#457 Training Through Treatment with Kristy Griggs#457 Training Through Treatment with Kristy Griggs
The Breast Cancer Recovery Coach
Stage four survivor Kristy Griggs shares how daily movement, a fierce mindset and a strong community supported her through treatment and into remission. She also explains how this experience led her to launch Training Through Treatment, a charity that funds vigorous exercise for people undergoing cancer care.
41:49•3 Apr 2026
Training Through Treatment: How Kristy Turned Stage Four Cancer into Daily Strength
Episode Overview
- Exercise can support physical, mental and emotional health during even intensive stage four treatment.
- Learning to tell the difference between a true rest day and low-motivation day comes from trial, error and self-compassion.
- A strong community significantly improves quality of life, from practical help to emotional encouragement.
- Training Through Treatment funds vigorous exercise options for people in cancer care who might not otherwise afford them.
- Choosing a form of vigorous movement you enjoy and can do consistently is more important than any specific workout style.
“"I don't do chemo anymore. I do exercise."”
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? For breast cancer survivor and single mum Kristy Griggs, it was the brutal clarity of a stage four diagnosis and a seven-year-old autistic son who, in her words, meant she was "not allowed to die". Hosted by coach and fellow thriver Laura Lummer, this conversation follows Kristy from being an athletic 37-year-old told to rest and "remember you're sick", to someone who says, "I don't do chemo anymore.
I do exercise." She explains how, during harsh treatment, she lost 25 pounds, grew weaker each round, and still kept asking her oncologist to let her move. When the cancer recurred, she drew a line: she’d do all the drugs, but this time she’d also train every day.
Her doctor later told her, "You are only alive now because of your lifestyle." Kristy talks about learning the difference between a day she truly needed to rest and a day where she could "just clip in" to the bike, sit at the back, and give 100% of whatever energy she had left.
You’ll hear how community became medicine too – spin classmates driving her to chemo, sorting her insurance, leaving meals on her doorstep, and cheering her on when she turned up bald, green with nausea, but still riding. Out of that experience came Training Through Treatment, her non-profit that funds vigorous exercise for people in cancer care: spin memberships, class passes, even home bikes for those who can’t risk crowded studios.
Kristy keeps it simple: the best exercise is the vigorous kind you’ll actually do, consistently, with people who lift you up. If movement, community and a fierce will to live can sit alongside chemotherapy, what might be possible if you gave your body that same daily vote of confidence?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.
Related Episodes
Similar episodes from other shows in the catalogue.