Cancer? More exercise, not less, may be best

For Marika Holmgren, fighting breast cancer was an uphill battle — literally. She got back on her mountain bike shortly after her diagnosis in February 2007, smack-dab in the middle of chemotherapy.

“The treatment is so intense — it strips everything away. You’re physically and completely changed,” says Holmgren, 40. “I was trying to retain some sense of normalcy. And truthfully, I felt a little badass being on my bike during treatment. I was giving cancer the middle finger.”