Did you know that diabetes affects 90-95% of the American population? With this growing percentage it is important as a personal trainer to understand how to help! Regular fitness is an important aspect of managing and preventing diabetes.
For an example, let’s look at a male who is 40 years old, has Type 2 diabetes, and is 20 pounds over-weight. He should aim for a 20-60 minutes of exercise on 3-7 days a week. Exercises can include walking, gardening, doing yard work, swimming, or cleaning the house. It is important that these exercises increase heart rate to 40-70% of maximum heart rate.
Resistance training should also be factored in. Training sessions can be 2 days per week at a lower level intensity, 40-60% of 1RM. Repetitions should be 15-20 with 1-2 sets per exercise. Resistance exercises should target 8-12 muscle groups.
A sample program I designed looks like this:
Monday: Walk, bike, or swim
Tuesday: Strength Train
Wednesday: Walk, bike, or swim, stretch
Thursday: Work in the garden, rake leaves, do some housecleaning, or walk around the supermarket or mall
Friday: Strength Train
Saturday: Walk, bike, or swim
Sunday: Rest day: Stretch and light walk
Know if you are at risk, and what you can do to prevent it!
www.diabetes.org
High Blood Pressure also affects many Americans young and old, I wanted to look more into the older population and creating stable exercise guidelines.
There are various safety concerns when designing an exercise program (i.e. cardio respiratory, strength/endurance, and flexibility) for a senior adult who has high blood pressure and is on medication. Many adults with high blood pressure will be advised to take medication to aid in diet.
As a personal trainer it is important to consider your client individually. As a trainer it is imperative to provide an individualized program to fit the client’s needs. The program must be safe and effective. It must also respect the limits established by the clients referring physicians or associated health care providers. A personal trainer should be a positive factor in encouraging an active lifestyle and sensible nutrition choices.
When engaging in exercise, be aware if your client experiences chest discomfort, lightheadedness, and dizziness. Design workouts to avoid thresholds which bring on these symptoms because they might not occur in the client for hours or days after your workout with them.
It is also important to avoid exercising after a meal. The client should be advised to wait 90 minutes after a light meal and 2-3 hours after a large meal before beginning exercise.
Before beginning a training session several environmental and physical factors should be taken into account. Water based exercises should be done at a temperature of 80-90 degrees f. Workouts should not be done in polluted areas. If a viral infection is suspected workouts should be avoided.
It is important when starting a training session to have a proper warm-up. As the workout progresses intensity levels should be graduated. Cardio-respiratory exercises are a great choice because they provide a gradual increase in workload. You can also adjust cardio training, in addition to regular/planned exercise, encourage an increase in everyday activities such as stair climbing, light housework, and gardening. A good frequency of workouts is 3-7 days per week and 15-60 minutes of exercise. All workouts should end with a proper cool down, at the client’s comfort ability level. Flexibility should be static with 20-30 second holds and done 2-7 days per week.
These are fundamental aspects to consider when working with an older adult with high blood pressure. They provide a foundation with which to build a safe and effective exercise program. The most important aspect of all though is getting to know the person you are working with. Have a positive role in there life, provide them with familiar and enjoyable exercises, and repeat successes.
And last but not least the start of it all, babies! (Well this is mostly health and wellness for the moms).
A sample program I designed for a healthy client in her 4th month of pregnancy who has never exercised before:
Monday: 30-60 minutes of walking, 20 minutes of stretching (this can be done 10 minutes in morning, and 10 minutes before bed)
Stretches Week 1:
1. Cat/Cow Stretch
2. Butterfly against a wall
3. Standing side stretch
4. Fish pose
5. Warrior 2 or open lunge
6. Pigeon
7. Standing Quadriceps Stretch
8. Calf Stretch
9. Standing Hip Flexor stretch
10. Arm-Across Shoulder
11. Arm pull back
12. Overhead Triceps and Shoulder Stretch
Tuesday: Strength Training: Low weight, high repetitions 12-20, 8-12 muscle groups. Do not hold your breath, or perform Valsalva maneuver and avoid any supine positions.
Exercises Week 1:
1. Shoulder lateral raise
2. Standing Bicep Curl
3. Dumbbell Shrugs
4. Seated Row
5. Dumbbell bench press
6. Lying down triceps overhead extension
7. Plie Squat standing over chair or ball
8. Wall Squat
9. Standing unilateral heal raise
10. Standing Calf raises
11. Standing Leg extension to the side, focusing on hip abductors and adductors. Standing on one foot using a wall for support; extend the opposite leg to the side and then bring back to meet standing foot.
12. Pelvic Lift
Wednesday: 30-60 min: Walk, stationary bike, or swim; followed by 5 minutes of your choice light stretches.
Thursday: Strength Train (follow week 1 exercises). Stretch (follow week 1 stretches).
Friday: 30-60 min: Walk, stationary bike, or swim; followed by 5 min of your choice light stretches.
Saturday: Strength Train (follow week 1 exercises). Stretch (follow week 1 stretches).
Sunday: Rest
This was a longer post but I had alot that I wanted to share and develop, I hope you enjoy!
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