What does this mean in practice?

If you are in treatment for breast cancer, the data support exercise as a helpful add-on to standard care. Both fatigue and treatment-related weakness improved with exercise in these trials.

What should you do next?

Start with 2–3 resistance training sessions per week. Even bodyweight exercises or resistance bands count. If you have energy for aerobic exercise too, add it. Walking is a good option. The combination worked as well as resistance training alone... Work with your oncology team to adjust intensity based on how you feel. Gradual consistency matters more than high intensity, according to clinical guidance.

Resistance Training Cuts Cancer-Related Fatigue, Large Meta-Analysis Finds

A meta-analysis of 116 trials found that resistance training during breast cancer treatment cuts fatigue and boosts physical function. Adding aerobic exercise does not reduce these gains.

What the Research Found

Researchers pooled data from 116 randomized controlled trials. These trials included over 9,200 women with breast cancer. The team compared three approaches: resistance training alone, aerobic exercise alone, and combined programs.

Both resistance training and combined programs cut cancer-related fatigue compared to no exercise. The effect sizes were nearly the same. Resistance training showed a standardized mean difference of -0.52. Combined programs showed -0.47. Standardized mean difference measures how large an effect a given approach produces. These are medium-sized effects. They match noticeable gains in daily life.

Physical function improved even more. Women doing resistance or combined training scored 0.86 to 0.90 standard deviations higher than controls. That is a large effect. It reflects real change in strength and daily movement.

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What the Research Found

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Resistance Training Cuts Cancer-Related Fatigue, Large Meta-Analysis Finds

Standardized effect size

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