Type 1 and Strength Training

lamar92

lamar92

Newbie
Messages
4
Hello Everyone,

I'm new to this platform, but, I feel that there are some more advanced T1D who have addressed this issue and I need some advice. I have been working out for about 12+ years now (I'm 28 atm and have had T1D for 26+). Anyhow, since I beginning my fitness journey I have focused more on cardio, home workouts, etc. since I was uneducated at the time I started as to what was right and not pertaining to building a bod one actually loves. Anyhow, about 3 years ago I have decided I wanted to add so muscle to my frame, however, my issue is I'm not sure what exactly I need to be doing or if what I'm doing is enough. Since my weight has been stagnant for the past 3 almost four years and I haven't seen any progress I need to understand what to do from here.

Currently, I can only work out on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday - since those are my days off
I tend to eat about the same thing (breakfast: egg whites w/ cottage cheese, sometimes bagels/wheat toast, wheat waffles, protein shake, whey protein, greek yogurt, turkey bacon/sausage, oatmeal, veggie sausages

snacks: greek yogurt, bananas, cantaloupe, watermelon, almonds, cashews, peanut butter, protein bar, low-fat beef jerky, skinny popcorn

lunch/dinner: turkey, tilapia/salmon, boneless skinless chicken, baked/broiled sweet potato, brown rice, home-made meatloaf (i usually mix it with turkey meat/96% lean ground beef onion, red bell pepper, garlic/onion powder for seasoning, pepper, and cottage cheese) stuffed bell peppers, roasted veggie (carrots, cabbage, mustard/collard greens, cauliflower, squash, zucchini)

As for the workout I have been using when at home and don't have time to go to the gym (I'm in school and it restricts a lot of my time) then I'll complete some kind of strength training on YouTube with: MillionaireHoy, BullyJuice, or TaBoe though my at-home workouts are on rare occasion (however, with the corona pandemic and new gym regulations I been having to use them more)

When I do hit the gym I'll follow the workout plan the analytics in my fitness app generated:
currently, it has me variations of:

deadlifts
overhead press
lats pulldown
seated cable row
cable tricep kickback
cable crunches
low bar squats
bench press
chest press
bicep curls
walking lounges
plank
dip machine
(cardio spread out through the week in 10 min sessions)

depending on how I'm feeling that day I'll rotate from high-rep/low-weight or high-weight/low-rep. Anyhow my workout sessions always last an hour sometimes a bit more if I have an extra surge of energy.

Lastly, I usually monitor my sugar through dexocom g6 and I have to watch my glucose during workouts because my sugar tends to spike extremely either during or after. OR it will spike during and plummet very fast after.
 
Goonergal

Goonergal

Master
Retired Moderator
Messages
13,465
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hi @lamar92 and welcome to the forum

I’m tagging @johnpol who might be able to give some advice. Hopefully he’ll see this.
 
D

Draco16

Well-Known Member
Messages
182
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi @lamar92

So you want to put on muscle and gain weight? I'd be thinking about four areas.

Diet - look like good healthy choices, but you do need to eat excess calories to gain weight / muscle.

Training - not ideal to only do the gym 3 days per week, especially as they're consecutive days (you need rest in between, when you rest you grow). Sounds like your workouts are all full body, you should split them into upper body / legs / upper body on the three days, then the following week the opposite. Or you may like to do 2x upper body and 1x legs every week. The key thing is to split the workout upper and lower and on your 3 days do upper/legs/upper etc. This allows more rest for each muscle group between gym sessions.

Don't do cardio on your gym days, except maybe 2 mins to warm up / get blood flowing. On 2 of non gym days bring your cardio up to 20 mins. On the other day do body weight exercises at home. On the 7th day... rest. Something like this:

Gym (Upper) / Gym (Legs) / Gym (Upper) / Rest day / Cardio / Bodyweight / Cardio

Rest - I already mentioned rest alot above, but make sure you are sleeping enough. You grow when you rest.

Check out specific fitness forums where there will be more opinions / ideas.

However, on this forum we know about diabetes, and I think this might be what is holding you back.

Control blood sugar - you said you spike extremely during or after exercise. That's bad anyway, but will be really bad if you're trying to gain muscle. When blood sugars are high it means the glucose is not getting into the cells to use as energy. So the body starts to burn fat AND muscle for energy and thus you lose weight. You need to get that spike sorted out. Good blood sugars are vital to help your body rest, repair and grow.

