Fit With Diabetes Challenge Cardio Workout #1

Are you ready to get your sweat on?

This is the first cardio workout for the Fit With Diabetes challenge. But don’t worry, even if you didn’t sign up for the challenge (talk to me, why didn’t you?), you are still very welcome to join this fun cardio session any time you like.

Make sure you have plenty of space and a good surface to exercise on (move away the loose area rug) but have a yoga mat (or that area rug) handy for floor exercises. Then lace up your workout shoes, get a bottle of water, and have your diabetes gear (BG meter, juice or sugar tablets, etc.) handy.

Now you are ready to join me for a little cardio fun.

In this video, I’ll take you through 12 different exercises. That sounds like a lot, but we only do each exercise for 30 seconds so it’s actually only 6 minutes for each round. I would like you to try for a minimum of 3 rounds (so 18 min. total workout) or even more if you have the energy.

Please remember to listen to your body. If you need to modify an exercise, that is perfectly OK. It’s fine to do low impact or take a break, as long as you challenge yourself and stay safe.

If you can’t do the exercises in this video (or just prefer other cardio activities), that’s perfectly fine as well. Go for a swim, a walk/hike or something else that will get your heart rate up. The important thing is to get moving!

Finally, remember to check your blood sugar before, during, and after the workout. By tracking your blood sugars and what you eat and keeping a detailed log, you should start to see patterns soon. This will allow you to better adjust your diabetes care to prevent high and/or lows associated with exercise

I have created a tracking sheet you can use to record your food, insulin, and exercise. You can download it in PDF or Excel. The first two lines are examples of how I use the sheet.

I don’t always bring this tracking sheet with me (I have a notebook with a happy dancing pig on the cover that I bring to the gym) but I always record the same information.

Now, let’s do this!!

(You can also click here to watch the video on Youtube if you prefer)

If you ever want to do this workout without having the video available, you can print or write down the list of exercises below. It’s a good idea to have watched the video first to see how I perform each exercise as they aren’t all self-explanatory.

Go through them all with no more than 5 sec. breaks between exercises. That should take you about 6 minutes. Then take a sip of water, test your blood sugar if you feel it’s needed, and repeat the circuit 2-3 times more (or how many times you are comfortable doing it). Listen to your body and don’t overstep your limits. The workout should be a challenge but don’t hurt yourself doing it!

30 sec. Skipping

30 sec. Standing knee to elbow

30 sec. Mountain Climbers

30 sec. Side shuffle with punch

30 sec. Lunges

30 sec. Booty kicks

30 sec. Squat with side crunch

30 sec. Bicycle crunches

30 sec. Hip Bridge with knee lift

30 sec. Jumping Jacks

30 sec. Squat with punches

30 sec. Squat with punches

You can use a free app such as Gymboss to time the exercises.