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Diabetes Benefits from Resistance Training Exercise
12/07/07
Nutrition & Exercise
The most effective new tool in the battle against diabetes does not come out of a laboratory, hospital, or pharmacy. The latest diabetes treatment advance actually comes from the days of middle school gym classes.
When the physical education teacher paced you through push-ups and sit-ups you were sharpening your glucose circulation system. Insulin was called into action to replenish the energy reserves used in those calisthenics. This frequent cycling of glucose stores in your muscles kept insulin sensitivity high in your teenage body.
Resistance training can provide the same benefit to the adult body. More than a dozen medical studies have shown that resistance training increases insulin sensitivity. One of the most recent studies published in the journal Diabetes Care reports a 0.3 percent improvement in hemoglobin A1C scores for people who participated in resistance training for six months.
People who regularly participate in cardiovascular exercise earn an average A1C score improvement of about half a percentage point. Study patients participating in both cardiovascular and resistance training exercise averaged an improvement of almost a full point. Consider adding resistance activities to your diabetes exercise guidelines.
What Kind of Resistance Training Should I Adopt?
If you do not want to invest in new exercise equipment or a gym membership, calisthenics are easy and effective. Knee circles, glute kickbacks, ankle circles, arm circles, the Superman, and squats all work out muscles. Push-ups exercise many large muscles and circulate a lot of glucose.
Sit-ups are no longer encouraged because there is some concern that they harm the spine. If you want to replace sit ups you can try crunches, the side jackknife, leg lifts, or an exercise from yoga called the side plank.
Weight training is a classic resistance exercise. For home-based workouts you can purchase some dumbbells to curl, press, roll, or extend in dozens of different formations. If you work out at a recreation center or gym, adding resistance training is as simple as spending some extra time with weights or training machines after your cardiovascular workout.
You can also use resistance bands, or try tai chi, Pilates, or yoga routines to get your resistance workout.
Source:
Diabetes Care, November 2006