# MMA and Diabetes?



## Caleb Bezzant (Nov 20, 2017)

So I have had diabetes for around 4 and a half years now and one thing that has been hugely affected is my motivation and dedication to the gym, I used to love it where as these days my control isn't very good and i always feel completely knackered! My GP said forcing myself into exercise will eventually put me back on the right path! the only problem is he said this two months ago and i havent been to the gym since! 
I am a huge UFC fan and enjoy watching lots of different combat organisations all the time, I really want to start MMA (Mixed martial Arts) Training but due to the high intensity of the fight game I am not sure if i will just end up being hypo every time i step on the mat! 
If anyone out there has any advice on the matter or if Anyone is actually involved in MMA/BJJ I'd love to hear from you as I need to get back into doing exercise before my sugars go through the roof! 
Thanks!


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## Copepod (Nov 20, 2017)

In case no MMA particpants reply, and it's not my sport, I'd like to recommend you look at www.runsweet.com which has excellent information about physiology of sport with type 1 diabetes and includes lots of case studies. I can't remember if MMA is listed, but you may be able to adapt from information about other fighting spors.


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## Mark T (Nov 22, 2017)

I don't do MMA, but my son (not a diabetic) has recently started BJJ.

From spectating, what I can see is that the initial warm-up is probably usually the most intense part (unless you start competing, but you won't do that right away).  The warm up is definately above the aerobic zone [http://www.runsweet.com/starting-sports/heart-rate-and-training/].

The rest of the training session is generally at a more relaxed pace, since BJJ is about efficient use of energy rather then absolute energy.

Of course it depends what you combine with the BJJ for MMA.  Karate kata's looked fairly benign to me, but the guys doing Muay Thai definitely work up a sweat!

Maybe go along and watch a session at your local gym.


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## wazz (Oct 8, 2020)

Maybe a little out of date - would be interested to hear how OP is doing, but my 2 cents.

I've been type 1 for about 12 years now, during which time I've run two marathons. for the last 2-4 years i've been training muay thai and bjj. both can be fairly confusing in terms of blood sugar - adrenaline boosts it massively, but you get desensitized to the effects of it. i'm very careful about not going low during exercise and keep my background (levemir) lower on days i'm planning to train, sometimes eating a banana beforehand, but the result is that sometimes i finish a session quite high (often above 15 but rarely above 20). part of the job is realizing that while you could get better at controlling your blood sugars during and after exercise (sometimes get hypos in the hours after training), the fact that you're training at all probably outweighs any of the damage you've done by having high blood sugar for that time. Would be good to get that verified of course by a medical professional, but for me, temporary high blood sugars are an acceptable price.

the warmup can be quite tough in terms of cardio and energy use but rolling or sparring in bjj or muay thai can really take it out of you. generally an hour session of bjj includes a 5-15 minute warmup depending on who you're training with (gracie barra warmups are easy compared to some, where the point of the warmup is not to warm your body up so much as to gain some fitness and then have you learn skills when you're tired and not fresh, because you use those skills when you're tired and not fresh rather than when you're at your peak). 15-20 minutes of drilling a couple of techniques - first a takedown, and then some groundwork - and then the rest of the hour might be rolling. I've had lunchtime classes where we've rolled for 40 minutes. If you're not used to rolling - specifically the part where you learn to maintain your resources and not go hell for leather in the first 5 minutes - this part can be tough on your blood sugars, sending them either super high from the adrenaline, or super low from just using up tons of carbs.


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## grovesy (Oct 8, 2020)

wazz said:


> Maybe a little out of date - would be interested to hear how OP is doing, but my 2 cents.
> 
> I've been type 1 for about 12 years now, during which time I've run two marathons. for the last 2-4 years i've been training muay thai and bjj. both can be fairly confusing in terms of blood sugar - adrenaline boosts it massively, but you get desensitized to the effects of it. i'm very careful about not going low during exercise and keep my background (levemir) lower on days i'm planning to train, sometimes eating a banana beforehand, but the result is that sometimes i finish a session quite high (often above 15 but rarely above 20). part of the job is realizing that while you could get better at controlling your blood sugars during and after exercise (sometimes get hypos in the hours after training), the fact that you're training at all probably outweighs any of the damage you've done by having high blood sugar for that time. Would be good to get that verified of course by a medical professional, but for me, temporary high blood sugars are an acceptable price.
> 
> the warmup can be quite tough in terms of cardio and energy use but rolling or sparring in bjj or muay thai can really take it out of you. generally an hour session of bjj includes a 5-15 minute warmup depending on who you're training with (gracie barra warmups are easy compared to some, where the point of the warmup is not to warm your body up so much as to gain some fitness and then have you learn skills when you're tired and not fresh, because you use those skills when you're tired and not fresh rather than when you're at your peak). 15-20 minutes of drilling a couple of techniques - first a takedown, and then some groundwork - and then the rest of the hour might be rolling. I've had lunchtime classes where we've rolled for 40 minutes. If you're not used to rolling - specifically the part where you learn to maintain your resources and not go hell for leather in the first 5 minutes - this part can be tough on your blood sugars, sending them either super high from the adrenaline, or super low from just using up tons of carbs.


You are unlike to hear from the original poster as the have not posted since making the post!


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