All About Balance: BOSU and Blood Sugar

This is a diabetes blog, not a cat blog. But I can’t go on without sharing this photo.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’d like to pick up where I left off in August with my TRX infomercial post. I’m still doing a lot of leg exercises and lunges (see photo below for evidence).

And I’m also being sure to do arms/chest/back exercises because I’m inspired. Thanks to Karmel Allison, Emily Patton, and Steve Richert, I want to go climbing. I want to go climbing for real- outside. I don’t imagine this will happen anytime soon, since I barely find the time to take a shower. But if and when I should find myself standing in front of a large boulder, I intend to be strong enough to scale it like a spiderwoman.

Building upper body strength.  Note that the smile disappears as I mightily pull myself up.  (If you do this, do it with a friend!  It will keep you safer and you won’t get bored.)

I love the TRX. I really do. But what I love even more is the BOSU. Never heard of it? Take a look here. The BOSU is an exercise tool that’s basically half of a ball stuck on a platter. The first time I saw it, I thought I’d never be able to stand on it, and I asked myself why I would ever want to do such a thing.  It made me recall a clip I saw years ago of a man juggling tables with his feet.  The thought that came to my mind was: why?  Why would anyone want to juggle tables with his feet and why would anyone want to stand on a half-ball on a platter?   These are not things anyone needs to do!

It’s not easy to convince me to try new things, but I put my doubts and questions aside and about two years ago I wobbled my way onto a BOSU.  No more asking why.  It was a fantastic workout.   Now I save up my why’s for the truly important questions like why do I drink four cups of coffee a day? Why does my cat have to get into that cubby every time we take out the container of legos?  Every time! Why do carbs taste better than all other foods?

So I’m hooked on the BOSU now.  And I like what their website says.  It answers my why pretty well. “BOSU® Training is about expanding movement capabilities, reshaping bodies and strengthening minds. It’s about inserting thought into movement. It’s about asking our clients, fitness students and athletes to be physically involved, but to also be present and fully engaged in the training process.”

If you ask me what BOSU Training is about, in my own personal BOSU infomerical I will tell you in one word what I’ve learned from using the BOSU: balance.  And what is more important to a person with diabetes than balance?

It does take concentration and presence, as well as the use and coordination of many muscles in order to stand on the BOSU (especially to do it flamingo-style and lift weights or catch a ball, lean forward, bend down, squat). You know what?  It’s so much like balancing blood sugar… so much thought, so many calculations, so many things that have to work together in order to get it right.  And then one tiny factor can throw the whole thing off.

The always being present… it’s what makes diabetes management so difficult… the frustration of balance destroyed every time you eat.  

Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and has continued to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets).

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Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and continues to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets). Jessica’s work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine, The Southern Review, The Bellevue Literary Review, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. She is the diabetes correspondent for The Faster Times. In 2009 she and her husband, both type 1 diabetics, founded A Sweet Life, where she serves as editor-in-chief. Jessica loves spending time with her sons, cooking with her husband, playing with her cats, reading, biking, drinking coffee, and whenever possible, taking a nap. Follow Jessica on Twitter (@jessapple)