As I begin to write this article, the news is full of the Olympics, which will start next week. What's the difference between those young athletes and us? In my mind's eye I can feel like I am flying down a mountain slope on my skis, or know that I can hit the base line during a tennis match, but I do not dedicate my life to any one sport. If you think sports are just for the young, then you need to know the latest trend in gyms: health clubs for seniors where they do not have to lift weights next to a 25-year old that can outlift and outlook a mature person any day of the week. What we ask you to do here is to dedicate yourself to health. We all know that exercise is an integral part of the treatment of diabetes and each month we share with you reasons for this fact and various types of exercise. Today, we want to tell you about the types of exercise, and which exercises fit into that form of exercise. Each month, we talk about our personal need to exercise and how much better we feel after our exercise program is completed. We are, however, no different than many of you, who get up in the morning with a full day of work ahead, or we wake up feeling too tired to make a cup of instant coffee, and yet we are expected to care for ourselves. When I did individual therapy, I would sometimes talk about good and bad selfishness with patients. Making sure you remain healthy is a form of "good selfishness." Sometimes, the load of wash gets done another time, or we eat a bit later, but I do my aerobics, flexibility, and resistance because I know that in the long run I will be here longer to pester my husband to take care of himself, and I love him dearly. Please keep reading and down load the information so that you can talk over starting a balanced program with your health care team, friends, family or who ever will help you set up your pathway to better health.
We frequently bring you articles on various exercises so you can find more information about just anything out there that will shape you up, buff you up, or keep your cardiovascular system pumping like a pro's. There are three basic types of exercises that we speak about: Cardiovascular, Strength and Endurance and Flexibility. Let's look at these.
Cardiovascular Exercise
This is aerobic exercise, which means that you will be exercising with oxygen and using large muscle groups which you need to sustain over time. Because this type of exercise requires oxygen to get to your muscles, you will be forcing your lungs and heart to work harder, and in doing so, you will strengthen them. It also increases bone strength, helps control cholesterol and just plain makes you feel good. What could be better for those of us with diabetes that know, from reading this web site, the increased risk factor of cardiovascular diseases for us?
How do you incorporate aerobic exercise into your life? We'll find three (that's 3) hours a week doing some sort or a combination of aerobic exercises. Try 30 minutes 6 days a week, or like me, take a 3 mile walk before dinner as well as working out at the gym on some fun machines. My latest love is the elliptical machine after a warm-up on the treadmill, but I also use a cross country skiing machine and others so that I never become bored. Inside, I follow the news; outside my friends and I talk and watch nature wow us in every season. When you do aerobic exercise your metabolic rate (the amount of energy you expend) immediately increases to somewhere between five and twenty times what you expend just sitting there reading this article. This is a very healthy thing to do when you exercise on a regular basis and when you make sure that your health care team is involved.
Aerobic exercise helps us lose weight. Here is a chart that will help you understand how many calories you will burn while exercising for 30 minutes, depending on your weight and type of exercise.
| Activity: |
Weight: |
| 140 lbs. | 165 lbs. | 190 lbs. | 220 lbs. |
|
| jogging | 13.5 | 15.5 | 17.5 | 20.0 |
| (8 minutes per mile) |
| Racquetball | 12.0 | 13.5 | 15.0 | 17.5 |
| Basketball (game) | 9.0 | 10.5 | 12.0 | 14.0 |
| Swimming (slow freestyle) | 8.0 | 9.5 | 11.0 | 12.5 |
| Cross-country skiing | 7.5 | 9.0 | 10.0 | 11.5 |
| Lawn mowing | 7.0 | 8.5 | 9.5 | 11.5 |
| (not self propelled) |
| Cycling (10 mph) | 6.5 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 10.0 |
| Walking (brisk) | 5.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 |
| Ballroom dancing | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
| Raking leaves | 3.5 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 5.0 |
How do you select your aerobic exercise? Start by listing all of the types of exercises and sports that you've enjoyed in the past, as well as any new sport or activity you've always wanted to try. Now, rank them on an "enjoyment scale" from 1 to 10. If you're like some who email us about your dislike of exercise, you can rank your selected exercises and activities based on the ones you dislike the least. Now, take the top-ranked activities and try one out for a few days (15 minutes at a time). You should be able to find one form of aerobic exercise that you will like or at least tolerate easily. If you want to continue to exercise, make sure you like the place where you exercise and do start a program with a friend who is tenacious. I know for sure that those mornings when I wake with a low blood sugar, it is my friend's phone call that gets me motivated to care for the dogs and myself so that that we can meet to get our bodies in gear for the day. Finally, make sure that you make up a list of aerobic exercises that you like or can tolerate by season. In the summer, these may revolve around water and the outdoors. A variety of exercises will keep each day new and fresh so that your routine will not become routine and boring.
