If you happen to frequently do cardio (like working, swimming, dancing, and many others.), you’ve got in all probability observed that your blood sugar reacts in a different way relying on the kind of cardio.
Whereas steady-state cardio will often make your blood sugar drop, interval coaching could make it improve.
The identical goes for resistance coaching (weight lifting) and blood sugar. Some forms of resistance coaching will make your blood sugars improve!
On this submit, I’ll discuss how several types of resistance coaching have an effect on your blood sugar and the methods you may attempt to proactively handle your blood sugar throughout and after resistance coaching.
At all times talk about modifications to your insulin doses along with your medical crew. Since we’re all just a little totally different, it’s possible you’ll want to regulate in a different way for train than I do.
Why resistance coaching is sweet for folks with diabetes
I completely love resistance coaching for 3 causes:
- Resistance coaching makes me really feel sturdy and empowered.
- Resistance coaching has helped me form my physique to my liking.
- Resistance coaching in the end makes my diabetes simpler to handle, because it improves my physique’s potential to make the most of insulin.
Resistance coaching typically falls into two classes
- Low-rep (heavy) coaching with pauses between every set.
- Excessive-rep coaching or supersets with little relaxation between units. Your coronary heart price is elevated all through the exercise.
Every sort of resistance coaching will have an effect on my blood sugar just a little in a different way throughout my exercises however they each have the identical long-term advantage of a considerably improved insulin sensitivity.
How high-rep resistance exercises have an effect on my blood sugar
Typically, I must be just a little extra cautious and watch my sugars extra carefully if I do high-rep exercises, supersets, or a number of compound leg workout routines (like squats, deadlifts, or lunges).
These sorts of exercises can have a cardio-like (cardio) influence on my blood sugar since my coronary heart price can be elevated for many of the session and I can anticipate my blood sugar to drop.
I deal with classes like these nearly as I’d deal with steady-state cardio – by lowering my pre-workout insulin dose by about 30%-50%.
How low-rep resistance exercises have an effect on my blood sugar
In the case of extra conventional resistance coaching with fewer reps (lower than about 12 reps per set), the scenario is just a little totally different. When doing exercises like this, I generally see my blood sugar go up, and generally I don’t see a lot of an influence in any respect. It comes all the way down to what physique half I’m coaching.
For smaller muscle teams like arms and shoulders, my coronary heart price received’t often improve that a lot regardless of the heavy weights, and my blood sugar will stay steady. If I do heavy chest, again, or leg exercises, nonetheless, I’ll more than likely see an influence on my blood sugar, and it could actually usually be a rise. My physique reacts in the identical manner as once I do an interval cardio exercise.
Given this data, I’ll scale back my pre-workout insulin dose minimally or by no means for a low-rep exercise, relying on the physique elements I’m coaching.
The right way to put together for resistance coaching and stop post-workout lows
In the case of resistance coaching, pre-workout meals play an enormous function in whether or not you’ll achieve success within the health club. I all the time eat one thing earlier than and after a strength-training exercise to make sure I’ve sufficient power to do the exercise, rebuild my muscle tissue, and preserve good blood sugar ranges.
My pre-workout snack is a reasonably low glycemic carb (like brown rice) and a few lean protein (like hen breast) which I eat about an hour earlier than my exercise. By consuming a low glycemic carb and a few protein, I get sufficient power for my exercise with out having to take a number of insulin.
My post-workout snack consists of a low or high-glycemic carb with an simply digested protein (like fruit and a whey protein shake).
As talked about, I typically scale back my insulin dose for the pre- and post-workout meals by as much as 50%, particularly on high-rep and superset days, as a result of cardiovascular (cardio) part of the exercise, which all the time makes my blood sugar drop.
Nevertheless, taking a little bit of insulin earlier than a resistance coaching exercise additionally has the profit that it reduces my threat of excessive blood sugar in the course of the low-rep classes.
The right way to modify your insulin as much as 36 hours after a resistance exercise
My method to insulin changes for the 24 to 36 hours after I go away the health club is similar it doesn’t matter what type of resistance coaching I’ve achieved.
What occurs once you do resistance coaching is that you just create microscopic tears in your muscle fibers, and for the following 24 to 36 hours, your muscle tissue heal and get greater and stronger. Throughout this era, your muscle tissue want power to heal and that has to return from someplace, so low blood sugars can simply be the consequence if I don’t plan forward.
If I do resistance coaching lower than 4 instances per week, I’ll usually have to scale back my nighttime basal insulin by as much as 50% on the times on which I work out (that is totally different for each particular person so you might want to experiment and observe your outcomes to seek out what works greatest for you).
If I do resistance coaching greater than 4 instances per week, the elevated insulin sensitivity is current on a regular basis and I can merely decrease my nighttime basal completely with out having to regulate for particular person exercises.
Observe: If you happen to do resistance work to the purpose of extreme or delayed soreness, you may really improve insulin resistance. If the muscle tissue are being repaired for a number of days as a result of excessive injury, you may’t restore glycogen in them till the restore is finished, and that causes insulin resistance.
Abstract
I discover it simpler to regulate for resistance coaching than for cardio, so long as I’m very conscious of the type of resistance coaching I’m doing and keep in mind these tips:
- Excessive-rep exercises wherein your coronary heart price is elevated will more than likely make your blood sugar drop.
- Low-rep exercises that don’t elevate your coronary heart price considerably (like arms or shoulders) more than likely received’t have an effect on your blood sugar.
- Onerous low-rep exercises of enormous muscle teams can have an effect on your blood sugar like an interval exercise, doubtlessly resulting in a rise in blood sugar.
- Don’t be afraid of consuming!!! Eat sufficient lean protein and carbs to gasoline your exercise, guarantee muscle restoration, and (with the suitable insulin dose) stabilize your blood sugar ranges.
- Take into account lowering your insulin ranges appropriately in the course of the 24 to 36 hours after a exercise to regulate for the kind of resistance coaching you’ve achieved.
Have enjoyable within the health club!
