You or your loved one may be a diabetic. You heard that exercise is good for managing blood sugar levels, but either you have no idea what to do, or you have a rough idea, but you have a hard time sticking to a regular exercise routine. Maybe your doctor or a family member even recommended personal training, but how do you choose a personal trainer? After all, personal trainers are a dime a dozen, so how do you know youre getting one thats right for you? Personal training for diabetics is different than personal training for weight loss, which is different than personal training for high blood pressure, etc.
Thats exactly what well cover in this article. You can expect to learn:
- The 6 biggest mistakes that personal trainers make when training diabetics
- The 5 biggest mistakes consumers make when choosing a personal trainer for diabetes management
- A special gift for you: the most comprehensive report about how to exercise for diabetes
But before we get into it, what qualifies me to write about this? Allow me to introduce myself. Im Igor. Nice to meet ya
Im the author of 8 books on exercise and nutrition including High Blood Pressure Reversal Secrets, and STOP EXERCISING! The Way You Are Doing it Now, and my bestseller, Type 2 Diabetes Reversal Secrets. Ive written over 450 articles, appeared on numerous television shows as their guest fitness expert, and Im a regular speaker at personal training conferences, training other trainers on how to work with clients who have diabetes.
Most importantly, I have real-life experience working with diabetics and improving their diabetes. For example, clients like Mandy, who was able to get her A1C down from 7.2 to the 6.0-6.4 range, improve her strength and energy levels, as well as her balance. Oh, and as a side benefit, she was able to get off some of her medications, at her doctors discretion.
So Ive gone on to create a team of fitness professionals working within my company, helping diabetics with their blood sugar. If you were wondering where to find a personal trainer for diabetics, we’re here. If you’d like our help, just fill out the application form on our home page.
Mistakes That Personal Trainers Make with Diabetics
At the time of this writing, Ive interviewed 300-350 personal trainers, and one of the questions I ask them is about diabetes. Based on their responses, Id like to think that I have a fairly solid grasp of how other trainers train diabetics. Here are 6 of the most common mistakes that they make:
Mistake #1: Ignoring the Diabetes
The majority of the personal training market is weight loss-oriented, so all that most trainers know is how to train clients for weight loss. And while weight loss may help your diabetes, youd get better results by personal training for diabetes directly (and you may lose some weight in the process as well).
After all, if you have an hour to exercise, you can improve your quality of life. Or you can do the best thing. I dont know about you, but I want to make my time as efficient as possible, so if I can spend the same amount of time doing something, and get better results, Id go for that.
Furthermore, some things that may be good for weight loss may be risky for diabetics, by lowering blood sugar excessively, and causing light-headedness, dizziness or fainting.
But unfortunately, because training for weight loss is all that these trainers know, they apply that methodology to other goals, even though it may not be appropriate.
As the saying goes, if the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail.
A certified personal trainer needs to understand the different types of diabetes and how blood glucose levels affect the client and their insulin sensitivity. Diabetes is a disease that is caused by high blood sugar levels.
For clients with type 1 diabetes, the body doesn’t produce insulin, and they need it to survive. The clients that have type 2 diabetes do produce insulin (often, too much insulin), but their cells can’t use their own insulin effectively. Thats called insulin resistance.
The clients that certified personal trainers will see much more often are those with type 2 diabetes. With a combination of a healthy diet and exercise program, they can control their blood sugar. Health and fitness are the keys to the clients’ success in their battle with type 2 diabetes. Exercise is important for people who live with diabetes, and while physical activity is one of the main treatments, you still need an experienced trainer to help you achieve your goals.
Mistake #2: Not Knowing the Correct Exercise Prescription for Diabetes
Piggybacking on the previous mistake is not knowing how to write a program with the explicit goal of improving blood glucose levels.
In exercise science, there is something called exercise prescription. Its a precise set of instructions on how to do something the right way. For example, when a doctor prescribes a medication, theres:
- The name of the medication
- The dose
- Whether it should be taken with food or away from food
- Whether it should be taken in the morning or the evening
Same thing for exercise prescription. There are distinct parameters, like:
- The type of exercise: cardio or strength training
- The intensity: how hard
- The duration: how long
- The frequency: how many times per week
And just as a doctor would not prescribe the same medications for different conditions, nor does it make sense to do the same type of exercise for different conditions. Whats good for weight loss may be fine for diabetes, but not the best thing. As mentioned earlier, it could be outright harmful.
