Welcome to the Headstong Strength Training Team

Welcome Headstrong Team!

An invitation from Dr. Natalie Marshall
and Coach David Spitz

Dear Headstrong Team:

We would like to invite you to work with the Headstrong Strength Training Team to build some muscles, improve your health,  help you recover from treatment and consider a few lifestyle choices that could make your body less hospitable to cancer. 

Exercise helps increase muscle strength, bone strength, and energy and decreases insomnia, depression, anxiety, and fatigue.

We look forward to sharing our strength training program with you!  We are thrilled to have the opportunity to explain why exercise and strength training are key elements to improving your health and metabolic fitness and look forward to learning about your experience using our program.

We have expert coaches standing by to support you regardless of your exercise experience or fitness level.  Healthy lifestyle choices can help you recover from treatment and lower the side effects of corticosteroid medications that are often used to treat neurological tumors. Please join us today!

Strength training is the best way to increase muscle mass. It also improves muscle strength that can be used to do cardiac exercise. Strength training helps people with coordination, balance, bone strength, flexibility, and it also makes people less likely to fall.  Regan Fedric, exercise oncology expert worked with us and programmed in coordination and balance exercises to help with making new brain connections and improve cognitive function.

Those people who are unable to stand well due to balance issues or loss of strength we invite to join the Headstrong Plus Team.

Those who are able to walk but may need help with coordination and balance we invite to join the Headstrong Team.

“People always ask me what they can do to lower their risk of cancer.  My answer is simple—don’t smoke; drink less; move your body more; build your muscles; and be mindful of what you put in your mouth how you sleep and how you manage your stress level. These are lifestyle choices you can start making today that can directly, or indirectly, reduce your risk of cancer.”

Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations for a Thriving Life
Developed by Donald Abrams, MD, Oncologist, UCSF

“ We want your muscles to be in charge, not your fat tissue. “

Natalie Marshall M.D.

Moderate exercise is when you can talk but not sing, such as brisk walking or medium bike riding.  Intense exercise is when you cannot carry on a normal conversation, such as while running or swimming.

The Headstrong Strength Training team provides three days a week of strength training programming that can be done with only your body weight or weight can be added as you get stronger.  The programming also provides two days a week of mobility/yoga/stress reduction programming and a way of tracking the minutes of aerobic exercise per day. All exercises can be scaled to different fitness levels. 

See why Coach Dave Spitz, Olympic Weightlifting Coach and Survivor Strong Co-Founder, and I developed the Headstrong Strength Training Program. Coach Dave goes into more detail about the program here:

Guidelines for Physical Activity

Many exercise experts recommend the following exercise structure

• 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity per week 

OR

• 75 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic activity

AND

• a minimum of two sessions a week of strength training

These are goals to work towards. Do not feel discouraged if you are unable to complete the above amounts of exercise. Any exercise is better than none!!! Even 5 minutes a day is helpful.

If you choose to join the program we encourage you to track everything you do in the Headstrong Team App so you will be able to see your progress and be encouraged by your accomplishments in building strength, improving balance and endurance. We want to be your partners in health.

We hope to motivate you in making muscles for life!

Thank you,

Dr. Natalie Marshall and Coach Dave Spitz

Headstong Strength Training Programming Team

Dr. Natalie Marshall

Dr. Natalie Marshall is a board-certified Medical Oncologist and Breast Cancer specialist. She is the Medical Director of the UCSF – John Muir Health Cancer Center in Berkeley, CA. She was voted a Top Doc for San Francisco Bay Area and elected by her peers to Leading Physicians of the World. Dr. Marshall in intensely interested in the effect of lifestyle modifications on quality of life and recurrence risk reduction in cancer patients and in the prevention of cancer in unaffected individuals. It motivated her to approach Dave Spitz to design a strength training program for risk reduction and prevention. She trains at California Strength for Olympic weightlifting in the master’s division and has seen firsthand the excellent coaching and programming that is offered to athletes of all types and ages. Survivor Strong is that skill translated for patients so access to this important treatment is available to anyone regardless of place of residence, financial resources, or fitness level.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

• Medical Director of the UCSF, John Muir Health Cancer Center, Berkeley, CA

• Medical School: University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas

• Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine:  University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico

• Fellowship in Medical Oncology, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut

Coach David Spitz

Dave Spitz is the owner and head coach of California Strength, a facility in San Ramon, CA that specializes in human performance. He is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and holds the distinction of a USA Weightlifting Senior International Coach. Since 2008, California Strength has produced numerous NFL Athletes, world class Olympic weightlifters and helped people around the world achieve their goals through various online programs. His experience and knowledge in human performance has helped guide the development of the Survivor Strong program.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

• University of Southern California

• Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist

• USA Weightlifting Senior International Coach

Dr. Susan Chang, MD

Dr. Chang is the Director of the UCSF Division of Neuro-Oncology and an internationally recognized leader in the field of neurological malignancies. She specializes in the treatment of adults with brain tumors, including glioblastomas and meningiomas. She is also the Director, UCSF Neuro-Oncology Gordon Murray Caregiver Program and the Co-Director, Sheri Sobrato Brisson Brain Cancer Survivorship Program

Dr. Chang is especially dedicated to improving the experience of her patients and their families, with a particular focus on increasing quality of life. She is the founder and Director of the UCSF Neuro-Oncology Gordon Murray Caregiver Program, which provides resources and support to the caregivers of brain tumor patients. She is also the co-Director of the Sheri Sobrato Brisson Brain Cancer Survivorship Program focused on comprehensive survivorship care for brain tumor patients.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

• Professor in Residence, Neuro-Oncology, Department of Neurosurgery, UCSF

• Director of Palliative Care, Department of Medicine, St Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Residency in Internal Medicine, Toronto General Hospital, Ontario, Canada

• MD, University of British Columbia, Residency in Internal Medicine, Plains Health Centre, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada

Regan Fedric, CES

Regan Fedric, certified Cancer and Exercise Specialist, delivers her life-long mission of bridging fitness and medicine as Program Director of Sunflower Wellness. In 2002, Regan co-developed the IMPACT program (Integrating Medical Professionals and Certified Trainers), which later became Sunflower Wellness.

Regan has amassed thousands of clinical hours and is part of an integrative team that provides compassionate and progressive care to cancer patients at Smith Integrative Oncology, UCSF Helen Diller Cancer Center, Marin Specialty Care, and Kaiser Permanente. A gifted athlete, Regan played Division I basketball at the University of Memphis, where she earned a B.S. in Exercise Physiology with a minor in Biology. At Lebonheur Medical Center YMCA, she developed the Eagle’s Circle program for children with asthma and/or obesity, and also worked in their cardiac rehabilitation program.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

• University of Memphis

• Certified Cancer and Exercise Specialist