Using insulin to your advantage to help you recover from your training and exercise?
Check out Anna's in-depth details on what insulin is doing for your body besides just balancing your blood sugar:
-Ginger
Very interesting...will start giving this a try. :)
Where you been Ginger?
So I tried the insulin after working out and tried to eat a good amount after. Woke up with a BG of 55...must be doing something wrong!
Ok, Pat - first off, kudos for giving something new a test drive!
Here's the deal: You workout, you break down the muscle, it grows by nutrients being transported to it but those nutrients can only be transported properly with enough inuslin. Even bodybuilders (non diabetic) eat a major amount of carbs after working out because it produces a major boost in insulin production, creating an anbolic environment, carrying nutrients to the muscle for repair and growth.
HOWEVER: it's still exercise, so hours later, when your body is still working hard to repair that muscle, you've become more sensitive to your insulin because your body is working extra hard along with you to utilize the insulin and the food you eat.
So did you cover your entire meal with insulin?
What I do is cover my post-workout shake/meal with a full dose of insulin, but then the meal I have 3 hours later, I cut back on my bolus insulin dose to prevent any drops.
To me, a large part about balance diabetes and exercise is about antipating what will come next.
Does that make sense?
Ginger
p.s. 1. Pat! Ask Anna on Diabeteens about this too! http://www.healthcentral.com/diabeteens/c/753408/82372/comments
2. I've been busy! :) How's your training going? Let me know over at Diabeteens...I get to that site a lot more easily during the day!
And hey, check it out, I recently qualified to compete in THIS in January!!!
Yeah it makes sense. If not for the fact that I can't do the post-post workout meal (i.e. 3 hrs later) due to the fact that I did not finish my workouts til 11pm last night and have to get up at 5am for work :P
I did bolus for the whole meal. Am going to go back to my parents' place and see if I can't dig up my Isopure. Either way it still felt great. I just need more food in our house, but the risk with that is stoner room mate and his homies eating it all.
On a non-insulin workout related question. Do you have any ideas as far as sets:reps go? I was doing 8-10-15 with decreasing weight, and have since taken to doing 15-10-8. I used to do 4 sets of "go until failure," but was told that that doesn't necessarily benefit your muscles as much. I've also gotten down to below 220lbs (217) which is great for health, but terrible for rugby as in I'm going to get killed :P
Do you think I should get back on my creatine (NO Xplode / Cell Mass) cycle? I've been cycled off that stuff for about 6 months, so all the gains I've made lately have been all me.