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Does Strength Training Help Prevent Breast Cancer?

Does Strength Training Help Prevent Breast Cancer?

When you think of how to beat breast cancer, pumping weights probably isn’t the first activity that comes to mind. But strength training workouts can help lower your risk of the disease.

Being overweight or obese increases risk of many types of cancer, including breast cancer. Women who are overweight are 0.8 times to 1.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer than women at a healthy weight.¹

There are several theories as to why being overweight might increase risk of breast cancer. Here are a few:

Fat tissue makes the hormone estrogen; high levels of estrogen raise breast cancer risk
Women who are overweight have higher levels of inflammation, which can make them more likely to get breast cancer
Fat cells can lower levels of chemicals that help stop tumors from growing

What’s the relationship between exercise and breast cancer?

Women who exercise have a lower risk of breast cancer.

Studies show that doing regular exercise like the Curves Circuit makes you less likely to get many types of cancer. When it comes to the link between exercise and breast cancer, you have a 12 to 21 percent lower risk of breast cancer if you work out than if you don’t.

Part of the reason strength training for women and other types of exercise lower your cancer risk may be because working out helps you lose weight, and maintaining a healthy weight helps prevent cancer.

Not only does exercise make you less likely to get breast cancer, but it also helps protect against a worse outcome if you do get cancer. Women who are overweight don’t respond as well to breast cancer treatments as women at a normal weight.⁴

As a result, women with breast cancer who exercise have a 55 percent lower chance of cancer coming back and a 68 percent lower chance of death from any cause than women who don’t exercise.⁵

The best kinds of exercise if you want to control your weight and prevent breast cancer are routines that combine aerobic activity with strength training for women—like the Curves Circuit. Strength training workouts build muscle, and muscle burns more calories than fat. Therefore, the larger and more toned your muscles, the faster your metabolism. Plus, strength training makes you stronger and helps you accomplish daily tasks with ease. As a bonus, strength training workouts feel good!

The aerobic exercise part of the Curves Circuit will improve your cardiovascular system, which is important for staying fit and healthy.

What else can you do to lower your risk of breast cancer?

In addition to maintaining a healthy weight with an exercise plan that includes cardio and strength training workouts, here are some things you can do to reduce your risk of breast cancer:

Follow a healthy eating plan. By eating a diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein, you can help decrease cancer risk.
Eat less red meat and processed foods. Eating red meat and processed foods has been linked with a higher risk of breast cancer.⁶
Limit alcohol. Drinking alcohol increases your risk of breast cancer. It’s best to avoid alcohol altogether. If you do drink, have no more than one drink a day.⁷

The Curves circuit is a great way to lower your breast cancer risk. Curves offers a new Workout of the Week, WOW, each week that features moves from balance, boxing, body basics, and cardio adding variety for women to strengthen your whole body. Obesity is one cause of cancer you can control, so following a healthy diet and engaging in a workout that includes strength training workouts is vital, especially if you are at an increased risk for the disease.

Curves gym is the perfect solution to help you get fit, gain strength, and stay healthy and cancer free. You’ll get an efficient, effective 30-minute full-body workout and improve your health at the same time.

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