A MARLBOROUGH man is using exercise to recover from a cancer operation to keep fit and stay positive.

Pete Mills, 64, a retired father of two underwent surgery for prostate cancer on April 8, at Royal Marsden Chelsea, and is on a course of medication and radiotherapy at the moment.

He said: “I suspected something was wrong when I could only pee weakly.

“I had to insist on a second opinion when my GP wasn’t convinced that I had a problem and went privately to get a PET scan and MRI scan which revealed I had prostate cancer.”

After the diagnosis he opted for medication to reduce the tumour and radiotherapy to remove it completely.

He was advised that a high level of fitness would aid his recovery and to cope with the treatment.

He said: "The treatment invariably causes muscle wastage and loss of bone density so when he found out more about the classes I did, he told me to keep going with them and stressed the importance of resuming my regime as soon after surgery I could manage.”

Mr Mills said before retirement he enjoyed only token activity including playing tennis and golf, mountain biking, skiing and using hotel gyms when away on business.

“A priority for me when I retired was to really get as fit as possible, drop some weight, improve my balance and work on my co-ordination,” he said,

“I reckoned group exercise classes would help me with this and despite the fact I was often the only man in the class, I signed up to the Les Mills Body Combat and Body Pump classes at my local leisure centre, the Herrongate Club in Hungerford."

He said the classes are inspired by martial arts and includes a non-contact workout that combines punches, kicks and strikes and he urged men of a certain age to take up high energy exercise.