If you’ve recently been diagnosed with diabetes or any other ailment, for that matter, your doctor has most likely asked you to start eating healthy and exercising.
Exercise helps you lose weight or keep it in check, lowers blood pressure, lowers harmful LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, raises healthy HDL cholesterol, strengthens muscles and bones, reduces anxiety, and improves your general well-being.
But, if you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes, the added benefits include lower blood glucose levels and increased insulin sensitivity, countering insulin resistance.
There several studies that have highlighted the positive effect exercise has on people with diabetes:
If you have diabetes, the general guidelines are:
Ideally, if you have been diagnosed with diabetes, you should mix aerobic training (cardio) and strength training.
It is recommended that a person do 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercises per week of cardio or 60 minutes of high-intensity exercises per week. Your workout regimen should be interspersed with two to three days of strength and resistance training targeting all the major muscle groups.
While it’s very common to hear people say that cardio only burns fat and strength training only builds muscle. In reality, both forms of exercise have several benefits, and it is recommended everyone (no matter their age, sex, or fitness goals) should do both regularly.
How do cardio and strength training differ?
Cardio | Strength training | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Definition | Benefits | Examples | Definition | Benefits | Examples |
Cardio is short for cardiovascular exercise and refers to endurance exercise | Strengthens your body’s circulatory system, which is your heart and blood vessels | Running, cycling, dancing, and certain sports like tennis | Strength training is a form of exercise that uses resistance to contract muscles, helping | Increase strength, boost anaerobic endurance and build skeletal muscles | Weight training, pilates, yoga, and bodyweight exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups. |
Walking is a great form of exercise and has several benefits. But, only walking may not be exactly what the doctor ordered. That’s because walking every day sets your body in a pattern that it quickly gets used to, slowing down the benefits you might see, like weight loss and better endurance. It also works on only your cardiovascular system and not on the muscles of your body. Therefore, adding strength training to your workout regimen can help give you better results.
Wondering how strength training helps? Here are some benefits:
If all this has you inspired to start strength training, here are some tips to get you started at home:
But, there’s one more thing you need to consider before you revamp your fitness regimen to include strength training — consulting a trained expert, like a physiotherapist.
So, if you want to get your blood sugars in control and live well with diabetes, we’d like to introduce you to Diabefly – a 360 degree diabetes management program that’s designed and run by experts. . Diabefly correlates your blood sugar readings with your diet and lifestyle, allowing your care team (which includes a nutritionist, physiotherapist and psychologist) to understand the exact causes of your blood sugar fluctuations ( Personalised Glycemic Response ). Based on these insights, your team gives you personalised recommendations on diet, exercise, sleep and stress all of which help you in living a healthy, diabetes worry-free life!
To know more about how Diabefly can help you smartly take control of your blood sugars, visit our website https://www.fitterfly.com/diabefly or speak to one of our counsellors on +91 7314855505.
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