Gym advice for Type 1 (just joined gym)

[tim2000s]

The only way of knowing how to adjust your insulin is trial & error. My blood sugars shoot up sky high after a workout which I couldn't get my head around as its always been drummed in to me that exercise = low sugar levels. I don't know how to explain it in scientific words so someone correct me if I'm wrong, but because I go to the gym in the morning on an empty stomach, I wasn't giving insulin as I wasn't having food, it's something to do with when you exercise, your muscles need more glucose to supply energy. In response, your liver increases the amount of glucose it releases into your bloodstream. Obviously on waking & going straight the gym, my body didn't have enough insulin to cope with the extra glucose my liver was making to supply me with energy for my workout so was actually raising my blood sugars. I spoke to my Diabetes team about it who have programmed it into my blood meter for me to take exercise into account so it just tells me how much insulin I should take for my exercise. Hope this makes a bit of sense.

The other thing about going to the gym first thing is that you may experience dawn phenomenon, which, combined with any glucose requirement of the muscles, will add to the blood glucose increase.

Our bodies normally work in a homeostatic system, and therefore trigger the various cells to do things. On waking, we release glucose, and trigger insulin release. On using muscles for anaerobic exercise, we release glucose and trigger insulin. Our body can't tell whether we are high or low, just whether the organs requiring the glucose have enough, and if they don't we try and do something about it. Unfortunately, the triggers don't result in any action!

The weights can really raise blood sugar if you lift very heavy. Then cardio can bring it down again if you do it for long enough.

Interestingly, the research that has been done at Swansea suggests that the best order for Aerobic and Anaerobic in order to best manage BG levels is to undertake Aerobic exercise first, configuring the muscles to lower blood glucose levels, with Anaerobic at the end to cause the hyper glycaemic lift countering the low creating effects of the aerobic exercise.

In addition, the testing they've done on Anaerobic exercise is also quite interesting. In a Superset programme, made up of four sub-programmes done "A/B" then "C/D", if these are done as two sets of reps per programme, then hyperglycaemia occurs post exercise. If done as 3 sets or more, then blood glucose drops and stabilises due to muscles sucking in the liver dumped glucose in the later sets.

 

[TorqPenderloin]

I realize how difficult it is to get a CGM in the UK, but this is another perfect example of a situation when it is valuable.

I have the Dexcom G5 which uses my phone as a receiver. I also recently bought an Apple Watch which is synced as well. Since my gym is fairly small, I can keep my phone in my gym bag and if my blood sugar ever gets low, my watch will start buzzing and let me know. Of course, nothing is fool proof, but with this method I only need to keep a few glucose tablets in my bag just in case.

I do the same thing when I run: I have a small runners belt and put my phone in it along with 3-4 glucose tablets.

Of course, I'm not trying to rub it in, but I hope maybe these kinds of stories will help promote getting coverage in the UK one day.

Edit- I'll try to remember to take a screenshot of my readings so people can see what my levels look like during aerobic and anaerobic exercise.

 

[tim2000s]

I realize how difficult it is to get a CGM in the UK, but this is another perfect example of a situation when it is valuable.

I have the Dexcom G5 which uses my phone as a receiver. I also recently bought an Apple Watch which is synced as well. Since my gym is fairly small, I can keep my phone in my gym bag and if my blood sugar ever gets low, my watch will start buzzing and let me know. Of course, nothing is fool proof, but with this method I only need to keep a few glucose tablets in my bag just in case.

I do the same thing when I run: I have a small runners belt and put my phone in it along with 3-4 glucose tablets.

Of course, I'm not trying to rub it in, but I hope maybe these kinds of stories will help promote getting coverage in the UK one day.

Edit- I'll try to remember to take a screenshot of my readings so people can see what my levels look like during aerobic and anaerobic exercise.

I think we all get it, and there is a huge groundswell of people who want CGM. It's incredibly frustrating that they are expensive and our alternatives are via the NHS (not going to happen easily) or you pay full price, out of reach of the majority.

There are campaigns going on to get something working where the NHS uses their buying power to make this more efficient. It's a long way off....

 

[Neemo]

I would emphasise that, although we (as type 1 diabetics) share a number of characteristics, we are all unique - consequently the impact of training can manifest in different ways, physiologically speaking.

