BACKGROUND Over the last decade, more than 70 studies have explored the capacity of physical exercise to improve physiological (fitness, muscle strength, body composition) and psychosocial (fatigue, depression, emotional well-being) outcomes in patients with cancer during and after anti-neoplastic therapy and although CRC is among the most prevalent malignancies, few exercise-trials have been performed in this patient group. The reason for this notable low number of studies, relative to other common cancers in particular breast and prostate cancer, may be a number of disease and treatment specific phenomena, e.g. high prevalence of co-morbidities, stoma, late-effects from surgery or adjuvants therapies etc., which may complicate participation in traditional hospital-based exercise-programs, which is often comprised of fitness- and strength-training. A recent meta-analysis included just 3 randomized trials investigating exercise in CRC patients, and found positive effects exercise vs control on cardiovascular fitness; standardized mean difference: 0.59 [95%CI 0.25-0.93], P<0.01. A recent pilot study furthermore showed that home-based exercise improved several metabolic factors including reduction in body weight, plasma insulin levels and improved insulin sensitivity. Thus, these data indicate that CRC patients can improve cardio-metabolic health profile by physical exercise; however, the present body of research have included a total of less than 200 patients; explored various exercise-modalities, and applied inconsistent and/or indirect assessment-methods. To this end, there is a remaining need for high quality evidence describing effective exercise-interventions in CRC patients, particularly interventions aimed to be successfully implemented in clinical practice in case of positive results.