What is your HbA1c?
From your dexcom, how often (what % of the day) is your sugar above 9?
When you say extreme spike, to what kind if number?

I think if you could make these changes you would get the results you want, plus your age is really good now for developing strength/muscle in your late 20s through late 30s.
 
lamar92

lamar92

Newbie
Messages
4
My last HbA1c was 6.7 when my Dr. checked it last in March and according to my Dexcom report it holding constant at that 6.7. I’d definitely say my appetite is a hit and miss so that could definitely be one of my hinderance. I have tried so many diet and workout regimen through the years that my appetite has become so suppressed that I get most of my calories from mass Builder Whey Protein or Herbalife protein. Even when I was trying to make myself it I had a hard time doing that. I like to eat until I’m satisfied and not overdo it. According to different websites I have used past the years they all seem to suggest that I have 2928-3200 cal a day. Also with the vast amount of information I have taken in over the last few years to try and build muscle I just don’t know which to trust…it’s so much conflicting and confusing information I’m too the point I might consider hiring a personal coach. Anyhow at the moment I see my workout schedule as an issue also and have considered that in the past. The issue and my reasoning behind remaining cohesive is my job and school. I workFT at a logistic center and my work schedule is set (it has not changed in six years and neither will it considering I’m signed and guaranteed my work schedule under contract when I was hired). Anyhow it is a hard/intense labor environment so each work night I wake up in the morning tired and am usually tired throughout the weekend considering my work schedule is (3PM - 3:30 AM Tuesday-Friday with every Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off. Also, since I’m in school online as soon as I wake up during my work week I work on my studies from when I wake until it’s time to go back to work. I’ve really been wanting to switch up the days I workout to see how that does but it’s really challenging. Anyhow it’s rare when I can go through an entire gym session with good numbers: I like to workout when my sugar is at LEAST 160 anything less it always and I mean ALWAYS Plummets and I’ll have to stop and keep correcting or stop completely. Similarly when it spikes it really spikes like 300-500+ spikes. I’ve brought this up with my Dr and she seems to believe that the stress hormone my body release when I work out causes the crazy workout reading. Not to mention it’s depressing to have to stop midway or barely into the beginning when you’re pumped about working towards your goal. I’m going to do the best I can with the recommendation you gave me because although I’m no amateur when it comes to working out when it comes to building the physique it doesn’t matter how much I’ve studied I’m just confused. What supplements do you recommend. I have been using d3, fish oil, creatine (which also spikes my sugar pill or powder form).
 
lamar92

lamar92

Newbie
Messages
4
Draco16 said:
Hi @lamar92

So you want to put on muscle and gain weight? I'd be thinking about four areas.

Diet - look like good healthy choices, but you do need to eat excess calories to gain weight / muscle.

Training - not ideal to only do the gym 3 days per week, especially as they're consecutive days (you need rest in between, when you rest you grow). Sounds like your workouts are all full body, you should split them into upper body / legs / upper body on the three days, then the following week the opposite. Or you may like to do 2x upper body and 1x legs every week. The key thing is to split the workout upper and lower and on your 3 days do upper/legs/upper etc. This allows more rest for each muscle group between gym sessions.

Don't do cardio on your gym days, except maybe 2 mins to warm up / get blood flowing. On 2 of non gym days bring your cardio up to 20 mins. On the other day do body weight exercises at home. On the 7th day... rest. Something like this:

Gym (Upper) / Gym (Legs) / Gym (Upper) / Rest day / Cardio / Bodyweight / Cardio

Rest - I already mentioned rest alot above, but make sure you are sleeping enough. You grow when you rest.

Check out specific fitness forums where there will be more opinions / ideas.

However, on this forum we know about diabetes, and I think this might be what is holding you back.

Control blood sugar - you said you spike extremely during or after exercise. That's bad anyway, but will be really bad if you're trying to gain muscle. When blood sugars are high it means the glucose is not getting into the cells to use as energy. So the body starts to burn fat AND muscle for energy and thus you lose weight. You need to get that spike sorted out. Good blood sugars are vital to help your body rest, repair and grow.

What is your HbA1c?
From your dexcom, how often (what % of the day) is your sugar above 9?
When you say extreme spike, to what kind if number?

