Ruth Bader Ginsburg Says She Kept Planking Through Cancer Treatment
Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg continued to do planks and push-ups throughout her recent treatment for pancreatic cancer, she told a crowd at Berkeley Law School on Monday, CNN reports.
The 86-year-old endured radiation treatment for cancer over the summer. She has previously survived colon and lung cancer; she also underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in 2009. In late August, doctors at New York City’s Sloane Kettering hospital announced that there was “no evidence” of cancer anywhere in Ginsburg’s body.
And on Monday, at Berkeley during a short recess from the Court, asked how she is feeling now, she responded, “Compared to how I was six months ago, very well.”
That speedy recovery is likely thanks, in part, to the Justice’s rigorous commitment to exercise. Much has been made of Ginsburg’s workouts — images of the diminutive judge wasting equipment in the gym has spawned a viral videos and a fitness book by her personal trainer. But her account of doing endurance training during radiation still shocks.
Doing an abbreviated fitness routine during her cancer treatment, Ginsburg said, involved “pushups,” as well as planks, “both front and side,” and weight-bearing workouts. She spent her time in front of the audience at Berkeley speaking about exercise as well as the landmark sex-discrimination cases she has ruled on, and how attacks on the First Amendment during McCarthyism inspired her to pursue the law, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Cancer, the Justice reflected, imbues you with a “zest for life that you haven’t had before.”
“You count each day as a blessing,” she said.
Jenny Singer is the deputy life/features editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!