Strength training, sometimes called resistance training, has also been known to improve glycemic control. ?With correct screening and supervision, strength training is safe and effective for people with type 2 diabetes, including older people.

What is Strength Training?

  • it is a type of?movement that forces the muscles to move against resistance
  • works by the phenomenon known as the overload principle
  • by overloading the muscle system with more than what it is normally accustomed to, muscle fibers increase in size and number, in other words they hypertrophy
  • as the muscles become larger, they become stronger

Why do Strength Training?

  • we need to develop our muscular strength because nowadays most of us work in jobs that don’t require too much strength
  • it also improves stamina and energy
  • you are more able to deal with mental and social stresses when you are physically fit
  • progressive strength training significantly improves blood sugar control
  • positive changes in blood glucose levels?are achieved and often exceed results achieved using conventional drug treatments
  • research has found diabetics aged between 60 and 80 years benefit significantly
  • keeping your muscles also helps with managing weight

How Strength Training helps your Diabetes?

  • it helps to manage and slow down type 2 diabetes
  • muscle is the body’s largest reservoir of tissue requiring glucose uptake from your blood
  • larger muscle mass encourages your body to take up and use?your blood sugars
  • faster weight loss and easier maintenance of these losses
  • it increases the body’s insulin sensitivity
  • the GLUT-4 protein is stimulated to increase sugar transfer to your muscles
  • your muscles will become stronger, work harder and use up more?of your blood sugars?for energy

Strength training can be done with

  • free weights?or ‘household weights’ like soup cans
  • elasticized resistance bands, the thicker the tube the greater the resistance
  • working against gravity as in push-ups or squats

Always consult your health care provider before beginning a new exercise program.

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