How rowing helps reverse type 2 diabetes
Exercising on a rowing machine is a total body workout, making it ideal for diabetes patients, says exercise physiologist Sheri Colberg-Ochs, Ph.D., author of Exercise and Diabetes. “The more muscles you can use during a workout, the more you can potentially improve your body’s ability to use the glucose from the foods you eat for fuel and keep levels of blood glucose from rising,” she explains. Indeed, each stroke activates 85% of the muscles in the body, including the legs, core, arms and back. The exercise is so effective that researchers from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark found that whole body glucose clearance—a measure of how much glucose is removed from the blood—increased 27% after subjects used a rowing machine for just 30 minutes every other day. Notes Colberg-Ochs, “The more glucose your body can clear out, the lower your blood glucose will stay, which is key for
anyone struggling with high blood sugar or diabetes.”
The best part: Rowing is easily adaptable to any fitness level, and Colberg-Ochs says that rowing slowly is just as beneficial as exercising at a higher intensity. To do it, strap your feet into the machine and start with your knees bent as deeply as possible—with your chest against your knees and arms out straight holding the rowing handles. Then press down with your heels to straighten your legs first, then lean back, and finally pull the handle into your chest before reversing the movement.
Follow Erika Schaltenbrand’s lead and try rowing three times per week for 20 minutes. Look for the machines at your gym near the cardio equipment or try a class at an indoor rowing gym in your area.