Can Diabetics Build Muscle?
Q: Can diabetics build muscle? I’ve been going to the gym and working out for a while now and I still look like I’ve never touched a weight in my life. Instead of holding myself accountable for what I’ve possibly been doing wrong, I’d rather blame my diabetes. Yup! So can I?!?!
A: One of the health problems associated with diabetes is muscle loss because of the inflammation caused by the disease. It’s for this reason that a diabetic should have an interest in wanting to build muscle aside from simply the aesthetic reasons that would normally drive an otherwise healthy individual. Additionally, muscle is important because the tissue helps promote insulin sensitivity so the body is more efficient at managing glucose for its immediate and future energy demands. As such, weightlifting is better at regulating blood sugar than cardio and amounts to another reason to want muscle as a diabetic.
There are reasons to build muscle when you have diabetes but is it actually possible? That’s the question. And the answer is that while diabetes is indeed a catabolic disease that limits muscle growth and increases its breakdown due to the body’s impaired ability to make proper use of the anabolic hormone insulin, that’s only when diabetes is left uncontrolled.
As long as diabetes is under control with medication so the body’s insulin response is functional, then having diabetes won’t directly stop a diabetic from gaining muscle. That being the case, the same rules for building muscle that apply to everyone else also apply to those with diabetes. That includes entering a calorie surplus and eating the right amount of nutrients to provide the body with the fuel necessary for muscle growth and training with enough intensity to prompt an adaptation in muscle size. The only difference between what diabetics should do from individuals without diabetes is in the approach to satisfy the nutrition and exercise aspect so diabetes is kept in check.
As mentioned, increasing calorie intake is necessary for muscle growth, which coincides with eating more carbs. However, while non-diabetics can get away with carbs making up a large portion of their diet for the provision of energy for intense exercise and to help trigger the release of insulin for protein synthesis, diabetics have to be more mindful of the total amount they eat per day and at any given meal. On account of this, most calories should come from protein and healthy fats and the rest from carbs with a low glycemic index rather than from refined carbs that spike blood sugar levels.1Low glycemic carbs include fruits, vegetables, oats, whole-grain bread, and other complex carbs. White rice, white bread, white pasta, potatoes, ice cream, candy, and soda are examples of refined carbs.
With regard to exercise, it might be beneficial to engage in short workouts or keep a fast-acting carbohydrate source on hand to reduce the risk of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, which is a common exercise-induced complication for people with type 2 diabetes. Among those with type 1 diabetes, the concern is exercise raising blood sugar, or hyperglycemia. To get around this, it might help to work out at a moderate intensity with light weights for high reps, as well as to avoid working out in the early morning because of the “dawn phenomenon”, which is when hormones like cortisol and growth hormone increase blood sugar in people with diabetes or prediabetes.2It’s a controversial topic but most studies agree that as long as there’s enough training volume, then performing 10-20 reps can build muscle as effectively as lifting moderate to heavy weight in the 8-12 range, as is commonly prescribed for hypertrophy.
Within the confines of their genetic limitations, diabetics have the potential to be as big and strong as an otherwise healthy person when the general principles of muscle building are followed with a few simple precautions. That being the case that diabetes isn’t an excuse, the fault lies at your feet somewhere for why you’re not putting on muscle. So maybe you still look the same despite the time you’ve spent going to the gym because you’re not consuming enough calories, or eating too little protein, or drinking too much alcohol, or lifting with poor form, or not challenging yourself and making use of progressive overload, or not working out consistently enough, or working out without enough rest between training days, or not getting adequate sleep, or any of a number of things that are as important for a diabetic to do as they are for someone without diabetes. Whatever the hell it is for why nothing’s changing, it sure as hell isn’t because of your diabetes, buddy!
Now, does anyone else have a fitness or nutrition question of their own that they want to ask?
Glossary: anabolic, calories, cardio, diet, dietary fat, exercise, fitness, genetics, glucose, gym, hormones, hypertrophy, intensity, lifting form, muscle, nutrition, reps, train, work out, workout
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