If youd like my special report on the correct exercise prescription for diabetes, just enter your name and email in the form below, and Ill send it to you right away.
Mistake #3: Not Asking About Medications
While a trainer cant tell you to go on and off certain medications, they should absolutely know the names, effects, and side effects of the most common medications for diabetes, like:
- Metformin
- Insulin
- Glipizide
- Glyburide
and others.
Why is this important to know? Because diabetes medications are meant to lower blood sugar. Exercise is also meant to lower blood sugar. So if youre taking a medication to lower your blood sugar, and the trainer doesnt know about it, and doesnt even think to ask, and uses exercises to help you lower blood sugar, you could end up with an episode of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), which can cause dizziness, fainting, confusion, and even a panic attack.
Mistake #4: Not Measuring Blood Sugar
If youre a diabetic, its important to know what your blood glucose levels are, because if theyre too low, you dont have very far to go before you go into a hypoglycemic episode. In those cases, exercise should be eased up. But if youre not measuring, you just dont know.
In the initial stages (the first 2-5 workouts), it might even make sense to measure your blood sugar 3-4 times:
- Once right before the workout
- Once during the workout
- Once immediately after the workout
- Once 1-2 hours after the workout
Once youve done these measurements, you have a consistent record of how your blood sugar behaves during exercise. With this data, you can make exercise much more specific to you, and much more targeted.
Physical activity a few times a week is vital for a diabetic clients’ success. To achieve this goal, keeping an eye on your blood glucose levels will help you determine whether the exercise routine is right for your diabetes type.
Mistake #5: Not Knowing the Meaning of Different Blood Sugar Levels
To measure blood sugar, a trainer actually has to make some sense of the numbers. If you tell a trainer that your fasting glucose is 7.2 mmol/l (130 mg/dl), and they give you a blank look, thats a bad sign.
The trainer should know how low is low, and how high is high. Because if you measure your blood sugar right before exercise, and see that its 4.7 mmol/l (85 mg/dl), intense exercise may push you into the hypoglycemic range.
When you have type 1 diabetes, you need to increase insulin doses to manage the high sugar levels during high-intensity exercise. Increasing your insulin can also be a risky strategy because blood sugars might be high initially, there is still a chance of having low blood sugar later.
Those with type 2 diabetes who are engaging in high-intensity exercise won’t need to manage the short-term high glucose level they experience. The exercise program will actually have a positive effect on blood glucose control when done correctly.
Ideally, the trainer also knows the difference between fasting glucose, and HbA1C (also called glycated hemoglobin). The difference is that fasting glucose is just a snapshot in time. Its your blood sugar level at that very moment. Your HbA1C is the average blood sugar over the last 3 months.
High-intensity exercise can be beneficial for diabetic clients even though the blood sugar results are confusing. It is essential to follow the recommendations for exercise and diabetes set by the American Diabetes Association, which encourages physical activity for their diabetic patients.
Once diabetic patients have reached a certain age (usually 50), they must consult their health care team to ensure they can participate in a vigorous exercise program. Setting realistic fitness goals for the client with diabetes is essential for meeting their health and fitness goals.
Mistake #6: Not Addressing Nutrition
A lot of trainers hesitate to address nutrition for diabetics, because they are not dietitians. However, there is a huge opportunity to improve blood sugar with nutrition. Exercise by itself is good. Nutrition by itself is also good. But combine the two, and its even better.
However, a personal trainer should at least address the basics of behavior change. If they wont recommend specific nutritional guidelines for a diabetic, they should at least help them stick to their own nutritional goals. The biggest problem with nutrition isnt having the right diet. Its sticking to it. A personal trainer who understands behavior change, and uses specific strategies to facilitate that is worth his/her weight in gold.
If a diabetic client has uncontrolled diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and consumes a diet that is high in saturated fats, carbohydrates and calories in general, they are at risk for cardiovascular disease. The fitness industry must change and focus on designing exercise programs for clients with diabetes combined with a healthy diet to increase the quality of life for the patient. Diabetic clients can benefit from aerobic exercise, a low-saturated-fat diet high in fiber, and vegetables to avoid getting cardiovascular disease.
I cover this in much greater detail in my article on how to build healthy habits. And if you do want to delve into the finer points of nutrition for type 2 diabetes, check out my articles on pre-workout for diabetics, whey protein for diabetics, and my review of Curalin supplements.
