Pre-diabetes can be prevented by following a proper diet and workout plan that focuses of moving excess sugars from your blood-stream to the cells to be used for energy.
Let’s focus on the workout portion of the plan. What types of exercises should you do? Choosing the right ones will make a difference.
To review – there are three main parts to an effective workout plan – flexibility, cardio and resistance. Any pre-diabetic workout must include all three.
I like to add a fourth activity that is crucial to the other three. And that is rest and recovery. We will discuss these in future posts.
Static stretching
Flexibility or stretching involves moving your body by purposefully lengthening and strengthening your muscles and joints in a systematic way.
There are different types of stretches we can use to get this done. To help improve your blood flow and effectively stretch your muscles and joints I recommend doing static stretching. Each movement is held for approximately 20 seconds when doing these.
Static stretches can be done every day and only requires on average of 5 – 7 minutes. By doing them you will not only improve your blood flow and strengthen your muscles but gain better posture and stride. You will also prevent injuries due to poor balance and range of motion.
Static stretches is best done after a workout or first thing in the morning.
After your customized stretches you can go right into your resistance exercises. Do a five-minute warm-up before hitting the weights . . . or you can do your full cardio routine at this time. The school is still out as to whether cardio should be done before or after doing resistance exercises. I prefer to do mine before.
Cardio is a sugar rush
The type of cardio you do makes all the difference in how you process blood sugar. The most effective cardio to prevent pre-diabetes is done using HIIT (high intensity interval training). This involves fast movement followed by a period of rest using slower movements. Sprinters do this when training – a fast sprint down the track followed by a slow walk back to the starting line.
HIIT can be done with most types of basic cardio exercise – running, swimming, cycling, rope skipping, walking, dancing, etc. Doing HIIT increases your heart rate and forces blood to the muscles for energy. Talk about a sugar rush.
Doing steady state cardio (moving at the same speed for 20 minutes) is OK for a time. But the best way to move sugars from your blood to muscles is with activity that increases demand for quick energy boost.
Do cardio at least three days per week as a start. Look to increase that to five days after your body has adjusted to calorie burning mode . . . about three weeks to a month.
It’s important for anyone with high blood sugar levels to do weight training or resistance exercises.
Resistance or weight training to improve sugar levels
The key to an effective resistance workout is the last two repetitions of any set you do . . . using proper form. By this I mean use weights that will allow you to do 10 to 12 repetitions but numbers 10 to 12 must require full exertion to complete. When you do this you are forcing blood sugars to flood the muscles being worked. This will supply energy and get excess circulating sugars out of the blood stream and into the muscle cells.
Do resistance exercises three days per week to start and increase this to 5 days as you get better at it. I like to work two muscle groups each time I exercise. For example on leg days I not only work my legs but also my back. On chest days I also do biceps curls. Develop a routine that works for you.
Weight training is most effective when you use multi-function or compound exercises. These are exercises that work more than one muscle group. For example, chest presses not only work your chest muscles but also your arms and core (abs) muscles. Other examples are squats and shoulder exercises. Always keep your abs tight and breathe from your gut instead of your chest.
Sample workout to improve blood sugar levels
Day 1 (37 minutes)
- Five minutes of stretching
- 15 minutes of Interval Training
- Do three sets of leg exercises – squats and calf raises (10 minutes)
- Do one back movement
- Do 5 minutes of planks for a flatter belly
Day 2
Rest
Day 3
- Five minutes of flexibility movements
- Fifteen minutes of Interval Training
- Three sets of chest exercises – push up or bench presses.
- Do 5 minutes of planks exercises
Day 4.
- Light stretches
Day 5
- Five minutes of stretching
- Fifteen minutes of Interval Training
- Three sets of shoulder exercise
- Five minutes of plank
Be sure to give your body quality rest each night for proper recovery. Rest on day 6 and 7 or Saturday and Sunday . . . for me. Repeat the workouts for four weeks and I guarantee that by week number 5 you will start seeing great results from your efforts.
For more information on various exercises to prevent pre-diabetes visit How to Prevent Pre-diabetes today.