6 Reasons to Do Strength Training if You Have Diabetes

According to the American Diabetes Association, strength training helps type 2 diabetes patients control their blood sugar levels. And it is an ideal form of exercise for all age groups. If you belong to an older age group or you are not entirely fit for weightlifting exercises, you can still do strength training through bodyweight resistance and home gym equipment like kettlebells, dumbbells or resistance bands at home. Make sure you do it under trained supervision.

Let us check out how strength training helps in managing diabetes and other health ailments:

1. Helps in Maintaining Healthy Blood Sugar Level

Although it doesn’t eliminate the need for insulin, your body’s additional insulin gets produced while working out. For example, a strength workout demands your muscles to work extensively. In their need of energy, your muscles burn glucose as fuel from your body. After the training also, your muscle fibres burn energy in the form of glucose to rebuild themselves.

2. Provides Quick Results in Reducing Abdominal Obesity

It is proven through some recent studies that obese people are 80 times more likely to get diabetes than a person with average weight. This risk increases further if you have accumulated fat around your abdominal area. This is known as truncal obesity. Strength training increases your speed of reducing belly fat. However, you can’t mitigate abdominal fat only by cardio alone with that speed.

3. Improves Cardiovascular Health

The fat loss from the abdominal area through strength training aids in improving your cardiovascular heart health. HDL cholesterol increases in your body if you do a strength workout at least thrice a week. HDL is good cholesterol. It reduces the risk of a heart attack and type -2 diabetes. Moreover, heart health and diabetes are interlinked. Disturbance in one often affects the other.

4. Reduces the Pain of Peripheral Neuropathy

Strength training work on increasing muscle mass through weightlifting exercises and strength workout equipment. If you do this training regularly, it helps in reducing the neuropathy pain along with controlling blood sugar levels. However, you should consult your health care provider before starting any exercise program.

5. Prevents Vision Loss

As part of your overall health, your vision also benefits from a healthy diet and exercise. Additionally, vision loss is also associated with high cholesterol levels. If you do strength exercises daily, you lower your body fat and keep your cholesterol levels in check.

6. Manages Glucose Storage

Your muscles store the consumed carbohydrates and sugar. With regular strength training, you make your muscles strong enough to manage and store glucose as glycogen. This activity lowers the level of glucose in the blood, resulting in lower blood sugar levels.

Wrapping Up!

As you can see, strength training is not merely for bodybuilders. It has other diabetes exercise benefits too. So you must not delay in including it in your daily exercise routine. You can easily do strength training exercises at home with some easily available home gym equipment. Stay Fit! Stay happy!