How Personal Trainers Can Help Diabetic Clients

Being a good personal trainer always means tailoring what you do to each client’s individual needs, limitations, and goals. This is especially important with clients that have chronic health conditions, like diabetes. 

You can be a great partner for someone with diabetes, providing custom workouts, expert nutrition advice, and the accountability that keeps them on track with healthy lifestyle changes. 

About Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic illness characterized by how the body uses blood glucose, or blood sugar. The body breaks food into glucose, which raises blood sugar levels. This signals the release of a hormone called insulin that allows the body to use glucose for energy. 

People with diabetes have issues with insulin. Either they do not make enough insulin, cannot use insulin efficiently, or have cells that don’t respond well to insulin. There are three main types of diabetes: 

• Type 1 Diabetes. Also known as juvenile diabetes, this type is usually diagnosed in childhood or young adulthood. It accounts for 5% to 10% of diabetes cases and occurs when the body stops making insulin due to autoimmune reactions. There is currently no way to prevent this type of diabetes, and management requires daily insulin injections. 

• Type 2 Diabetes. Much more common is type 2 diabetes, accounting for 90% or more of diagnoses. It occurs when cells begin to develop resistance to insulin and can no longer use it efficiently, resulting in high blood sugar levels. Risk factors include family history, obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol and triglyceride levels.  

• Gestational Diabetes. This is a type of diabetes that occurs in women during pregnancy who were previously not diabetic. It usually resolves after giving birth, but it can affect the health of the baby and increase the mother’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes later. 

Whatever the type, diabetes is a serious condition that can cause complications if not managed. Treating type 1 diabetes is a balance of insulin injections, diet, and other factors. Managing type 2 diabetes might require medications, but it usually responds very well to lifestyle changes, such as a healthier diet, exercise, and maintaining a healthy weight. 

How Can Personal Trainers Help Diabetic Clients? 

Anyone can benefit from working with a personal trainer, but those with chronic conditions that require lifestyle changes are uniquely positioned to reap the rewards. Diabetes is an illness that often gets better with healthy lifestyle changes, and who better to help with that than a trainer? 

Increasing Physical Activity 

The most obvious way that a trainer can help someone with diabetes is by increasing their level of physical activity. Of all the important lifestyle habits, regular exercise is one of the best for managing diabetes. Research pinpoints several reasons for this: 

• A minimum of 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, three to seven times a week, significantly reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease and death in diabetic patients. 

• Aerobic exercise decreases HbA1c numbers in people with diabetes, reflecting lowered blood sugar. 

• Aerobic exercise also improves insulin sensitivity, oxidative capacity, and other important measures for diabetic patients. 

• Resistance training supports weight loss and maintenance, increases muscle mass, improves bone density, lowers blood pressure, and improves several diabetic measures. 

• Researchers have found the greatest benefits in patients who regularly combine aerobic and resistance training. 

While people with diabetes can exercise without a trainer, you can provide them with the best workouts for their particular health needs. For instance, recent studies have found that HIIT workouts improve diabetic measures even better than standard aerobic or strength exercises. 

Providing Nutritional Advice

The other most essential lifestyle change for managing diabetes is sticking with a healthy diet. Eating the right foods, and avoiding the wrong ones, can help by managing weight and controlling blood sugar. A healthy diet also reduces the risk of complications from diabetes. 

There is no official diabetic diet, but experts recommend eating lean proteins, healthy fats, and fiber-rich foods. Carbs should be carefully selected to include whole and minimally-processed fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and low-fat dairy. To be avoided or minimized are refined grains, added sugar, and saturated and trans fats. 

Healthy eating sounds simple, but it becomes complicated in the real world. As a trainer, especially with a nutrition certification, you can provide diabetic clients with valuable advice and guidance for planning their meals. 

Here is a handy guide to carbs to help your clients navigate the often-confusing world of simple and complex carbs. 

Providing Support, Encouragement, and Accountability

Making big lifestyle changes is so important for someone with type 2 diabetes. Even knowing how essential it is to eat well, exercise, and make other changes, doing so is challenging. Changing lifetime bad habits can be very difficult for most people. 

In addition to the concrete help trainers offer, including exercise programs and nutrition guidance, they also offer a support system. You can be the person in your client’s life to push them to make these positive changes for better health. Offer accountability to help them stick with their personal training workouts and weight goals. Sometimes, it just takes this encouragement and push from an outside source, like a fitness professional. 

Noting Changes in Symptoms

Someone living with a chronic illness is typically hyper-aware of their symptoms and condition, and yet it can be hard to detect changes in one’s own disease symptoms. When you start working with a diabetic client regularly, you get to know their symptoms, behaviors, and moods. 

A trainer is in a good position to notice when something is off with a diabetic client. You might notice they seem more fatigued than usual or detect signs that their blood sugar could be too high or low. Noting these subtle changes can help your clients react more quickly and test and adjust their blood sugar levels. 

How Personal Trainers Can Help Diabetic Clients Before They’re Diabetic

Many Americans—more than one-third of adults according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—have prediabetes and are unaware of it. There are rarely symptoms, so it can be difficult to catch without annual physicals and blood sugar tests. 

One of the most important things a trainer can do in this situation is provide the exercise, nutrition advice, and weight maintenance support that prevents clients from getting diabetes at all. Type 2 diabetes is largely preventable with healthy lifestyle choices, a big part of which is regular exercise. 

Exercise Considerations for Diabetics

If you have a client with any medical condition, insist that they talk to their doctors about starting an exercise program. They should have the go-ahead before you begin working together. This is important because some clients might have specific limitations you need to know about before starting a fitness assessment and planning workouts. 

For someone with type 2 diabetes, in general, they can work out as long as they feel well. Consider canceling a session if they are unusually fatigued. For type 1 diabetes, a client should not exercise if their blood sugar is too high. Be sure they test their blood sugar level before beginning each session and again afterward.  

Limitations for Trainers Working with Diabetic Clients

A certified personal trainer can be a great partner for someone with diabetes. You can provide expert advice, practical workouts, and motivation to stick with healthy habits. Just keep in mind that there are limitations to your role helping anyone with a chronic medical condition. Here’s what you cannot do: 

• Create meal plans

• Offer medical advice

• Contradict a client’s doctor’s advice

• Diagnose a medical condition

• Provide any kind of treatment, including recommending supplements

As a nutrition expert but not a dietician, the advice you can give is limited. Here are some more detailed guidelines on what a trainer or nutrition coach can provide. 

Working with diabetic clients can be particularly rewarding. It gives you the chance to help individuals make changes that really impact their health and well-being. Understand the condition and your role as a trainer for the best results. 

If you have a passion for both fitness and nutrition, consider enrolling in ISSA’s Nutritionist program. With this credential you can offer your clients enhanced services and education about how diet affects their health.  

References

What is Diabetes?. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Retrieved 29 June 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/diabetes.html.

Kirwan, J. P., Sacks, J., & Nieuwoudt, S. (2017). The essential role of exercise in the management of type 2 diabetes. Cleveland Clinic journal of medicine, 84(7 Suppl 1), S15–S21. https://doi.org/10.3949/ccjm.84.s1.03

Jelleyman, C., Yates, T., O'Donovan, G., Gray, L. J., King, J. A., Khunti, K., & Davies, M. J. (2015). The effects of high-intensity interval training on glucose regulation and insulin resistance: a meta-analysis. Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 16(11), 942–961. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12317