Sid Bonkers said:
Marty the training for any martial arts is very strenuous, personally I would get your diabetes under control before starting any strenuous exercise, once you get more used to the way your body is going to perform now you will be able to manage your blood glucose levels and make allowances for strenuous exercise, but its probably best to walk before you run.
It is advised never to exercise if your levels are higher than 12 or 14 mmol/L sorry I dont remember the exact number but I'm sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.
I agree with Sid 100%, I restarted exercise and I literally started with Zumba once a week, then twice a week - in the class environment I was able to stop, test and take more sugar if necessary etc. Now I just test before, half way through and end, making sure I start at highest 8 because I know I'll drop to around 5.
I then built up exercise and joined a beginner run group aiming to get up 3miles once a week. I've also incorporated some other stuff in recent weeks. I carry sweets in my pocket , my meter etc and just make absolutely sure I know when I last took insulin, take some carb before hand etc. It's a gentle enough level that I've never had to stop and test.
I used to do Thai Boxing but I had to give it up due to feeling ill, fatigued and nerve pain down my left arm constantly. Voila I was diagnosed with T1.5 Diabetes...
Although I'm now into some more strenous exercise of late, however I know I need to wait a bit longer before I throw myself into Thai Boxing, Boxercise, Spin.
I did try Boot Camp yesterday (which is some intense exercise!) to be extra cautious I kept testing at the 10 then 20mins mark in order to maintain glucose levels as I noticed I was seriously sweating and glugging on the 'power aid' every 10mins or so to keep glucose up, in hindsight this was absolutely the righ thing to do.
It helps that my sister is a fitness instructor and she is excellent with dealing with me on the occasions when I've dropped below the 4 mark - I've done some silly things like leaving the room to seek out more sugar even though I've taken the right amount already, or thrown myself straight back in instead of waiting 10mins and retesting...
Now with my improved confidence and fitness, I'm going to join the 10k beginner run group withthe aim of doing a race in September.
So as long as you are prepared to stop and test throughout and have the relevant quick sugars, snacks, etc etc then perhaps Thai Boxing shouldn't be the first thing to start with as I can imagine it's easy to get into it and ignore the hypo warnings...
