The Impact of Exercise on Growth Hormone Deficient Adolescent and Young Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer: a pilot study

The exercise program consists of thrice weekly supervised exercise sessions aimed at increasing exercise capacity. Each session will last for about 1 hour and consist of a small group with each participant having a personally tailored program. This will continue for 6 months. Intensity will be monitored during exercise sessions using heart rate monitors and rate of perceived exertion (Borg scale). During the intervention phase, exercise intensity will be maintained in the moderate intensity and not enter into vigorous intensity (>60% VO2R). The key components of the exercise intervention include resistance training to increase lean muscle mass, and aerobic training to increase aerobic fitness. Each exercise program will be fully supervised and designed in accordance with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) guidelines(Franklin BA, Whaley MH, and Howley ET. ACSM's Guidelines for exercise testing and prescription (6 ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2000). The program will consist of a 10 min warm up period, with light stretching, followed by 30-45 min of a circuit-based program which will use a combination of both endurance (65-85% of HRmax, monitored continuously using a Polar heart rate monitor) and resistance (55-70% maximal voluntary contraction) exercises, and a 10 min cool down. Intensity and duration will be increased, first by extending the number of sets, then by the weight lifted. We have previous experienced high levels of compliance and participation using this form of training in a similar population group, who are young, and generally not highly motivated to participate in physical activities.