Resistance Training
We have many articles on resistance training here on the web site. This is strength training and increases muscle strength and mass, bone strength and your body's metabolism. It will also help you maintain or lose weight and in doing so improve your body image and self-esteem. It is muscle strength that enables all of us to do our every day activities such as climbing steps, getting in and out of bed, carrying groceries or just plain make it through the day with ease. Resistance training increases strength by putting more then the usual amount of strain on the muscle. This increased load stimulates the growth of small proteins inside each muscle cell that play a central role in the ability of the muscle to generate force.
There are various methods for resistance training including free weights, weight machines and calisthenics. When using free weights, dumbbells and bars stacked with weight plates, you are responsible for both lifting the weight and determining and controlling your body position through the range of motion. If you use weight machines, the machines allow you to lift plates, but the machine dictates the movement that you perform. Calisthenics, such as chin-ups, push-ups, and sit-ups, use your own body weight as a resistance force. A newer form of resistance training called resistance tubing involves the use of an elastic band that provides resistance to the active muscles. And, they can be packed easily in your suitcase when you travel. When I recently had to stay in a hotel for two weeks, I ran early in the a.m. in the hallways and did resistance training with my elastic band. That way, sitting in a hospital room all day with my husband was bearable and my blood glucose levels remained steady.
Experts suggest that you add 2 or 3 weight training exercise workouts per week. These will boost cardiovascular health by improving your levels of HDL (good cholesterol ).This type of exercise can also have a beneficial effect on your body composition. because muscles burn more calories than fat. A greater muscle mass will increase your metabolic rate, burn more calories and reduce fat tissue. It will also help increase bone mineral content and prevent osteoporosis. And the good news is that this type of exercise can help up through our senior years-and I do mean senior years, up through our 80's and 90's, to impede the gradual loss of body mass that occurs as we age.
Flexibility Exercise
This is the slow stretching movement that we have written about and which increases the length of your muscles and allows you to remain flexible as you age. Here you can attend dance classes, yoga and stretch classes at the local gym or "Y". The good news it that you will feel better when you flex your muscles, the bad is that this type of exercise does not have the benefits of aerobic or resistance exercise. It does, however, maintain your mobility and freedom of movement. It will make you look healthier by improving your posture and can help those chronically painful morning backs we get as we age. They can also work to prevent injury. Did you read the article on Ice Skating? Remember that we shared that falling in a relaxed position impedes getting hurt. It is our ability to remain flexible that allows for this.
Find time for exercise. As I began this article I hinted on the problem of fitting exercise into your daily schedule. I hope that I've proved that this is a moot question. It is imperative that it is included. If you work, why not exercise during lunch? You can certainly find friends at the job to eat and walk with. If your business has a gym, use it. Weekends are the best time for a full work out. You will have time for aerobics and resistance as well as extra long stretch. Do you work at home? I do much of the time, and I really enjoy a change of scenery during the day, plus I know that the exercise will relax me more than turning on the TV and watching CNN. Just remember that if you wait for time to pop up in your day when exercise looks great, you probably will not be exercising on a regular basis. You will have a better chance of getting hurt as you try to make up for the days you didn't exercise and your guilt quotient will rise with each day that you find an excuse to sit at your desk, bake another cake, take a grandchild to the movie instead of for a bike ride, or watch the TV. For your good health, make that list of exercises you want to try and/or like, see your physician, and get started with a variety of exercises in all three areas that we discussed. We wish you good health and long life. Exercise can help.
BSP
