training a middle aged borderline diabetic.

[saint808]

she's 51 and needs to drop about 70 lbs. Gonna do one session a week but work out 4 times a week. Should i just have her circuit on the machines and try 20 minutes or so walking on the pre-cor to start?

 

[BigBoyJ]

I'd make sure she's doing A LOT of cardio. I'd have her do it everyday. Most likely she isn't able to do much at a time, so doing it every day will help speed the fat loss.

Also make sure she's aware of how she needs to be eating. She needs to learn how to increase her insulin sensitivity. Make sure she's dropping high gi carbs and knows what the GOOD carb sources are. It'll take time for her to adapt to a new diet, but make sure she understands that she CAN prevent diabetes by changing her eating habits.

As for the weight training, I'd have her doing it 3 times per week. I think the cardio will be the more beneficial for her at this point. She really needs to be dropping the bodyweight.

 

[saint808]

Thanks... the borderline diabetic and her obvious weight really had me a bit scared... also gonna make sure she has her glucomter and some source of sugar with her during workout. When they drop dead they tend not to sign up for more sessions LOL.

 

[saint808]

Also she does have high blood pressure and high cholesterol and is trying to drop the weight and get healthy essentially... tone up, nothing drastic.

 

[BigBoyJ]

I don't know if you've worked with people with health problems before, Saint, but I'll tell you, it really makes you feel good when you're able to help potentially lengthen someone's life. She'll be so grateful to you when she see's her bp, cholesterol and blood sugar put back into the healthy range. It's a challenge, but that's why I like it. To me it's much more interesting working with someone like this than it is to help some 25 year old woman fit into smaller pants.

 

[saint808]

This will be a challenge for sure and probably more satisfying. What the calorie quotient for weightloss? So I can see what she is sustaining and how much i'd like to drop from her diet.

 

[saint808]

also, i'm thinking 2 exercises per bodypart due to her conditions and ailments. Machine only to start.

 

[BigBoyJ]

I wouldn't worry about caloric intake. If she's eating the right foods, she'll lose weight. Calorie counting can get too time consuming and overwhelming for even a dedicated bodybuilder, much less someone who's just starting and trying to get healthier.

I would just have her put her carbs at 3 meals per day for now. For the first 3-4 weeks I would tell her to eat something like cheerios with skim milk for breakfast. It's a good carb source and it's good for cholesterol. Have her eat some grilled salmon, and a baked yam with a salad and italian dressing for lunch. For supper, something like a soy burger would be good. These are the types of food she needs. For snacks, about 20 grams of whey protein would be good. After the 3-4 weeks, she should cut the carbs down to twice a day and stay at that. This will allow her insulin sensitivity to increase and also keep the weight coming off. Also, make sure she's on a good multi-vitamin.

On the cardio, I would make sure she's keeping a good measure of her heart rate and be sure that she stays in her target range. Teach her the "talk test" method also and tell her to basically do as much cardio as she can comfortably handle every day until she is eventually able to work up to one hour per day. In my opinion, doing the cardio in the morning on an empty stomach would be good, but she will definitely need to monitor her blood sugar. Then do the weights in the afternoon so she will get that metabolic boost twice per day on weight training days.

 

[BigBoyJ]

Oh yeah, and if she's physically able, have her do squats. Just with bodyweight. Squats will really help her overall improvement. She'll hate you for it for a while, but she'll see it was for the best. She doesn't have to go all the way down at first, just as far as she's able, but try to get her to go down further with each workout.

 

[MikeS]

I train a 52YO who started with a load of problems. Stroke, Cancer, HBP, Borderline diabetic, 100lbs overweight. She was dragging ass and miserable looking. Now she runs up the steps at home and walks around smiling. Her Dr is so happy with her too. It has really turned her life around, like BBJ said thats a great feeling-and Im not being corny. She does squats on the smith w/135; mostly uses machines but some free weights. Cardio low intensity
as often as possible. Diet is vital 3 meals-3 snacks in between. Meat/fish/chicken/eggs in at least 2 of 3 meals. Last meal low carb (veggies). Snack 1&2 is Muscle Milk-snack 3 is whey isolate (synthepure is great). NO high sugar products, especially drinks (including milk).

 

[precious10]

I totally agree with BigBoy that healthy eating habit is a good way to prevent diabetes. It is also a cheap and safe way. Personally, I often choose watercress as the main part in my daily meals. You may not know that with the presence of alpha-lipoic acid in its content, one of top health benefits of watercress is to promote the diabetes treatment. This antioxidant is effective to reduce your glucose levels, raise the insulin sensitivity as well as protect diabetic patients from oxidative stress. You can see this benefit of watercress is mentioned in many health articles, https://wikihomenutrition.com/watercress-health-benefits. Thus I think add it into your meals may be helpful! Good luck!