers will be identified by the clinical care team and asked to contact the research team if they are interested in participating. The participants will be randomly allocated to either a control group or an exercise group and participate in the study. The control group will be asked to perform 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, such as 30 minutes of brisk walking on 5 days a week. The exercise group will be asked to participate in the FRT exercise sessions over 12-weeks. The exercise sessions will be performed with a frequency of 2 times a week (for weeks 1-4) and three times a week (for weeks 5-12). The exercise programme will include 10 muscle-strengthening exercises and 5 recovery exercises (for example walking for one minute). All the exercises will be performed in a circuit fashion and the circuit will be performed 1 time (for weeks 1-2), for 2 times (for weeks 3-6) and finally for 3 times during the last six weeks of the study (for weeks 7-12). During the main part of the workout participants will have to perform 10 repetitions at a moderate to vigorous intensity (for weeks 1-12) for each resistance exercise and they will alternate every two resistance exercises with one active recovery exercise (e.g. walking). They will continue this pattern until they complete the circuit. Each circuit will last approximately 15 minutes (1 minute for each of the 10 resistance exercise stations and 1 minute for each of the 5 active recovery stations) Both before and after their participation in the study, the researcher will take anthropometric (body weight, height, waist and hip circumference, body fat % and lean body mass) measurements and the participants will perform four physical fitness tests (6 minutes walking test, hand grip strength, lift and carry test, chair stand test) in order to assess the effects of exercise on their physical fitness and to answer the quality of life questionnaire. At least 12 hours before it is important for them to abstain from participating in any strenuous physical activity and alcohol/caffeine consumption. In addition, their last meal should be consumed 4 hours before testing. In addition, they will be given a physical activity diary and during the 12-week study period they will have to record their daily activity. Participants of the exercise group will also receive a weight-training diary, where they will record their progress in the FRT stations (i.e. the increase in resistance load for each FRT exercise).