Can I dive in for a f itness boost?

QI GO swimming three times a week, doing 60 lengths of breaststroke each time, which takes approximately 40 minutes. I’m 68, and I’m wondering if I should cut down the lengths and increase the effort. A IT’S great that you are being so consistent and diligent with your training, and also that you have the desire to step it up a bit. We all need to continuously push ourselves to maintain and improve our fitness levels. I know that there is a concern among many people about the suitability of using High Intensity Training (HIT) as we reach our 60s and 70s.

But unless your doctor has specifically banned intense exercise due to a particular condition, a degree of HIT is actually going to do you the world of good – so long as you don’t go to extremes.

If you have time, you should also try to add a fourth session. That might be swimming again, but at a different intensity, or ideally a muscle-conditioning session that will add strength, increase bone density and help hormone production and regulation, all of which are enormously beneficial to your wellbeing.

My advice is to try to do two sessions of 60 lengths in which you alternate your swimming pace – for example, you might do two lengths at about 90 per cent of your maximum speed, and then do two at around 60 per cent, and repeat. Alternatively, do three lengths at around 75 per cent of your maximum speed, and then take 60 seconds rest before going again. Then do your normal one-paced swim for 60 lengths in the other sessions.

Perhaps the only downside to only doing swimming is that it is not loadbearing and therefore you aren’t testing your bone structures very much.

That is why adding a muscle-conditioning session would have a great benefit to you. Give it a go. QI AM 62, and recovering from breast cancer. I have finished chemotherapy and radiation, and I am now having Herceptin injections and hormone therapy. The side effects are weight gain and aching bones. I am 5ft 3in and now weigh 10st, which I’m not happy about. I want to make sure I don’t get any bigger. A FIRST of all, don’t give yourself a hard time. You have been through a lot and have to allow time to recover and rebalance the system to cope with the treatment you are having.

There is research which indicates that patients on Herceptin who exercise regularly have greater survival rates, so you should try to do regular moderate cardiovascular exercises right now, every day.

You need to walk, cycle or swim (now your chemo has stopped you can swim again) at a moderate pace for 30 to 40 minutes daily.

You can also use some intensity changes using interval training on two to three days each week.

Don’t push too hard and exhaust yourself, but you should feel out of breath at the end of the session.

You can also do some work to engage and strengthen the major muscle groups.

Do a routine of strength exercises either at home or in a gym that will make your major muscles (thighs, bottom, hamstrings, chest and back) work. Choose weights that allow you to do 15 to 20 repetitions, with three to four sets of each.

We need to get your muscles firing up in order to create a higher metabolism again and burn some calories.

I am sure that you are already controlling the intake of inflammatory foods such as sugar, caffeine, alcohol and salt.

In turn, the chances are that your diet is pretty good, but place real emphasis on eating cruciferous foods such as broccoli, spinach, kale and green beans in order to keep cleansing your system and provide a background against which you have the best chance of burning fat and controlling weight.

Don’t beat yourself up. You need to be patient and thankful that you are where you are and that treatment is progressing well.

Equally, you are right to want to be good to yourself and to be yourself, so keep pressing and you will get there.