Creating Personalized Fitness Plans with CGM Data

Written By The Additive Space

Why Personalization is Key

Helping clients with diabetes achieve their fitness goals requires more than standard routines. Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) offer game-changing insights, allowing fitness professionals to tailor exercise plans based on real-time data.

How CGM Data Transforms Fitness Coaching

CGMs provide continuous blood glucose data, clearly showing how exercise impacts each client’s body. This eliminates guesswork, allowing trainers to:

  • Optimize Workout Timing: Fine-tune the timing of meals and insulin around workouts. Plan sessions around periods when glucose levels are most stable.

  • Monitor Glucose Responses: Identify exercises that cause glucose spikes or dips. Adjust intensity and duration based on how the client’s body reacts in real-time.

  • Identify Patterns: Understand trends to guide long-term exercise programming.

Using CGM data helps minimize risks, like hypoglycemia during prolonged cardio sessions or hyperglycemia triggered by stress hormones during HIIT.

Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Personalized Plans

Step 1: Establish a Baseline

  • Use the CGM to monitor glucose levels during various activities.

  • Analyze your client’s glucose patterns over the first week of using a CGM.

  • Look for trends, such as elevated glucose levels in the morning or after meals.

  • Example: Compare glucose responses to a brisk walk versus resistance training.

Step 2: Adjust for Individual Needs

  • Create workout plans that account for glucose fluctuations.

  • Example: Incorporate active recovery if levels drop during HIIT sessions. Be sure to have fast-acting glucose on hand.

Step 3: Align Workouts with Data

  • If glucose is stable, schedule more intense activities like weightlifting.

  • If levels are low, opt for a moderate warm-up and reassess.

Step 4: Monitor and Adapt

  • Review weekly CGM reports to spot improvement opportunities and track progress.

  • Make adjustments to intensity, duration, and timing based on trends.

Success Stories

Sarah, a 42-year-old living with Type 2 diabetes, struggled with post-workout glucose spikes. Using a CGM, her trainer identified the need for extended cool-downs and adjusted her meal timing before workouts. Within three months, Sarah’s A1C improved, and she gained confidence in exercising safely.

John, a fitness professional certified in CGM-based coaching, helped a client reduce their A1C from 8.1% to 6.7% in four months. Using CGM data, John personalized workouts, making exercise less intimidating and more effective for his client.

Take the Next Step

With the Certified CGM Fitness Trainer® credential, you’ll learn to interpret CGM data and create transformative fitness plans for your clients. Plus, you'll stand out as a cutting-edge fitness professional in a growing niche.

The Additive Space

IDEAS ARE OUR PASSION…FUELED BY COFFEE + TRAVEL

Our ideas come from a variety of places, but mostly extensive travel and too many coffee shops too count! ;)

We pull experience from our degrees; BS Mechanical Engineering, MSc BioEngineering with a focus in Medical Device Design, BS Civil Engineering, and MS Mechanical Engineering with a focus in High Speed Fluid Dynamics.

Our team's work experience spans international borders and includes; research anchored in cardiovascular pathology and medical device design, component research and design for liquid propulsion systems, liquid propulsion component testing, liquid propulsion systems testing, and work with the International Space Station.

With engineering backgrounds, years of practice and a passion for design, we have what it takes to help develop and foster your ideas.

AMANDA DAVIS

Amanda previously worked as a Certified Operations Controller for the International Space Station (ISS) at NASA's Payload Operations Integration Center. During this time, she oversaw biotechnology-based experiments and payloads operating in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) on the ISS. These included, but were not limited to, cardiovascular and stem cell growth and manipulation in zero-gravity space environments. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on transportation and structures and over 6 years of experience in this field.

TRAVIS DAVIS

Travis began his professional career as a wildland firefighter team lead in the Rocky Mountains of Montana. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering with 6+ years of experience at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center as an award-winning Liquid Propulsion Design and Test Engineer. He specialized in utilizing metal, polymer and resin additive manufacturing while at NASA and holds NASA patents in that field. After being chosen as a George J. Mitchell Scholar, he earned a Master of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from Trinity College Dublin, with a focus on Medical Device Design and earned his Private Pilot license during his time at NASA.

http://www.theadditivespace.com
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Understanding Diabetes in the Context of Fitness Training