Exercise as a Prostate Cancer treatment

@jeffmarc
Thanks for the added detail! It's very helpful when you're learning something for the first time.

@heavyphil

Hahaha when I think of Rocky all I can think of is him all out sprinting or running up the steps! HAHA
I've actually heard this too. Just play it naturally and by feel at first on the times of walking /running?

Great thinking and thanks for posting.
Doug

@heavyphil Newton claims the evidence is in, and it will change what prostate cancer patients are prescribed as first line treatments.

Eg. My RO said if I accept ADT to go along with the radiation treatment he's going to give me, my chances of survival will be approximately 20% better compared to RT alone. After all the standard of care for my case is RT plus ADT. He didn't prescribe or bring up exercise. He didn't tell me exercise was bad. He just didn't see any particular form of it as part of the standard of care he routinely prescribes. Newton is saying why not?

Newton points to the CHALLENGE trial which got an eye opening plenary session presentation at this year's ASCO conference, which found that prescribed supervised exercise increased colon cancer patient survival by more than what my RT claimed ADT could do.

I'm asked to accept the possible debilitating side effects of ADT for a benefit. I'm not asked to seek an exercise prescription from someone like Newton or do the best that I can on my own, even though it appears very likely the right amount and type of exercise regularly applied would give an equal or better benefit. And, the well known "side effects" of exercise are positive, compared to the negatives of ADT.

Newton has a prostate cancer specific randomized trial going aimed at proving similar result as the CHALLENGE trial, for prostate patients. He's been studying exercise as medicine, with a great interest in prostate cancer, for decades.

His remarks on aerobic exercise are made in a context - he was discussing a particular patient he was treating as part of a study he was doing. He understands the importance of aerobic exercise as well as resistance training, but the patient was on his way downhill and Newton was discussing the factors he was considering in his approach to reverse the patient's direction.

@climateguy It’s unfortunate that your RO did not mention exercise as part of the comprehensive protocol.
My RO’s PA sat down with me and discussed its importance. When I told her that I already exercised regularly she said ‘great’. But it was members of this forum who posted various articles and videos which really underscored the necessity of going the extra mile.
I was unaware of Newton’s work in the area of PCa but if there are valid results which show benefit then they should be included automatically when ADT is proposed. Best,
Phil

Thanks Jeff for the heads up. I missed the zoom but here's a good summary of Newton's approach: https://www.youtube.com/watch

Newton also has a book, "MyExercise Medicine for Cancer". Has anyone read it?

Re: Delay and reverse prostate cancer development?

I know little about this, but at first blush, I’m skeptical. The exercise I engaged in was voluminous. I got prostate cancer nevertheless. I’ll still keep on exercising for general health, but I’m not expecting a cancer breakthrough. I’ve tried hokey-pokey alternative treatments before. I’ll stick with traditional medicine for now.

@lsk1000
He spent a lot of time working with people that had advanced cases and had become pretty indolent.

He got them exercising, and it did seem to extend their lives. He never promised that you wouldn’t get prostate cancer if you exercised. One in eight men get it, Sometimes it’s genetic other times it could be due to diet or environmental issues. A plant based diet can reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

@jasonnyc Re: Newton's book. I heard him on a podcast state the book was going to be available Oct 31, 2025. It wasn't. His website used to have a banner of the days hours and minutes until when the book would be available, with a link to the Amazon page where it could be pre-ordered. The banner read no time left, as if the book had been published. The link went to a "sorry, blah blah blah, nothing to see here" page on Amazon.

I went to his university bio page and got his contact email. I wrote him asking where is the book? He wrote back saying he keeps holding up publication to change or add things to it, but he said it would be on Amazon Nov 21. It wasn't.

I guess it will be available soon. It's supposed to be aimed at patients.

Newton is having an impact on prostate cancer treatment: I tuned into Kathryn Schmitz, prof at Penn State, who leads an effort to make exercise a prescribed treatment for cancer in the US by 2029. Schmitz has been promoting exercise as medicine for cancer for decades.

During the Q&A she was asked if it was possible to exercise in such a way that muscles could be exercised to grow in a patient with near zero testosterone, by a prostate cancer patient on ADT. She said yes, there is new research coming out of Australia, and named Rob Newton.

@climateguy
9 months ago I could not get off the floor without getting my arms onto a chair or a bed or a fence And pulling myself up.

I went to the gym three days a week and after three or four months, I was able to get up on my own without any help for anything. I used weights that were heavier and heavier as time went on because I can handle more weight.

I have no testosterone, Been on ADT for eight years. I sure seem to have built muscle.

@lsk1000
After listening to the exercise oncologist Dr. Newton, I now understand this exercise therapy is adjunctive to traditional treatments, not a substitute. He made no outlandish claims of reversing or curing. As far as living longer he cautioned that was not studied p/determined in his research. The benefits of exercising is to amplify the immune response, slow down progression, Tolerate treatment better and to improve the quality of life. I’ve been a gyn rat from way back and this gives extra impetus to continue.