Your Exercise Program
What is an exercise program?
Physical activity has many different forms. Some activity you do every
day, such as housework, walking up or down stairs, work on your job. Some
activities you do on your leisure time, like fishing, bowling, golf gardening or
shopping. The important thing is to increase your activity level over what
you do now. The more you do, the more you will be able to do.
As you become more active in your daily life, you may choose to start an even
more aerobic program. Aerobic exercise is activity that causes your body
to use more oxygen. An aerobic exercise program has many
benefits. This kind of activity will burn up calories and bring down blood
sugar. It will strengthen your heart and improve blood flow. It can
help decrease cholesterol and blood pressure. It can help you feel more
energy.
Examples of aerobic exercise are dancing, riding a bicycle, swimming and
several group class or videos. Is is good to pick a activity you will
enjoy, but it is ok to different activities at different times. You can
walk or hike in good weather and do a exercise video on bad weather days.
You can swim in the summer and join a class in the winter. You can make
your exercise do double duty by picking up trash on your neighborhood walk.
How can I plan my exercise program?
As you increase your activity be sure to talk with your doctor. You may
need an adjustment in medication or even some testing to be sure your are
healthy enough to do a specific activity.
Start, but start slowly. Increase the time you exercise to 30 minutes
at a time 3 day a week then add more days. Then you can increase the
intensity of the activity.
What should I do at each exercise session?
Check your blood sugar before you exercise. Exercise will lower your
blood sugar and if you start out with blood sugar less than 80 you could have a
hypoglycemic reaction. On the other hand if you blood sugar is very high
(above 300) before exercise it may be even higher after.
Start your exercise session with 5 minutes of warm-up. This
can be slow walking or stretching. After the warm-up start
your activity and increase the intensity until you reach your target
heart rate. Keep your heart rate up for the time you planned
to exercise, then do a slow cool-down for 5 minutes.
During exercise, if you are too out of breath to speak, slow
down. If you feel dizzy, have chest pain or leg cramps or if
you think you are having a low blood sugar reaction, stop and check
what is going on. Always carry some identification tat says
you have diabetes. Have some carbohydrate available too.
What is my target heart rate?
Your heart rate is an indication of how intense your are
exercising. If your heart rate is too slow, you may not do
much good and if it is too fast, you may put unnecessary strain on
your system. Try to keep the heart rate in your target zone
while exercising.
To check your heart rate, check your pulse right after you
exercise, before you cool-down. Put two fingers on the neck
just under the jaw. Count the beats for 10 seconds then
multiply by 6 for the beats per minute. You could use a chart
that lists the 10 second rates. When you are just starting
exercise you should aim for a 60% of maximum heart rate level.
Your maximum heart rate is based on
age.
How can I stay with my exercise program?
Here are some tips to help you continue your exercise plan:
- Schedule time for exercise, it is as important as many of
your other appointments.
- Team up with a friend, or your partner in care.
- Join a class.
- Keep record of your activity in your diabetes log.
- Increase a little each time, a little faster, a little
longer or a little farther.
- Have a reward in mind.
Now you can use
this worksheet to plan out an exercise
program.