There are many benefits to strength training - stronger muscles, higher bone density, better metabolism and a good heart conditioning! However, not many people are aware of the fact that strength training can be a very useful addition to any diabetes management plan! In today's post, we see how.
For Marathi-speaking viewers, here is my short video on the same topic:
In the below post, I will explain the link between diabetes, insulin sensitivity and strength training / resistance training. I will be covering the following points:
1. What should be your fitness and health goals for combating diabetes?
2. Assessing your diabetes management plan.
3. Benefits of strength training for increasing insulin sensitivity.
4. Caution points.
We begin with a quick Diabetes 101
Diabetes is a condition that impairs your body’s ability to process blood sugar using the hormone Insulin. Type 1 is when your pancreas produce little or no insulin i.e. you become external insulin dependant and Type 2 is when your body produces insulin but your body cannot utilise it to absorb glucose i.e. you become insulin resistant. In both cases, the sugar levels in your blood remain high, which can lead to impaired body functions.
So, before we go on to strength training for diabetes, let’s first learn to ask the right questions:
If you are diabetic, what should be your health goal to overcome this condition?
Be it type 1 or type 2, you main health goal for your body should be to INCREASE INSULIN SENSITIVITY - which means there should be maximum glucose absorption in minimum insulin.
In fact, whether you are diabetic or not, increased insulin sensitivity is a desirable goal as a general health objective, since it results in enhanced fat loss and better sugar management for sustained energy release throughout the day.
How to assess the effectiveness of your diabetes management plan?
So, if you are a diabetic, you are obviously on some diabetes management plan consisting of some medical intervention (pills or injections), nutrition and fitness. However, have you ever assessed for yourself the success of that plan? Any strategical plan for achieving good health should be assessed intermittently for its effectiveness and whether there is progress and progression. The same applies to a diabetes management plan.
For this, let’s take an example - a person dealing with diabetes for the past 10 years, religiously taking his pills, following correct diet and also doing some form of exercise. 10 years of swapping Chapatis with Bhakaris, going on hour long walks everyday - and the potency of his pill has not budged a bit. Now, how would you assess this situation? In my professional opinion, the only good thing about this scenario is that the potency of the pill has not increased in 10 years! However, 10 years is a very long duration, during which, had the health goal been to increase insulin sensitivity through strategic fitness regimes, then there was a definite chance of the potency of the pill to decrease! (Usually people suffering from diabetes are extremely diligent about their medication and diet, so the only variable factor here is exercise!)
Now, if you are the aforementioned diligent patient in this case, you may say that you can’t give more time to exercise than you already are. To that, I say that the trick lies in not exercising for more time, but doing the right exercise within the same time (or even less!).
This is where strength training or resistance training comes into the picture when it comes to diabetes management.
How does strength training help in managing diabetes?
Just like any person’s medication and diet is personalised to his /her medical condition and lifestyle, fitness should also be highly personalised to address the same parameters. When it comes to exercise, there are definitely some forms of fitness which can help you manage diabetes better than the others. Most commonly, we may see people dealing with diabetes (especially older group of people) doing light cardio activities like walking as their daily dose of exercise. In principle, cardio activity will help you burn sugar and create a sugar deficit in your body, but it will not help you increase insulin sensitivity effectively - which should be the ultimate health goal for diabetes, as discussed before! Strength training or ‘Resistance training’ on the other hand has specific benefits in that area! Here they are:
Strength training creates new insulin receptors and also other receptors in your body which do not require insulin for glucose absorption.
Strength training helps increase lean muscle mass which is the most insulin sensitive tissue in your body.
Since most of the glucose in your body is absorbed through muscles, strength training is better for basic glucose absorption itself.
Strength training increases your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) because of which calorie management of your body improves a lot.
So, including strength training as part of your diabetes management will definitely help! However, all that I have said comes with few extremely important CAUTION POINTS:
CAUTION POINTS
Firstly, diabetes and fitness cannot be discussed without giving consideration to the risk of hypoglycaemia. This is also the main reason why high intensity activities are not recommended to people dealing with diabetes. My recommendation would be to start a moderate intensity strength training regime BUT under the guidance of qualified fitness professionals! (In any case, it is only a myth that strength training is always a high intensity activity due to its popularist association with body building and a specific type of imagery!)
Secondly, diet and nutrition is NON-NEGOTIABLE! Whatever dietary changes have been prescribed to you for diabetes - be it eating low-GI, low-carb, high-protein foods, you have to follow them religiously! As I have said in my previous posts as well, nutrition is the basis of our existence, we are literally what we eat!
So that was it! If you are suffering from diabetes, or are pre-diabetic, I sincerely hope that you will give a serious thought to strength training for managing your condition. Do get in touch with me with any questions or further information you may need.
I am giving few references below for further reading:
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