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Debunking Some Physical Activity and Training Myths

Sheri Colberg, PhD

Jul 1, 2019
7 min

Debunking Some Physical Activity and Training Myths

How often have you heard that things about physical activity and exercise training that you thought sounded correct, but found out later they were totally wrong? If you hang out at a gym or even talk with training coaches, you’ll hear about everything, including contradictory statements about how to be active the right way. Should you work out in a “fat burning” range? Is weight training going to make you bulk up? Will your muscles turn to fat if you stop working out? Do you

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Why Exercise Does a Body Good

Sheri Colberg, PhD

Apr 24, 2018
3 min

Why Exercise Does a Body Good

How active are you? Unless you’re exercising more than several hours a day already, you probably have room to add more in for additional health benefits. Exercise is about the best medicine that there is for so many health conditions, including diabetes. Being active helps manage emotional stress and stave off depression—far better than antidepressant medications and with no bad side-effects. It naturally bestows your body with antioxidant effect, making you less likely to de

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Just Exercise Harder for Less Time?

Sheri Colberg, PhD

Jan 22, 2016
3 min

Just Exercise Harder for Less Time?

Everyone is confused about what types and amounts of training people with diabetes should be doing for optimal blood glucose control and health. When I last wrote about this topic, the latest exercise research older adults with type 2 diabetes enduring six sessions of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) was done on a cycle ergometer over two weeks (1). The training sessions, which were typical of some of the latest HIIT, consisted of 60 seconds of cycling done 10 times at

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Better Dehydrated than Overhydrated during Exercise

Sheri Colberg, PhD

Sep 28, 2015
3 min

Better Dehydrated than Overhydrated during Exercise

An updated position statement on the dangers of hyponatremia (also known as water intoxication) was just released (1). It once again highlights how drinking too much water or any fluids during physical activity in the hopes of preventing dehydration can be potentially fatal. Taking in too much fluid dilutes the sodium levels in your blood, and severely low sodium levels can lead to brain swelling, seizures, coma, and death. Less severe, symptoms of hyponatremia include nausea

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What Affects How Your Insulin Works?

Sheri Colberg, PhD

Jul 9, 2015
2 min

What Affects How Your Insulin Works?

There's nothing worse than doing everything right (or so you think) and having your blood glucose levels running high inexplicably. The problem may be that many different factors can affect your insulin action (whether it's insulin your body releases or insulin you inject or pump), and you may or may not be controlling for all of them equally well. What we do know is that most athletic individuals have lower levels of insulin and require less insulin release for carbohydrate

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Are You an Exercise Non-Responder?

Sheri Colberg, PhD

Jun 13, 2015
4 min

Are You an Exercise Non-Responder?

When researchers have done studies on adults with type 2 diabetes, although the participants as a whole have a positive average response to exercise training, as many as 15 to 20 percent of type 2 exercisers have been found to be “non-responders” (1). These are individuals who appear to be resistant to the beneficial effects of exercise training of all types because exercise training for them fails to improve their A1C (overall blood glucose control), body fat, body mass inde

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Losing Weight by Being Active Is Best

Sheri Colberg, PhD

May 21, 2015
4 min

Losing Weight by Being Active Is Best

Did you know that your body stores fat from excess calories in places other than fat cells? Both your muscles and your liver store extra fat as you gain excess fat weight (1). More fat storage in your muscles may decrease the removal of glucose from your blood, making muscles more resistant to insulin if you don’t exercise regularly (2; 3). Given that your muscles are responsible for the majority of blood glucose uptake in response to insulin, developing insulin-resistant mus

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