Day 5 Exercise: Mixing It Up By Force

Aqua Boot Camp- It's not what you think!

Day 5 of Diabetes Blog Week is all about exercise. As in; love it, hate it, what’s your motivation and does it actually motivate you to get moving? How does it affect your numbers, your insulin and the likes there of?

Yes, I exercise, but I have to be honest with you guys, I need to do it more consistently. There was a time when I did it every day. I used to walk between 10 and 20 miles a week. I’d walk 2 miles each way to work (Philadelphia proper is a walkable town) and then I’d take long 3 or 4-hour walks/hikes on the weekend. I walked to burn calories and keep blood sugars at bay; I walked to be outside, I walked to breathe the air, and most importantly, I walked to clear my mind.

I loved what it did for my head, not to mention what it did for my ass ;)

On days I couldn’t walk outside, I’d go to the gym and do an hour on the elliptical. I’d set my temporary basal rate to ½, tune into my ipod and tune out the world.

Yes, it required fiddling with my Temporary basals, and sometimes, I’d suspend my pump for an hour. But all the fiddling was worth it because I had great numbers.

Then I screwed up the ligaments in my toe and will eventually have to have surgery. Only yours truly could break her toe and tare her ligament walking UP the steps- perfectly sober. It forced me to realize that long weekend hikes would leave my foot hurting for days afterwards.

It bummed me out that I couldn’t do my long crazy walks, and I wallowed in it for a long time. But then I had a meeting with myself and basically said: STOP COMPLAINING!

I started doing the elliptical again.

Then the whole metatarsalgia thing happened and that set me back, AGAIN.

But I worked through it and kept moving.

Last year I discovered Aqua Boot camp. YES, Aqua Boot camp, and yes, I know the image that come to your head- See video at top of post.

I have to admit; I thought it was for caddies and the geriatric set too, and yeah- there are some seniors (and ironically no caddies that I'm aware of) in my class- AND THEY WILL KICK YOUR ASS! I’m Serious, they will. WHY? Because Aqua Bootcamp is TOUGH. Two hours in the pool doing aerobics and weight training. 45 minutes in the shallow end, 55 minutes in the deep-end, and a 10-minute cool down. It builds endurance and muscle tone and it burns calories like gasoline to a flame.

Aqua Boot Camp requires some scheduling, (both in the water and out,) on my part. I have to make sure I wake up early on Sunday morning, cut my basal rate by 2/3’s , and I don’t bolus for my breakfast. I also eat slightly more than usual.

I test before I leave the locker room, which is always interesting - and I like to enter the pool with a bg of about 190.

I disconnect right before I go in the pool and check my blood sugar an hour and ten minutes into my workout. By the end of the class, my numbers are in the double digits, around 70, sometimes lower. I eat a larabar immediately and wait for my numbers to rise before I hit the shower.

Yes, Aqua Boot Camp is work in every sense of the world, but I love the water; I love the calories burned, and I love being disconnected. It took some trial and error to figure the whole pump aspect out, but it's totally worth it!

Drawbacks of Aqua Bootcamp: It’s only offered at my gym twice a week, it's not a quick workout and I need something daily.

I’m considering RUMBA, Spin class, and riding my bike outside – once I figure out how to get my bike w/two flat tires to the bikes\ shop to fill/fix two flat tires.

I also want to buy a pair of roller skates (not blades, because I suck at rollerblading) but actual roller skates. I was good at rollerskating in middle school, and it's easy on the feet. Leeann’s tweets & FB Statuses about the Roller Derby and her new skates reminded me of how much fun I used to have way back when.

I won't be doing doing the Roller Derby any time soon, but I'd love to feel the sun and breeze on my face as I roller boogie the calories away, and shake my "booty to the beat" in the process~