By Chase Rogers
The Springs Family YMCA has begun the spring session of its LIVESTRONG at YMCA program, a program poised to help mitigate the side effects of cancer treatment on survivors.
Members chosen for the program undergo physical exercises to improve muscle mass, strength, flexibility and endurance while improving mental qualities, including confidence and self-esteem.
The 12-week program is offered at no cost to participating members, includes a free YMCA gym membership for the duration of the program, which began Jan. 13 and runs to April 1 on Mondays and Thursdays from 1:15 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
LIVESTRONG, an Austin-based nonprofit organization created by professional cyclist and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong, introduced the program with curriculum aiming to help cancer survivors return to physical activity during or after cancer treatment.
Health and Wellness Instructor and Group Exercise Coordinator Kim Castro works at the Buda YMCA location and oversees five other YMCA locations’ LIVESTRONG programs, including the Springs Family location. Castro said the programs cover a wide array of activities and vary YMCA to YMCA, with accommodations made for instructors, members and available facilities.
“(Activities) can change week to week. One week can be in the fitness center where you’ve got people using the machines and then next week it’ll be in the group exercise room where you’ll be doing a more senior-fitness kind of class,” Castro said. “(The program) is very customizable with what that branch will decide to do with the 12 weeks.”
Members participate in yoga, stretching exercises, strength exercises, water aerobics and Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese martial art incorporating slow, focused movement to target certain muscle groups. Health and Wellness Director Bernadette Johnson, who works at the Spring Family YMCA, said specialized exercises like Tai Chi and water aerobics are easily tailored for and greatly benefit members.
“Water is beautiful, but especially for our cancer survivors,” Johnson said. “So many of them suffer from lymphedema and their lymph nodes are damaged and can swell, but you get them in the pool and the hydrostatic compression on their body helps bring down that lymphedema. The pool, when you are in chest-deep, can put 80 percent less impact on your joints.”
Efforts from instructors also include developing camaraderie among survivors by encouraging interaction and establishing alumni groups that reconvene annually. Johnson said a sense of community plays a significant role in recovering from cancer treatment.
“When people are walking through this cancer journey, they love having a group of people who understand what they are going through and that maybe they will get a new resource from,” Johnson said. “For most of these people, they love getting stronger, but it’s about the community they build.”
Douglas Hoppock, a retired theater professor who completed the program in 2017, said that a cancer diagnosis causes people to interact with you differently, but that members within the program understand what you are going through more than anyone else could.
“People just don’t know how to talk to people with cancer, so they ostracize them, not meaning to. It is just an uncomfortable situation, but with LIVE-STRONG that is something that everyone has in common,” Hoppock said. “They’ve walked in those shoes.”
According to Hoppock, LIVESTRONG sessions are often made up of many different kinds of people, sometimes the only common denominator being their history with cancer.
“We all came in different sizes, different ages, different races, different religions and background, but we all had cancer in common,” Hoppock said. “This class ranged greatly in ages. There was a young man that was in his 20s all the way up to a lady who was in her late 80s.”
Nan Stubblefield, who was diagnosed with her third type of cancer in 2018 and completed the LIVESTRONG program early last year, said the connections made with other survivors in the program run deep and alleviate the isolating feeling a cancer diagnosis can bring.
“With a cancer diagnosis, regardless of how incredibly supportive your family, friend and community might be, there is still this separation you feel,” Stubblefield said. “Then you get into this LIVESTRONG program where everyone feels the same. The level of understanding is there.”
Stubblefield credits the physical and mental gains of the members at the end of the program to the relationships they build over the 12 weeks, declaring extraordinary results.
“At the end, every single person is practically in tears with the results of their final assessment. You just can even believe that (the program) can make such a difference,” Stubblefield said. “All of that is possible because of the emotional support you’ve had over 12 weeks. It is like it has given you the courage and the strength to really push yourself.”
Hoppock said the impact of LIVESTRONG at YMCA is inspiring and is making a significant difference in the lives of those who participate.
“The (YMCA) is all about physical exercises, mental exercises and making friends, but I think there is no exercise better for your heath than reaching down and lifting others up. To me, that doesn’t just describe the LIVESTRONG program, but also the YMCA,” Hoppock said. “What the LIVESTRONG program does is make people that have cancer feel like they are in control of their lives again for the first time since their diagnosis. Everybody that has had cancer should know about it.”
According to LIVE-STRONG’s website, the program has served 71,548 people and 803 communities nationwide since its inception in 2007.
For additional information contact Health and Wellness Director Bernadette Johnson at 512-894-3309 or [email protected].
