The best type of exercise to use for controlling diabetes involves strength training. Strength training increases muscle mass and strength for better insulin sensitivity. Something as simple as a sandbag can be used.
Reuiqu Durable Oxford Workout Sandbag from Amazon.com
Resistance training of all kinds helps lower blood sugar
A fairly recent study (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36429728/) showed a decrease in A1C of 5% in a 12-week study using 0.5 and 1.0 kg sandbags.
That’s only 1 to 2 lbs. sandbags!
No one trains with sandbags that small! Just think if they used real 20 to 100 lbs. bags!
Sandbags are more affordable
Barbells, dumbbells, or kettlebells can be hundreds of dollars. But you can get a high-quality sandbag for less than $50 or watch a YouTube video and make one yourself. And sand can be free if you live near a beach, or very low cost from a hardware store.
Progression of the resistance of the sandbag is the key to blood sugar control
To encourage muscle growth you have to slowly increase the resistance that you’re working against. Your muscles have to be challenged to encourage them to grow and get stronger.
A lower amount of muscle in the body leads to increased insulin resistance.
This muscle growth improves your insulin sensitivity allowing your own insulin to work better. Having your cells more sensitive to insulin forces the glucose out of the bloodstream and into the cells.
Glucose is damaging floating around in the bloodstream. It causes scarring and narrowing of the small arteries and capillaries.
And if it’s floating around in the bloodstream, the glucose is not in the cells being used for energy.
So, increased insulin sensitivity is crucial to the efficient use of glucose in the body for energy and to prevent the damage it can cause.
What about the reported increase in blood sugar with resistance training?
Yes. There have been studies that have measured an increase in blood glucose after resistance training. Hard training can lead to temporary stress.
And stress leads to adrenaline release. Adrenaline release can lead to glucose release into the bloodstream.
This is the “fight or flight” response.
Also, increased muscular stress can lead to glucose release from stored glycogen in muscles.
But these effects are very short lasting minutes to hours.
So, this type of training can cause a temporary increase in blood glucose. But, gaining more muscle and improving your insulin sensitivity can help overcome chronic high blood glucose levels. These high levels are seen in someone with less muscle tissue and more insulin resistance!
Training with sandbags uses basic body movement patterns
The idea of weight training for health is different than for sport or competition. Your goal is not to lift the most weight that you can.
The goal is to lift enough weight to stimulate the muscles to grow and get stronger. You need to lift a weight that you can do only 5 to 8 repetitions for 3 sets with 3 to 5 minutes of rest between the sets.
You’re also not becoming a bodybuilder. You’re not going to concentrate on your bis, tris, delts, quads, etc..
You’re going to train normal movement patterns of life.
- Squatting
- Picking up weight off the floor
- Pushing weight away from you
- Pulling weight toward you
Sandbag exercises
Squatting
Squatting means bending at the hips and the knees to pick up something low. The most important idea is the hip bend. It starts from the hips, not the knees.
Push your butt backward first then bend the knees, but make sure that you keep your low back arched, and that your knees don’t travel beyond your toes.
Just move down in this way and go back up again initiating both the lowering and the raising with the hips.
Hold the sandbag in both hands in front of you across your thighs, down between your legs, or if you can, on your upper chest.
Start the movement holding the sandbag.
Pick up a weight off the floor
Start with the bag on the floor parallel to your body. Bend over again at the hips with your back arched to grab the handles on the bag.
Slowly raise up pulling the bag up your legs until you’re standing.
Then reverse the process lowering the sandbag slowly to the floor and sliding it against your legs.
If you aren’t flexible enough, you can pick the bag up from a low platform or stair step and lower it back down to it.
Push a weight away from you
Lie on your back on the floor and pull the sandbag onto your lower chest. Grab the bag with each hand and push it toward the ceiling angling backward slightly so the bag is centered over your upper chest. Lower it back down to your lower chest.
Raise and lower the bag in this same path.
Pull a weight toward you
Hold the bag across your thighs and bend over at the hips sticking your butt back and keeping your back arched. Lower the bag to arm’s length slowly and slowly pull it to your lower chest/upper belly.
Raise and lower it in the same groove in line with your lower chest/upper belly.
Your first workout
Your first workout will be a test workout to find your starting weight for each exercise. That’s the weight you’ll use for each exercise in 2 to 3 days and build from.
You’re going to progress slowly by increasing the reps from 5 to 8 over time. If possible, you’ll increase the reps each workout. Once you can do 8 reps you’ll be increasing the weight by 5 lbs. and starting back at 5 reps. You’re going to increase the weight by adding more sand to the bag.
You can do this more easily by making smaller bags of sand of about 5 lbs. each to add to the big bag.
You’re going to train with a day or two of rest between workout days or 2 to 3 days per week.
Progressive resistance is the key
Slowly adding weight to the bag for each exercise will make you stronger and increase the amount of muscle that you have on your body.
This increase in muscle combined with a healthy diet will help you control your blood sugars with fewer or no meds over time.
The lack of muscle tissue as you age also leads to weakness and more falls which leads to nursing home stays and early death.
A sandbag is a simple and inexpensive device that can be the key for you to get better control of your blood sugar. It can also increase your strength to live a longer, healthier life.
Simple, but not easy.
Many of my patients have used progressive resistance exercise to do exactly that.
- Increase their muscle mass
- Increase their strength
- Improve their insulin sensitivity
- And decrease their average blood sugar, their A1C
All this is to make you stronger, healthier, and live longer.