Short-term blood glucose effects of rowing

[clampe1066]

Has anyone (especially T2 Diabetics) measured their blood sugar before and after rowing? I'm interested in seeing how much rowing on the Concept2 lowers blood sugar and how much for a given time or distance.

I had a rower back in 2007 and sold it but now that I'm diagnosed with diabetes, I'm interested in getting one to build fitness and control blood sugar levels.

[lindsayh]

Jon Bone (aka "navigation hazard") is a diabetic and has discussed a lot of the challenges of training and competing in "his" thread here.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=169648

[clampe1066]

Thanks for the link!

I read the first post in that thread and it appears to be just what I was looking for.

[pes949]

Interesting... I have the same issue. I was rowing heavily back in 2004. Sold the erg. In January 2018 I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. My weight was 285 at 61 years old. He recommended an elliptical to get my weight down and 30 min exercise 5/days a week. I decided to give the erg another chance and picked up a like new used Model D.

The control of my T2 Diabetes is being addressed in two key ways. You need both to help control sugar.

I row 30 minutes 5 days/week and on days when I feel strong I will do a 10k or 60 minutes. No special program just rowing at steady pace that varies with how strong I feel.

The other half of the equation is diet. Basically I cut back a little and cut out all the really bad stuff. No soda ever of any kind. Water and tea is all I drink now. No cheating on the diet.

Results:
January weight 285
November weight 225

January A1C 14(yes 14!!!)
November A1C 5.5

Meds
January 35units Teciba Daily and 2000mg Metformin
November 2000mg Metformin and no longer using Treciba

On the short term concern:

Type 2 is not about short term BG but long term.

You can check your BG before and after rowing and see how it affects you. Everyone is different.

You should eat before rowing and stay hydrated so drink water before and after rowing.

If your BG is low (say around 80-90) consider a complex carb small snack or nutrigrain bar before rowing. Just dont want BG to go too low, I usually row after breakfast and things are fine all day for me. My BG is typically 100-110 before breakfast and between 100 and 135 before I go to bed.


Moral of the story is keep an eye on the BG to see how rowing affects you personally as everyone is different.

[clampe1066]

Interesting... I have the same issue. I was rowing heavily back in 2004. Sold the erg. In January 2018 I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. My weight was 285 at 61 years old. He recommended an elliptical to get my weight down and 30 min exercise 5/days a week. I decided to give the erg another chance and picked up a like new used Model D.

The control of my T2 Diabetes is being addressed in two key ways. You need both to help control sugar.

I row 30 minutes 5 days/week and on days when I feel strong I will do a 10k or 60 minutes. No special program just rowing at steady pace that varies with how strong I feel.

The other half of the equation is diet. Basically I cut back a little and cut out all the really bad stuff. No soda ever of any kind. Water and tea is all I drink now. No cheating on the diet.

Results:
January weight 285
November weight 225

January A1C 14(yes 14!!!)
November A1C 5.5

Meds
January 35units Teciba Daily and 2000mg Metformin
November 2000mg Metformin and no longer using Treciba

On the short term concern:

Type 2 is not about short term BG but long term.

You can check your BG before and after rowing and see how it affects you. Everyone is different.

You should eat before rowing and stay hydrated so drink water before and after rowing.

If your BG is low (say around 80-90) consider a complex carb small snack or nutrigrain bar before rowing. Just dont want BG to go too low, I usually row after breakfast and things are fine all day for me. My BG is typically 100-110 before breakfast and between 100 and 135 before I go to bed.


Moral of the story is keep an eye on the BG to see how rowing affects you personally as everyone is different.

Congrats on the huge improvements!

One of my friends let his T2 go for years and when he finally was miserable enough to go to a doctor his A1C was ">14" and the lab placed an emergency call to his doctor when they got the results. Less than six months later, he had his right foot/leg amputated 15cm below the knee and now he's confined to a wheelchair. He has so many other complications from the untreated diabetes that he will be extremely lucky if he's ever able to walk again.

