One of the risk factors of pre-diabetes is being overweight or obese. If you have noticed your weight going up lately its time to visit your healthcare provider for a check-up. Before starting you on medication these days doctors are prescribing a dose of physical exercises.
One of the best ways to start a fitness program is to join a gym that has a variety of equipment and a personal trainer on hand for assistance.
As a personal trainer I find that using the cable system can be an effective and safe way to burn more calories while getting fit at the same time. There are a bunch of exercises you can do using them that are a great alternate to using heavy weights. If you have been diagnosed as having pre-diabetes then this is a good place to start on your journey back to health and fitness.
What are cables?
Cable machines are a type of exercise equipment that uses weights and a pulley system to do various exercises. They have several types attachments that allows the user to switched from one exercise to another in seconds.
Most popular gyms have a cable exercise machine and it’s usually never as busy as the regular free-weights or machines weights. However, I have noticed at my gym that more people are starting to realize the benefits of doing cable exercises and a lot local gyms are encouraging beginners to use them more these days. But don’t let that stop you from using them.
A popular exercise machine being advertised on infomercial TV is the Total Gym with host Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley. It also use a cable system and body-weight to do several types of exercises and is great as a portable home gym.
Benefits of using cables to exercise
There are several advantages to using cables over weights including but not limited to:
- Use at any age – Whether you are just starting or are an experience exerciser, young or old or male or female, you can design your own set of exercises to burn calories with cables.
- Safe – Cables are generally safe to use because you are not handling the physical weights. They are not in your hands but attached to the cables.
- Adjustable tension – Weights can be easily adjusted with by moving a pin to your selected amount.
- Adjustable for various heights to suit the users preferences.
- You get a variety of exercises in one place – There are a ton of exercises that can be done with cables and the good thing is that you don’t have to go from station to station. They can all be done in one place.
- Continuous tension through exercises – one of the great things with using cables is that you get a continuous tension on the muscles you are exercising. With weights or machines there is a pause at the top or bottom of the movement. This takes tension of the muscles.
- Concentric and eccentric movements – this ties in with the previous point in that whether pushing or pulling (concentric and eccentric)- your muscles are always tense.
Partial list of exercises you can do with cables
- Chest crossovers or flyes – to really get good definition in your chest you must do flyes. They target your pectorals muscles and to a lesser extent your entire upper torso. Remember to tighten your abs when doing them.
- Back and shoulder movements – Upright rows is one of my favorite moves with cables. I get a complete shoulder pump after doing them. And the results speak for themselves. Do them as part of your shoulder workout program.
- lateral kicks for legs, leg curls, calf raises
- Body resistance movements
- Arm curls
- Triceps push down
- Ab pull downs
The above exercises don’t even scratch the surface of the number and variety of movements you can do with cables. You can also get your own set of cables specifically designed for working out at home. Resistance bands can offer the a good alternative to gym cables.
Make one of your gym days a cable day when you use them exclusively. Or mix cables in with your regular resistance exercises.
It’s a great compliment to your arsenal of weapons to prevent pre-diabetes whether done as a separate workout routine or as a part of your daily exercise regimen.
I use cables every time I go to the gym. I have my favorite exercises I do each time I use them to target certain muscle groups. Be sure to ask the trainers at your gym to demonstrate the use of the cable system. Start with light enough weight to allow you to do ten to twelve repetitions of each exercise. Do the workouts at a slow and controlled pace to get the full benefit of it.