Lets talk about experiences with martial arts and diabetes! I have been practicing for 30 years with diabetes and have lots to share, end more to learn.
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Has anyone had interesting diabetic experiences while training and or sparring? Like Hyperfocus?
http://www.youmaydie.com/ This is a Vermont Deathrace. I do not know if there are any diabetics taking part, but it is a form of extreme sports taking place over 24 hours. Starts June 24th.
I did a lot of Brazilian Jiujitsu for a few years. I had the usual issues with BG control and hypos associated with strenuous exercise. There were never any diabtetes issues particular to BJJ. I’m sure there could have been had I had any complications at the time. Neuropathy, slow healing since I always had scrapes and scratches from sparring and matches, could have made practicing BJJ hazardous.
These days, I don’t train at all for various reasons, but probably the most pressing reason is an inability to come up with a workable solution for training while wearing my Dexcom and Omnipod.
Strenuous exercise is what most comes to mind. I have had much luck regarding injuries and martial arts, sually only during testing or competitions. There are many arts that do not involve so much body contact that a Pod or any pump would get in the way most of the time. BJJ is particularly body on body even in training, that’s kind of the point.
I know that I love the physical stress and mental distraction from diabetes during workouts that I look forward to most. I practice and teach KungFu, and last year got my second degree Black in TKD. Understanding people and their motivations is what I love about training.
I am doing BJJ at the moment and plan to stay with MDI so I can keep at it for as long as possible. I am still in my honeymoon phase (DX T1 10 months ago now ) so my situation is perhaps unusual and I don’t really know how things will be when the honeymoon ends but for now BJJ is helping me tremendously by keeping me in shape and giving me a good reason to keep fit.
During class and sparring session, the combination of exercise and competition keeps my BG pretty stable. It tends to rise just a bit. I’ve yet to have any big rises or big drops.
Outside of class. Drilling for BJJ is a BG burning marvel! As often as possible, I drill for half an hour or an hour and my BG plummets. I use a grappling dummy and practice most everything with it; arm bars, submissions, escapes, etc. Actually, it’s such a good way to drop blood sugar levels that, even with no extra insulin in my system, I am hitting BG in the 50s. I am not trying to hit BG in the 50s mind you but since I take little to no extra insulin I don’t worry too much about it just yet. Still, drilling for BJJ is just an amazing way to burn off glucose.
What dummy do you use?
Be careful because you can hit a burning glucose situation that continues long after your workouts. Make sure you are not eating just simple sugars that can “fuel the fires” and prevent getting to normal levels.
I have had diabetes for 40 years, so I don’t even know what they refer to as the honey moon period. I know that when my father caught it from me 10 years after I got it, (just kidding) he had a much harder time regulating because he was still producing some but inconsistent amounts of insulin.
After doing a bit of research I got this one:
http://www.grapplingdummy.net/
I absolutely love it. Their marketing is a bit over-the-top but it really is an amazing training tool and I wish I would have gotten one sooner. It really helps that I have a separate space with a mat setup permanently. Actually, until I got the grappling dummy my home mat sat unused like a mail-order treadmill. Now I use the two together all the time.
I am fairly new to the whole diabetes thing but I do watch out for post-workout lows and such. At least for now, this hasn’t been an issue. I monitor pretty closely before and after workouts and my BG tends to stabilize fairly quickly on it’s own after a workout. This will probably change later; keeping an eye on it.
The dummy looks great, though expensive. Any suggestions for mats? I have a space I could use, but no mats.
If you are consistent with your workouts, your body will always be replenishing itself, and the BG will be partially regulated by this. It is also my experience that tells me I am nearly a-symptomatic because of my workouts. Seems to push out any cellular breakup, or something.
Both the dummy and mats are expensive but I definitely use them both enough that I feel I am getting my money’s worth. I really hesitated about buying the dummy because I didn’t want to spend that much and then have the thing sit in my garage unused and then I’d feel ashamed every time I looked at it. Luckily, that hasn’t been a problem.
For mats, I got two of the Swain/Dollamur rollup mats so I have a 10’ by 10’ area total. It’s a perfect size for doing drills.
Hello mmbright:
Funny you should say that I’m writing an article about this very thing >: D !!!
As a professional martial arts instructor (a flavor of Okinawan Karate) ive had a few… what cha have in mind -wg-?
And what do you mean by hyper focus? The body parts flying at your head, torso, legs which make you forget anything about the word/concept of blood-sugar… that kind of hyperfocus? Or do you mean something else?
Stuart
As for mats there are a couiple possibilities…
You pick one up at the manufacturer itself whichever is the most local to you. Saves obscene amounts of money, and markups…
Craigslist/ebay or your local equivelent. There is always someone trying to part with a mat they never used or just need to be rid of…
Local costco has a bunch of different mats fairly inexpensive, adequately made. Had mine for a bunch of years close to ten now I think…?
Stuart
I had a low BG at the end of class once. When I went to spar against someone of higher rank, I lost all distraction, and it seemed like he was moving in slow motion. He could not hit me, and I could not miss him. When we stopped I could barely stand up without weaving. Got some juice and that was that.
Or “no mind” as in the Last Samurai movie. Very cool.
What about you?
Hello mmbright:
As I said a few come to mind… lol
Teaching back to back one Saturday afternoon… we broke the class into 5/6 different groups and supervised them all. More vigerous for some than others. More physical with different groups than others. But a HUGE blessed group. Too big… 45-50 kids +/- but, a problem with community based programs at times I guess.
We taught two hours back to back (the second class) of three and it came time to gather the groups back together and end of said class. Drenched in sweat, everybody knelt down in preperation for the closing cermony (at that time). I made some brief comments, all of us sitting in seiza (kneeling) formally on the cement cool basement floor.
We sat there for quite a bit, silently. Back straight, buttocks pressed tightly into the heels. Top of the foot grinding into the ancient reeking carpet. Toes curling under, stretched but cramping anyway. In time, I gave the signal and class did end… eventually. The next ten minutes were a blur. It was not the “regular” proceedure (i.e. Far, far more pseudo Japanese, stereotypical actually). I revived in the arms of a breath takingly gorgeous brunette peditrician who was holding me while getting my soda into me. My gym bag turned inside out.
The paramedics eventually appeared but the peditrician saved my butt. I never lived down the experience… and it was never “forgotten” by others. (:: [
WOW!
I have not passed out for many many years. I get disoriented, but somehow I seem always able to notice and get to food on time. I am finding that my TaiChi practice, that I am now doing five days a week, my sugars tend to level out for the day. Sometimes my sugar goes up, depending on how the practice is.
Nothing like bone deep exhaustion, and living at ones potential to make awareness too sharp on the wrong things, Remind me, which flavor of Tai Chi Ch’uan are you practicing again?
Hello Brooklyn:
Thank you for contributing!
Loss of time, everything else out of awareness… its what all the Japanese martial arts books call mushin, “no-mind”. Overused term, badly described (IMHO) but when you perceive things, and are doing “your thing”… in a groove/flow… its nice. Provided it isn’t an eye opening AND eye closing (sic. at the same time) its all good.
Hyper focus can be very nice indeed.