{"id":32614,"date":"2026-10-26T20:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T20:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=32614"},"modified":"2026-10-26T20:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T20:04:00","slug":"what-powerlifting-taught-me-about-navigating-breast-cancer-at-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=32614","title":{"rendered":"What Powerlifting Taught Me About Navigating Breast Cancer at 26"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In January of 2024 I was living the healthiest life I thought possible. I was 26 years old, working on my PhD in cancer prevention research at the University of Miami and building strength in the gym as a powerlifter.<\/p>\n<p>I played NCAA basketball in college and always incorporated strength training to improve my game. I noticed I was really strong in the gym, but it wasn\u2019t until after I wrapped up my undergraduate studies and was looking for something that would fill my time and help me stay in shape that I found powerlifting. One day, I was working out at the gym, bench-pressing over 135 pounds for reps, when a member of the powerlifting team from the University of South Florida saw me. They were like, \u201cGirl, you\u2019re lifting more than us\u2014you need to join our team!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So I did, and I loved it. I think it helped me a lot with discipline, and it gave me a goal outside of academics to work toward. Knowing I could move a lot of weight benefited me mentally as well, and of course it was great for my physical health.<\/p>\n<p>I had just come off a very good powerlifting meet and was preparing for an even bigger event\u2014one reserved for those with the highest scores across the three major lifts (squat, bench press, and deadlift)\u2014when I first went to the doctor to check out a lump I noticed in my breast.<\/p>\n<p>When I was around 11 years old, my pediatrician taught me how to do a breast self-exam, so I would do that every month or so. That\u2019s how I found it. I actually noticed it first in early 2023, but when it started to grow and began to hurt in the fall, I made plans to get it checked out. Initially, I attributed the pain to heavy bench-pressing. I thought it was likely a muscle strain, since it was right around my pec.<\/p>\n<p>I made an appointment at the student health center for a women\u2019s health exam in December for their first available slot in January. Initially, they weren\u2019t even going to do a breast exam\u2014just a Pap smear and things like that. But I made a point of telling the doctor about the lump in my breast as she was leaving the room. It was one of those last-minute questions they talk about patients asking. After examining me she didn\u2019t really see any issues with it; she thought it was just fibrous tissue. And to be honest I was on board with her thinking, as young women having cysts and lumps in their breasts isn\u2019t uncommon.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.glamour.com\/story\/lashae-rolle-breast-cancer-story\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In January of 2024 I was living the healthiest life I thought possible. I was 26 years old, working on my PhD in cancer prevention research at the University of Miami and building strength in the gym as a powerlifter. I played NCAA basketball in college and always incorporated strength training to improve my game. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1842,"featured_media":32615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[273],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-powerlifting-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Powerlifting Taught Me About Navigating Breast Cancer at 26 - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=32614\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Powerlifting Taught Me About Navigating Breast Cancer at 26 - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In January of 2024 I was living the healthiest life I thought possible. I was 26 years old, working on my PhD in cancer prevention research at the University of Miami and building strength in the gym as a powerlifter. I played NCAA basketball in college and always incorporated strength training to improve my game. [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=32614\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-26T20:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"LaShae D. Rolle, PhD, MPH, CPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"LaShae D. 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