If you’re looking for exercise ideas for diabetes, then you’ve found the right article!
Living with diabetes can be tough. You have to monitor your blood sugar and be careful of your activities and what you eat. But, exercise is a “must” and can really help with the symptoms of diabetes … but ya gotta pay attention to your body!
Here are five ways that diabetics can get the exercise they need and stay safe.
Word Of Warning
Some diabetics can experience a drop in blood sugar from exercise. If the exercise is too hard, it might cause some problems. The object here is managed activity in moderation. If you are a diabetic who wants to lose weight, this can still be done without compromising your health.
A large portion of weight can still be lost just through diet alone, but it needs to be combined with exercise in order to see the best results!
Your level of fitness will be determined by your body — how good of shape you’re in now. If you’re just getting started, make sure you do “something” that’s easy to moderate activity EVERY DAY. Try for thirty minutes most days of the week. And once a week you can get in a real “workout”.
5 Diabetes Exercise Ideas
1. Walking – walking is still the best all-round exercise. Especially if you’re really sedentary, you work the entire body and your cardiovascular system. Walking can be done on a treadmill or on a path around your neighborhood, whatever is convenient for you. Go a little faster than normal …
2. Bodyweight Exercises – Don’t waste your time with aerobics or anything like that. Get used to moving your body up and down and around. Pushups, situps, pullups, bodyweight squats, all these will get your body into great shape … and… you can start no matter what your fitness level is today!
3. Water workouts – water has the added benefit of providing built-in resistance. As you move you are displacing the water for a harder workout. Swimming is a great form of exercise for diabetics. Perform laps in the pool at the YMCA or the gym for thirty minutes, or as long as you can stand it and work up the intensity and time.
4. Weight Training – every person can preserve their muscle mass as they age with strength training. Muscle burns more calories than fat so you will reap the calorie-burning benefit even after you stop. Lifting weights is not about heavy poundage but a combination of technique and building strength (which builds muscle, etc). Make sure you start with light weights to learn the movements and always try to progress.
5. Yoga – you may not have exercised in a long time. Ease back into it with an exercise that combines stretching with relaxation. This’ll keep you relaxed and still challenge you. You might wanna try pilates too, but I like Yoga best.
Before doing any type of exercise, remember to warm up those muscles and cool down at the end to ease the heart back into its normal pattern. You have to watch out for changes in your blood sugar while working out but you still have a choice — like these 5 exercise ideas for diabetes — so get started today!
