Your body is a machine designed for moving and being active. Therefore, it is no surprise that people who exercise regularly experience benefits such as lower blood pressure, lower body fat, better blood lipid profiles and improved insulin sensitivity compared with people who lead a sedentary lifestyle. All of these factors should be familiar to those who know about metabolic syndrome!
Both aerobic and resistance (exercise using weights) exercise can have huge benefits for people with metabolic syndrome, and you don’t need to spend 2 hours a day pumping iron in a sweaty gym to achieve these benefits either! For most people, simply making a resolution to be more active is enough to help you beat metabolic syndrome.
I have over 10 years’ experience training people with metabolic syndrome and have seen many clients successfully beat this condition. I have outlined some of my key recommendations I give my clients, and you can also find an example 1-week training schedule here.
Overall, don’t expect too much of your body too soon. Work into any kind of new training regimen slowly and try to find forms of exercise you enjoy. Also, I tell my clients to not be afraid of gaining some muscle, it can be a huge help in keeping blood sugar and blood pressure levels in a healthy range and unless you are dedicating 2-3 hours a day 5-6 days a week to weight training you are not going to start looking like a bodybuilder accidentally!
Get walking!
Our bodies were built for walking, and there are a huge number of benefits to taking regular walks. In fact, taking 10-minute walks after meals has been shown to help reduce post-meal blood sugar levels by as much as 22% in scientific studies. Adding regular after meal walks to your daily schedule is a great first step on your path to being more active.
Start a resistance training schedule
The idea of lifting weights is very off putting for a lot of people. A large number of my clients are older in age and initially do not want to start any kind of weight bearing exercise, which I totally understand. However, once I tell them about the benefits of gaining lean muscle, including a decreased risk of bone fractures from falling and lower blood pressure and blood sugar, they usually understand why it is important.
I suggest untrained people begin with a program based around simple bodyweight exercises such as push ups, step ups, bodyweight squats and pull ups. These can all be performed with minimal equipment and in almost any location.
Resistance bands are another great and inexpensive tool for those looking to start resistance training without joining a gym or buying expensive equipment. Essentially big rubber bands for exercise, with a couple of resistance bands you can perform a huge number of resistance exercises that will work your muscles and provide all the benefits of resistance training. I commonly start my clients with some simple band pull aparts, band overhead presses and banded squats.
Add some convenient aerobic exercise
For most people convenience is the real key to sticking at an exercise program. Trying to get to a gym or go to a swimming pool takes time out of your day and can make it easy to find excuses not to exercise. For my clients I often suggest they learn how to skip with a skipping rope, starting off very slowly and ensuring they wear shoes with cushioned soles to avoid injury or soreness. Once you have gotten the hang of skipping it is a very convenient and effective way to get some aerobic exercise during a day as all you need is a small amount of space and a rope. What could be simpler!
If you don’t like the idea of skipping then moderate jogging, tai chi or swimming are all fun alternatives.
References
Reynolds AS, et al. Diabetologia. 2016 Dec;59(12):2572-2578.