Lifting Through Chemo: Motherhood, Strength, and Beating Breast Cancer

Beast over Burden powered by Barbell Logic

Barbell Logic

Health & Fitness, Nutrition, Health, Diet, Fitness, Weightlifting, Barbelltraining, Strengthtraining

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 November 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Elizabeth Blair began lifting postpartum, she had no idea that strength training would one day become one of her most important tools in fighting cancer. In this powerful episode, Niki Sims and Andrew Jackson sit down with coach Nikki Berman and her client Elizabeth to explore the transformation that comes not from chasing PRs, but from choosing to show up when life hits hardest.

Elizabeth shares her journey from new mom learning to deadlift, to receiving a diagnosis of aggressive triple-negative breast cancer, to lifting through chemo, surgery, and recovery. She and Nikki walk us through adapting training around a chemo port, managing energy and nausea, and redefining what "success" looks like when your goal shifts from performance to survival — and then back again.

This conversation is about strength in every sense: physical, emotional, maternal, and human. It's a story of refusing to quit, of lifting through chemo to maintain dignity and control, and of building a body and mindset capable of meeting life's hardest challenges. Whether you're a lifter, a parent, or someone navigating your own fight, this episode shows that the path forward is through the obstacle — one rep, one day at a time.

What You'll Learn

How strength training supported postpartum recovery
Why small wins and consistency matter more than perfect programming
Adapting training around chemo ports, nausea, fatigue, and post-surgery rules
The emotional and mental resilience built through training
How lifting can be an anchor during uncertainty and fear
Returning to the barbell after treatment — and hitting new milestones

PS - IF YOU'RE INTERESTED IN TAKING ONLINE COACHING FOR A TEST RUN, CHECK IT OUT HERE.

Connect with the hosts

Connect with the show

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to Beast Overburden, powered by Barbell Logic.
0:06.2	We're Nikki and Andrew, your personal, professional coaches.
0:09.0	We help you take control of your fitness through hard but doable training and nutrition practices that fit your busy life.
0:17.0	Build a stronger, healthier version of yourself with lifelong habits.
0:24.9	Hello, everybody. Welcome to Beast Over Burden, powered by Barbell Logic. We're here with another
0:30.6	expanded episode. We have Andrew here. Hello. Good to see you again, Andrew, as always, and I'm your
0:36.4	host, Nikki Sims. And we have two very special guests. One is another coach. And if you were Barbologic client, you have probably gotten to interact with her at some point. We have Nikki Berman. Hi. Hey, so good to have you. Happy to be here. And then we have a client of Nicky's, Elizabeth Blair, we're really excited to have
0:56.0	you here, Elizabeth. Hi. Hi. Thanks for having me. So on this series, we've been getting to hear what
1:02.2	it's like in the seat or under the barbell of clients of ours going through like everything that we
1:10.4	hope we cover during our episodes. When Nikki
1:14.9	proposed having a conversation with you, it was like an obvious yes. And for our audience, just know
1:22.0	you're going to hear a really amazing story and it's going to make you think that any speed bump
1:26.4	you have encountered is only that
1:28.7	because this is a really tremendous story of training and working together. But before we get into
1:37.0	that, I'm curious, what made you start training? My husband actually was a client first.
1:44.6	And Nikki Sims, I think you were his first coach.
1:47.8	And so I think so.
1:49.6	You were, yeah.
1:51.0	Yep.
1:51.3	So this was pre-COVID and he had set up the gym.
1:57.5	He was gently encouraging me to give strength training a try.
2:02.5	And I saw what it did for him.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Barbell Logic, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Barbell Logic and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.