I made some major dietary changes and am down 20 pounds (mostly water, I know) and started strength training again but I need to add some cardio conditioning. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the rower and see how it works for me over the winter.

[pes949]

Excellent progress!!!

Keep in mind that staying hydrated is critical for a T2 diabetic. I slight calorie deficit is the key to weight loss and keeping it off. A high protein diet is also essential. Consult your doctor for guidance.


The C2 Erg is a great choice for anyone looking to lose some weight and to stay strong.


Good luck and stay in touch for support and or encouragement

[NavigationHazard]

Cheers, I'm happy to share experiences, problems, solutions, etc. I'm not a doctor and shouldn't be mistaken for one. But I am a reasonably successful athlete with Type II diabetes, with a fairly well documented training history that may provide some help.

Re the effects of workouts on blood glucose: my general experience is that results will vary depending on what you do when, and in what context. The only good way for you to figure this out is to invest in a couple extra boxes of test strips and spend a week or so monitoring yourself obsessively. I did that, also trying to correlate the results with a record of what I'd eaten/drank and when, paying particular attention to glycemic index. I even went so far as to monitor glucose levels during some interval workouts at various intensities, attempting to get some sense of what changes might be going on. I came away with a much-improved sense of what I need to do to 'prep' in advance for a workout; what I need to do to hydrate and in extreme cases replenish energy supplies during extended workouts; and what I need to do post-workout to avoid delayed-onset hypoglycemic episodes. You might do well to do the same sorts of tracking (keep a diary or spreadsheet you can show your doctor(s)).

Feel free to PM me if there's anything you want to discuss that you'd rather not be posting in a public forum. I can't guarantee an immediate response but I'm pretty reliably logged into the Forum....

[clampe1066]

Well, I got my rower on Tuesday and was anxious to get back to it (I last rowed in 2007). I had watched some Youtube videos to refresh myself on the form and my first step was to get a baseline for a 500 m row. My best time back in 2007 was 1:57:8 and my first row on Tuesday was 3:25:4.

Goal #1: Row 500 m non-stop. I did that this morning (Thursday) with a 2:11:3.

Goal #2: Beat my 2007 best time of 1:57:8.

I rowed 5 x 500 m over the course of Tuesday and about midnight I woke up with a cramp on the inside of my right thigh. I quickly stood up to stretch it and then got a cramp on my upper, outside right thigh and an even worse cramp on left inner thigh. OUCH!! Fortunately, the second night went much better with no cramps, although my legs are sore and I can feel where I've worked my lats.

This thing is a hell of workout. I plan to row 500 m x 4 on most days until I've got plenty of meters under my belt,and then I'll start looking at structured training plans.

[NavigationHazard]

Cheers, welcome back to the fraternity

You may already know this, but I'll repeat it anyway: the more regularity in your workouts the easier it will be to fit them into a glucose-management plan. By that I mean keeping the overall effort you put into them relatively constant; working out at roughly the same time of day, and in roughly the same relation to both preceding and succeeding meals; trying to maintain hydration; etc. That doesn't mean you have to do the same thing every time you sit down on an erg. But the fewer the surprise shocks to your body, the fewer the surprises you'll have as far as your levels. I would add that it's important to watch out for delayed post-workout crashes, especially nocturnal ones that can morph into hypoglycemic episodes.

[clampe1066]

Cheers, welcome back to the fraternity

You may already know this, but I'll repeat it anyway: the more regularity in your workouts the easier it will be to fit them into a glucose-management plan. By that I mean keeping the overall effort you put into them relatively constant; working out at roughly the same time of day, and in roughly the same relation to both preceding and succeeding meals; trying to maintain hydration; etc. That doesn't mean you have to do the same thing every time you sit down on an erg. But the fewer the surprise shocks to your body, the fewer the surprises you'll have as far as your levels. I would add that it's important to watch out for delayed post-workout crashes, especially nocturnal ones that can morph into hypoglycemic episodes.

To be honest, I haven't thought too much about this because I don't take any diabetes related medication. Am I wrong to assume that I won't experience any crashes or blood sugar incidents if I'm not taking medication?

