Breast cancer and physical exercise: "CrossFit has saved my life"

• BODY What is an oncology coach and why is it important

• WELL-BEING The painful (and unnecessary) ordeal of Queen Letizia

"If I can help someone and that my testimony can be of use to them, that is already important to me."

Conchi Moreno Martos (Madrid, 1970) is a Hatha Yoga

and Restorative

She sports a wide smile and

that is her hallmark.

However, it wasn't long ago that those loops disappeared.

"It wasn't traumatic at all because I knew it was part of the process and the hair would come back. Plus, I discovered my swirls," she jokes.

She herself

.

"I have always been very self-aware of my body, perhaps because yoga is part of my lifestyle. And it was suddenly, from one day to the next, one night in May in confinement."

He started the protocols in the hands of his family doctor.

"On June 1 the gynecologist was already telling me what I had and we started treatment, which was a real Molotov cocktail. At first every three weeks and then weekly. I have to say that, in my case, I live in Móstoles and

despite being in the middle of a pandemic. It all came together."

What has been lacking in Social Security is

between oncology and gynecology.

"There has been no psychological care and food in the middle of a chemo can be improved, because they give you processed juices and cookies, but they have worried a lot about me," she points out.

ONE IN EIGHT WOMEN

The Madrid woman says that she has had a meditative part thanks to yoga and physics at the hands of CrossFit to recover better. HÉCTOR ESTÉVEZ

As has happened to many other women, one in eight according to the latest data from the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), Moreno had breast cancer.

Today, two years after going through all this ordeal, she wants to highlight the importance of her

to deal with the disease.

"Being able to continue training made my chemotherapy feel like taking Frenadol. The physical part is very important, but the mental part is even more so.

, to focus on the present and what you are doing at that moment. It doesn't mean that what happens doesn't affect you, because I also let it do it. However, you learn that good and bad situations arise and you have to accept them as they come".

Remember the anecdote of when she was informed.

"You have women's cancer."

And she replied: "How original I am, wow."

The doctor looked at her like she was crazy.

"But what's the point of crying nonstop.

," she defends.

STRENGTH, FUNDAMENTAL

Conchi Moreno, smiling while training CrossFit, her passion along with yoga.HÉCTOR ESTÉVEZ

She thought she had a disease and

.

"I wanted to continue with my life as a yoga teacher, I did not understand it as an end to anything."

Everything also happened when she had a year of very good habits with her husband, Tomás de Ella.

"We do everything together and we saw a sign that said Crossfit Courage, which means Courage."

Moreno acknowledges that the couple entered to ask this new center with some fear, because they saw many athletes through the glass.

But from the beginning, the team of coaches got involved with them,

and teaching them to eat well, banishing processed foods and added sugars.

"The oncologist told me: 'Don't overdo it, even if you look good. Don't turn up the revolutions too much.' for bone mass to rebuild and it's also critical for bones.

."

Even more than yoga, he admits.

"In itself it is scary to see a woman with weights, they call you a beast.

. But I have never understood why the doctors told me that I could continue doing inverted

, putting 80 kilos of weight on my arms And yet, I couldn't lift a bar with 15 kilos above my head. In the end, it's ignorance and I've never thought that CrossFit was harmful, no matter how many strong men I've seen, because I've seen the results it gives me and I need it. ", he thinks.

THE SELF-ESTEEM

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CrossFit has made him feel strong.

Looking good.

"Within that the treatment is shit, because it is, especially radiotherapy,

and you mentally reinforce yourself. The coaches have been following me, they have not let me do anything when I don't know I could, they adapted all my movements to my mobility...", he says.

Nobody knows that they are going to have cancer, but

, he assures: "If you exercise beforehand, you receive everything in a different way. More or less when they do so many tests You start imagining it. And the first thing I did when I found out was to inform Francisco Ruiz, my coach, who continues to worry about me to this day and asks me why I've lost a lot of lung capacity. When training, there's always an eye on me." .

ONCOLOGY LABEL

Moreno does not believe that cancer patients need more stigma, but professionals who communicate. HÉCTOR ESTÉVEZ

Any type of physical activity should be according to the person's condition and advised by a professional.

Even more so

.

But Moreno is not in favor of putting the surname "oncological" to training sessions, trainers or centers.

"Now the whole world is getting on the bandwagon of the disease."

Not even the ancient discipline that she teaches.

"

CrossFit is CrossFit.

What do you mean, is it careful yoga or careful CrossFit?

That should be implicit, because you as a professional have to have the knowledge to adapt the session to everyone.

Who does not have cancer has a lumbar injury, for example.

That's why I prefer not to give him last names."

His coach also thinks that the oncology coach as such does not exist.

"It's very sad to manipulate a disease or market it. If you want to specialize, it's great, especially if that helps more people, but

to have a greater impact," he summarizes Francisco Ruiz, CEO of CrossFit Courage, who has led all the treatment of Conchi Moreno, who first did a stress test to check her oxygen saturation.

Cardiovascular work, strength and motor power were and continue to be the basis of his training. HÉCTOR ESTÉVEZ

"Obviously, his abilities were impaired during the intervention. But in the preparatory and rehabilitation phase we try to

. Neither more nor less than what anyone needs to live. Studies show that among people who train there is a 33% lower mortality rate when facing cancer and it is already being prescribed as part of the treatment in hospitals like Inca".

He advises continuing to train even once or twice a week with professionals who go hand in hand with doctors.

"A person who receives chemo on a Tuesday will feel awful until Friday. Strength training helps him live, putting it in with great care and spaced out over time. It can be combined with walks outside to have a good time You have to have an open line of communication with the oncologist, but

better their recovery and subsequent return to normality."

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