Exercise or die

(GI Jessica, fitness trainer)
So far on in this blog I’ve been covering supplements and diet. Here is a first entry on the other, equally important method of controlling blood sugar.

Exercise.

I had an advantage here, since I was exercising for years before being diagnosed. It was the diet part that has been really hard so far, and I’ve only just started scratching the surface of what I need to learn about that. Not that getting started with exercise is easy. It might just be one of the hardest things you have ever done, but like most hard things it is well worth the time and effort. Since I’m presuming you’ve been diagnosed with at least pre-diabetes it is most important to knock one fact into your head that your reality is now; exercise or die.

But how to get started?

I started almost as an afterthought. I race a car on weekends and when I first bought my Mazda GT I could barely make it through a thirty minute race despite being in fair shape, it is that hard. By the end of a race weekend I really wanted to die. So I decided I needed to get a program going, went to my local Bally’s, and got a trainer named Jessica. The day after I met her somebody handed me a pencil and my arm dropped to the table like I was bench pressing a Volvo. Now I thought I really was going to die and the only remaining worthwhile goal in life was to take that pretty little b***h with me before she did the same thing to some other innocent. As it turned out by the time I was feeling strong enough to pick up the gun I felt much better and within a few weeks I was actually looking forward to working out, and you will too. So yes, Jessica lives. She has since left Bally’s and started her own fitness business, and I’m still going to her group workouts two or three times a week. It'll be five years in August.

And that is lesson number one on getting started, if you can afford it, get a trainer. A trainer will help in many ways, but the most important two are:

• He or She will help plan your regimen and teach you to do it right, avoiding unnecessary injury.
• Having an appointment with someone will, if you are like most people, help motivate you to make it which in turn will prevent you from dumping the routine when your body hits the initial shock.

For those of us more economically minded, while a personal trainer for the first few days or weeks is great, before too long you are going to need to find a group to avoid the high cost of individual training. The YMCA is a great source, especially for various group activities. Check your local Y to see what they offer. And of course Jessica is great if you live anywhere near Newport Beach, CA.

The main thing is to get into a routine.

A lot of us will complain about not having enough time in our busy lives for exercise, but it is, you will admit, more likely that you don’t have the energy. We need four hours a week of exercise, and if you are a typical American you do have the time to crash on the couch for three hours a day watching TV. No, it’s time to be honest with ourselves and admit that it isn’t really a lack of time that is an issue; it’s a lack of energy and to make matters worse, diabetes itself causes fatigue.

That’s why you need to do the diet and exercise together in a combined campaign. The diet will help boost your energy level, which will make it easier to exercise, which will also help your energy level, helping you exercise, all to try to avoid the dying part...

Bottom line; I’m adding an hour, going from three hours a week to four, with three hours being a group exercise led by Jessica on the beach in Corona Del Mar and one hour Saturday mornings at the Y either on weights or doing a spin class. If you are overweight or out of shape it is especially important to get a certified personnel trainer to help you get started, but its expensive so start making plans for a regular group workout at your local gym or the Y as soon as you can.