Biggest Mistakes Consumers Make When Searching for Personal Training for Diabetics
Now you know the biggest mistakes that the pros make when training diabetic clients. Lets address the most common mistakes that diabetics make when looking for a personal trainer.
Mistake #1: Looking for the Cheapest Option
Think about it: you are hiring someone to help you improve your health, and possibly even extend your life. Do you want the cheapest person you can find? If you needed a surgery, would you look for the cheapest surgeon?
Thats not to say that price shouldnt be a factor at all. I get that there are real budgetary constraints. But sometimes what we think are budgetary constraints are just us not valuing our health enough. Case in point: have you spent $1000 on a smart phone, but wont spend $1000 on your health?
If you find a trainer who seems too cheap, you have to ask why they feel the need to discount their prices to be competitive. Usually, its because they dont feel like they can compete on quality, so they compete on price.
Great personal trainers dont feel the need to compete on price, because they know that theres enough demand for their services that if its too expensive for one person, theres another one just around the corner wholl see the value.
Furthermore, as with anything, a specialist charges more than a generalist. A personal trainer that specializes in diabetes will charge more than a personal trainer who doesnt specialize in anything.
Its better to see that personal trainer once per week at higher prices than a generalist personal trainer 2-3 times per week at lower prices.
Mistake #2: Confusing Likeability with Competence
Just because a trainer has a great personality, and you get along with them really well doesnt mean that they know what theyre doing. And just because they have big muscles also doesnt mean that they know what theyre doing.
Dont confuse likeability with competence. Of course, if youre going to be spending 1-4 hours per week with a person for a few months, or even years, you want to enjoy their company, but you dont want to spend all that time with someone whos fun to be around, but wont get you to your goals. You want someone whos both: a pleasure to be around AND knows what theyre doing.
Aerobic exercise is essential for people with diabetes, and if your personal trainer is not experienced in knowing how glucose levels respond, you might not receive the proper care.
Mistake #3: Not Asking Questions
Now you know some of the biggest mistakes that personal trainers make when training clients with diabetes. Have a series of questions that youd like to know to screen the trainer youre considering. To help with this, Ive written a series of articles about the biggest mistakes that personal trainers make. Heres part 2, and heres part 3.
Mistake #4: Not Looking at Their Work
Before hiring a trainer to help you with your diabetes, make sure youre not the first one (and if you are, you should know that up front). Ask them the case studies of other diabetics that theyve worked with, and improved.
You want to know:
- How many diabetics have they worked with?
- If they can Identify one or two people with diabetes who they use as case studies
- What was each persons A1C before they started, and after 3-12 months?
- Do they address nutrition?
- How do they approach training diabetics differently than people trying to lose weight?
and anything else you feel is relevant.
A certified physical trainer must be well-versed in the different diabetes types, the glucose uptake of the client, and their insulin resistance when creating a program for their clients. Each client has a different level of insulin sensitivity which refers to how sensitive the body’s cells are to insulin.
Mistake #5: Looking Only at Credentials
As mentioned earlier, at the time of this writing, Ive conducted around 300-350 interviews with personal trainers that I wanted to hire. Some of them had Ph.Ds, and some of them just had weekend certifications.
By and large, those with degrees were better suited than those with weekend certifications, but there were some notable exceptions. Ive interviewed people with only 6 months in the industry, but was extremely impressed by their knowledge. By the same token, Ive interviewed people with Ph.Ds, and was disappointed by their knowledge.
Thats why nowadays, when I interview trainers, I dont put much stock into formal certifications (regardless of whether its the American Council on Exercise, Can-Fit-Pro, or others), but more into what they actually know.
Hopefully this gives you some insight into how to choose a great personal trainer for diabetics. If youd like to use my company to help you with that, just fill out our application form on the home page.
Or, if youd like to receive the special report on how to exercise if you have diabetes, fill out the form below.
The report covers things like:
- Whats more effective in lowering blood sugar: cardio or strength training?
- How many days per week should you be exercising? Is it a case of more is better or a case of diminishing returns?
- For how long should you exercise?
- The right intensity: go light, or go hard?
The Bottom Line
It is essential to find the right personal trainer for you. As a client with diabetes, your body requires the right amount of physical activity a few times a week, healthy nutrition that works with your low blood sugar and insulin levels.
Don’t make these mistakes, and find a trainer who knows how your diabetes works!