[NavigationHazard]

You should talk to your doctor/diabetes team about the possible after-effects of the exercise you're proposing to do. Everyone's case is different and individual.

[clampe1066]

I've done 2000 meters daily (4 x 500m) since I got the machine last Tuesday and after some frustration with what seemed like a stall in progress, I took yesterday off to see if rest would make a difference. Today, on my second row, I got a 2018 PR of 2:06! Not great numbers but I'm thrilled to death because last week when I rowed a 2:16 and a 2:11, I felt like I couldn't catch my breath afterwards. It was a really scary feeling. Today, after doing a 2:06 I just felt had a great, that-was-hard-but-felt-good, heart-pounding-in-my-chest feeling but zero issues catching my breath.

Also, I've found that if my blood sugar is high, each 500m row lowers it by 20-25 points.

[iain]

No Diabetes expert so I leave that to others, but as for setting PBs, you only get faster when you rest! You should always have at least a day off each week and should not be doing more than 2 hard workouts a week with the others sub-maximal so you are still recovering on those days. 4 x 500 is a strange exercise regime. If you find that going longer than 2 min is tough, i recommend slowing the pace a bit and at least increasing the number of reps if you can't increase the length of them slowly. Your workout may be helping to maintain your metabolism, but longer slower rowing will help to increase your calorie usage. In addition a significantly slower pace should allow you to burn some fat during the interval so may help in reducing the shock to your glucose level.

[clampe1066]

No Diabetes expert so I leave that to others, but as for setting PBs, you only get faster when you rest! You should always have at least a day off each week and should not be doing more than 2 hard workouts a week with the others sub-maximal so you are still recovering on those days. 4 x 500 is a strange exercise regime. If you find that going longer than 2 min is tough, i recommend slowing the pace a bit and at least increasing the number of reps if you can't increase the length of them slowly. Your workout may be helping to maintain your metabolism, but longer slower rowing will help to increase your calorie usage. In addition a significantly slower pace should allow you to burn some fat during the interval so may help in reducing the shock to your glucose level.

I wouldn't really consider what I'm doing an actual exercise program. I'm just spending time getting acclimated to the rower and rowing, while building up a minor base of cardio. One of my goals is to beat my 2007 500m PR of 1:57.8 and I'm within 4 seconds of that right now. I will start adding distance to my rows and will start looking at structured programs. I will admit, I'm astonished by all the "beginners" programs that start with a workout that I would suspect an average person could not due, much less someone who is obese and totally de-conditioned.

Both of my 2019 PR's have been after taking a day off and both were double digits lower in seconds than the day before the break.

[iain]

I wouldn't really consider what I'm doing an actual exercise program. I'm just spending time getting acclimated to the rower and rowing, while building up a minor base of cardio. One of my goals is to beat my 2007 500m PR of 1:57.8 and I'm within 4 seconds of that right now. I will start adding distance to my rows and will start looking at structured programs. I will admit, I'm astonished by all the "beginners" programs that start with a workout that I would suspect an average person could not due, much less someone who is obese and totally de-conditioned.

Both of my 2019 PR's have been after taking a day off and both were double digits lower in seconds than the day before the break.

It might not be a structured program, but it is the program you have adopted. Even 500m requires considerable stamina and will be benefitted by doing some longer rows. Also rowingt at a slower rating gives time to consider the quality of the rowing. Rowing better both protects from intervals and allows us to row faster so well worth the effort. in addition bad habits get much harder to erase when they have been ingrained.

I agree the so called beginners programs are mainly designed from convers from other sports or those with significant mental grit and underlying fitness. they are not comparable to the many couch to 5k type running programs! However, requiring people to row longer is a good antidote to the usual misuse of the rower. Most gym rowers i see race the stroke rather than adopt a sustainable controlled rating. We all find the first 1-2 mins of a row feels easy. It is all too easy to push during this and we inevitably end up at an unsustainable pace. Forcing people to row longer makes them settle to a more sustainable pace that allows for progression. Racing every workout will lead to a slower long term progression than a more measured approach.

Keep up the good work.

Iain