Rather then offering genericised advice, I will provide suggestions based upon my own individual experience (Type 1 Diabetic 21 yrs)

Firstly, perhaps the most important aspect for a type 1 is to implement an eating strategy pre training to minimise potential hypos/hypers. I would recommend adopting 1 of the 2 suggestions below;

1. Eat > Inject 2 - 2.5 hours prior to training - Assuming you take Novarapid? If so, this Insulin peaks at 90-120 minutes. It does have a residual effect for a further 2 hours or so, but this is minimal - I used this strategy with good success for a number of years, however it was just impractical.
2. Eat 30 minutes prior to training with 50-75% less bolus - This is currently the method I use, with excellent effect/practicality (BS seldom out of 4 - 9 range during/post workout). It may take some trial and error to figure out the ratios best suited to you, but keeping carbs lowish will make this easier (As an aside; The problem I sometimes run into is that I tend to bolus/eat a for high tempo workout, there are certain individuals who frequent gyms to 'socialise' - so before you can get into gear, you're accosted/derailed - as you've bolused to factor in your workout, if you aren't working out, your BS rises....get some BIG headphones, tend to do the trick)

POST WORKOUT
A number of Individuals on this forum mention that they tend to have a BS spike after training. Some attribute this to High Intensity training, others 'just exercise' - Personally my BS is in the normal range after training, irrespective of type of training. HOWEVER, *IF* I do not eat & inject soon after training (approx within 30 minutes), without fail my BS will rise to 14-15. It doesn't matter what I eat & Inject, as long as I do, my BS does not spike.

Basal
Certain types of exercise have a profound effect on my basal sensitivity; this equates to low night time BS and lower BS during the following day (I minimised bolus to check this, and found it had to be attributed to basal) Squats tend to the biggest culprit for this, followed by HIT.

Dawn Effect

Never a problem when I train....Only when I'm inactive.

Lucozade

Without fail, Lucozade is king when it comes to rasing BS - have it handy at the gym, just in case.

 

[G2ADY]

i'd love a CGM. I too have the Apple watch and long to be able for it to have more functionality.

Ok, so I started at the gym this morning. Here's what happened.

I basal in the mornings these days to avoid lows during the small hours. So at 8am I injected 60% of my normal basal. My BS always rises slightly in the morning so it went from 6.1 when I awoke to 7.2 before I left the house. I skipped breakfast as I was afraid of bolusing on my first day.

I got to the gym at 9:30 and did 3 miles on an an exercise bike followed by a mile on the cross trainer. I tested my BS and was at 10.1, I didn't do any corrections.

I then started to do 4 reps of 10 on various weight machines. This lasted 40 minutes. I tested again and was 10.2 Now at this point I expected to drop as I'd done a lot of legwork and felt a bit wobbly. So I took 2 glucose tablets just in case as I was concerned that I'd confuse being wobbly with a hypo alert. I consumed around .75 litre of water during the time I was training.

I then showered and spent 10 minutes in the sauna followed by 15 minutes in a Jacuzzi. I tested again and was 9.1

I arrived home and cooked 2 eggs and 2 rashers of bacon followed by a small handful of almonds and mixed seeds. I didn't bolus and an hour later I was 7.9

I intensely dislike going low so I've purposely kept myself a little high today. I'm happy however that I didn't drop like a stone. I was surprised to read some of the comments on here that indicated that resistance training would in fact raise my BS. I'd have thought the opposite. I'll now work on controlling it a little better next time.

I'm interested to see how my insulin requirements change as I continue training.

All good news though, thanks for all your input

 

[tim2000s]

Certain types of exercise have a profound effect on my basal sensitivity; this equates to low night time BS and lower BS during the following day (I minimised bolus to check this, and found it had to be attributed to basal) Squats tend to the biggest culprit for this, followed by HIT.

Lol. And here's the counter for 10... Heavy squats seem to do the opposite for me and induce temporary insulin resistance (for 24-36 hours after training). 3-5 reps of heavy stuff repeated 5-6 times I suspect causes muscle inflammation and cytokine release and I get massive insulin resistance and have to run a TBR at 150% and bolus between 2x and 3x as much insulin...

Just goes to show we are all different!