I think if you could make these changes you would get the results you want, plus your age is really good now for developing strength/muscle in your late 20s through late 30s.
Click to expand...
My last HbA1c was 6.7 when my Dr. checked it last in March and according to my Dexcom report it holding constant at that 6.7. I’d definitely say my appetite is a hit and miss so that could definitely be one of my hinderance. I have tried so many diet and workout regimen through the years that my appetite has become so suppressed that I get most of my calories from mass Builder Whey Protein or Herbalife protein. Even when I was trying to make myself it I had a hard time doing that. I like to eat until I’m satisfied and not overdo it. According to different websites I have used past the years they all seem to suggest that I have 2928-3200 cal a day. Also with the vast amount of information I have taken in over the last few years to try and build muscle I just don’t know which to trust…it’s so much conflicting and confusing information I’m too the point I might consider hiring a personal coach. Anyhow at the moment I see my workout schedule as an issue also and have considered that in the past. The issue and my reasoning behind remaining cohesive is my job and school. I workFT at a logistic center and my work schedule is set (it has not changed in six years and neither will it considering I’m signed and guaranteed my work schedule under contract when I was hired). Anyhow it is a hard/intense labor environment so each work night I wake up in the morning tired and am usually tired throughout the weekend considering my work schedule is (3PM - 3:30 AM Tuesday-Friday with every Saturday, Sunday, and Monday off. Also, since I’m in school online as soon as I wake up during my work week I work on my studies from when I wake until it’s time to go back to work. I’ve really been wanting to switch up the days I workout to see how that does but it’s really challenging. Anyhow it’s rare when I can go through an entire gym session with good numbers: I like to workout when my sugar is at LEAST 160 anything less it always and I mean ALWAYS Plummets and I’ll have to stop and keep correcting or stop completely. Similarly when it spikes it really spikes like 300-500+ spikes. I’ve brought this up with my Dr and she seems to believe that the stress hormone my body release when I work out causes the crazy workout reading. Not to mention it’s depressing to have to stop midway or barely into the beginning when you’re pumped about working towards your goal. I’m going to do the best I can with the recommendation you gave me because although I’m no amateur when it comes to working out when it comes to building the physique it doesn’t matter how much I’ve studied I’m just confused. What supplements do you recommend. I have been using d3, fish oil, creatine (which also spikes my sugar pill or powder form),
 
LaoDan

LaoDan

Well-Known Member
Messages
992
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
The term “new normal “
I’m not type 1, but I’ve found it pretty difficult to get a good pump on a low carb diet, but I push through anyway. My liver seems to dump on any form of exercise. I do 10 - 15 minutes of cardio, then hit the heavy weights when I think I’m spiking. I feel I can get the pump as my muscles feel loaded. Just my theory...
 
D

Draco16

Well-Known Member
Messages
182
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi @lamar92

Sorry for delay, been a busy week. But respect to you for commiting to so much work, study and gym in your life... it's hard going to find the time to do so much.

Supplements, I think D3 and fish oil are good choices. Also just a basic multivitamin to make sure any other gaps are being filled, and more specifically something like ZMA (Zinc, Magnesium, Vit B6). Creatine... I was never a huge fan of, but I know some people are. Given that you have these spikes from Creatine, avoid it until you can get a more stable blood sugar base, then see.

Which is my main point...

You could have the best sleep, diet, best supplements, gym x6 a week... but if your sugar is spiking and you're having to curtail that precious work out time, or your recovery is compromised (high blood sugar is the enemy of recovery and growth) your blood sugars are the biggest issue when you work out and afterwards.

Converting your mg/dL numbers (300-500) to mmol/L numbers (16.7 to 27.8) most on this forum are familar with and many will be surpised that you can stand, let alone work out. They're really high numbers - are you checking for ketones? Bad for health overall, and bad for working out and recovering

You say starting below 160 (8.9) and you plummet. For exercise that's a reasonable top end blood sugar to start at, you say you'd have to correct... but can't you just eat glucotabs/sweets every few minutes, or sip a sports drink to compensate as it falls? You have the advantage of G6 to track this. Are you plummetting because you still have short acting insulin on board? Ideally work out 3 hours after your last major meal so most of the short acting is gone. If you need to eat a bit closer before working out, then just top up with a little snack (with protein / slow release carbs) an hour or so before that only needs a little / or no insulin to cover it.

It's the car analogy: it could have the best aerodynamics, tyres, engine, driver, etc but if it's fuelling (blood sugar) is off then it won't perform optimally.
 
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