S R Gym Adajan
Above Way Wait Restaurant, Kalpana Society Part-2, Choksi Wadi,Adajan, Surat, Gujarat 395009
- Mon–Sat
- 06:00 am – 10:00 pm
- Sunday
- Closed
- Google rating
- 4.6 from 28 reviews
Training with diabetes or high blood pressure
The short answer
Structured strength training lowers long-term blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes by around 0.35 to 0.39 percentage points of HbA1c across pooled trials, which is a real and useful effect and is not a reversal. It works best at two or three sessions a week over three to four months. At S R Gym this is coached by somebody holding a special population training certificate, alongside your doctor rather than instead of them. Bring your latest reports and any restrictions your doctor has given you to the first conversation, and keep your medication under their supervision, since it may need adjusting as you get fitter.
Written byBrijesh Joshi
Founder of S R Gym, Surat, coaching since 1999. President of the Strength Bodybuilding Association South Gujarat and a registered IBBFF judge. See credentials.
- Published
- Reading time
- 9 min read
A large share of the people who walk into this gym arrive with something on their file. Sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, or all three. Most of them have been told to exercise by a doctor and given no detail about what that means, and some have been turned away from gyms that did not want the responsibility. This page is what I tell them.
What training actually does to blood sugar
Muscle is where a great deal of the glucose in your blood is taken up and used. Training does two things: it uses glucose during and after a session, and over months it builds more muscle, which gives the body more capacity to handle sugar in the first place. That is the mechanism, and it is why strength training in particular matters here rather than only walking.
The size of the effect is known rather than guessed. Pooled analyses of randomised trials find that structured resistance training reduces HbA1c, the measure of your average blood sugar over roughly three months, by about 0.35 to 0.39 percentage points in adults with type 2 diabetes. Two independent reviews arrive at close to the same number. The clearest results come from programmes running two or three sessions a week for twelve to sixteen weeks, which is a description of ordinary training rather than anything specialised.
For context on why this matters in Surat: the ICMR-INDIAB national study reported diabetes in 11.4 percent of Indian adults, prediabetes in 15.3 percent, high blood pressure in 35.5 percent and abdominal obesity in 39.5 percent. This is not an unusual case for a gym to handle. It is a large share of the city.
Why I will not use the word reversal
You will see that word used a great deal, by apps and by programmes sold online, and it is worth being clear about why it does not appear on this page.
A reduction of around a third of a percentage point in HbA1c is a real improvement in long-term blood sugar control. It is not the same thing as making a condition go away. Some people, with weight loss and consistent training, do reach a point where their doctor reduces or stops a medication. That is a wonderful outcome and it happens. It is a conclusion a doctor reaches by looking at your numbers, and it is not a thing a gym can offer you in advance.
If a coach in Surat promises you reversal before they have seen your reports, what they are selling is confidence rather than treatment. I would rather tell you the smaller true number and let you decide whether it is worth your time. In my experience it usually is, because the blood sugar is rarely the only thing that improves.
How this is run here
- A longer first conversation. Your reports, your medication, what your doctor has said, and how your sugar behaves through a normal day. That conversation shapes everything after it.
- Two or three sessions a week, built up gradually. The research protocol and the sensible starting point are the same thing. Nobody is thrown into six days a week.
- Strength work as the core of it. Compound movements, moderate loads, controlled repetitions. This is where the glucose handling improves.
- Cardio added, not substituted. Useful for the heart and for the deficit, and it does not replace the muscle-building part.
- Yoga at the start of every session. As with every member here. It matters more when joints are stiffer and confidence is lower.Why.
- Food discussed in terms of your actual kitchen. Not a printed diet chart.How that works.
- Your doctor stays in charge. As you get fitter your medication may need adjusting. That is their decision and it is a good sign, and it is a reason to keep your appointments rather than skip them because you feel well.
If you have high blood pressure
Regular exercise lowers blood pressure over time, which is why this is worth doing rather than avoiding. What changes is how the lifting is taught.
- Breathe through the effort. Holding the breath and straining spikes pressure sharply, and it is the single most important thing to correct.
- Moderate loads, controlled. Maximal attempts and grinding repetitions are left out entirely.
- Build up slowly. Volume before intensity, over weeks.
- Uncontrolled pressure means a doctor first. If your readings are currently high and unmanaged, that appointment comes before the first session, and I will say so rather than take your money.
What to bring, and what to ask your doctor
Bring to the gym:
- Your most recent HbA1c and fasting sugar, if you have them
- Your current blood pressure readings
- A list of your medication, including doses
- Anything your doctor has told you to avoid, and any recent hospitalisation
Worth asking your doctor before you begin:
- Is there any activity I should avoid at present?
- Do I have any eye, kidney or nerve complications that change what is safe?
- Should my medication or its timing change once I am training regularly?
- How would you like me to handle low blood sugar around exercise?
Those four questions take two minutes in an appointment and they make the whole thing straightforward afterwards.
When to stop, and when not to train
Stop a session and get help for chest pain or tightness, pain spreading to the jaw, neck or arm, sudden severe breathlessness, dizziness or feeling faint, or a cold sweat with nausea. These are not signs to push through.
On low blood sugar specifically: shakiness, sweating, confusion, unusual hunger or sudden weakness during a session should be treated immediately with fast-acting sugar, and the session ends there. If you take insulin or a sulfonylurea, carry something sugary with you and tell whoever is coaching you that you do. Do not train alone if your sugar has been unpredictable lately.
And skip the session entirely if you are unwell, if your sugar is very high or very low before you start, or if you have an unhealed foot wound. Foot care matters here in a way it does not for other members, and footwear that rubs is worth taking seriously.
The qualification behind this
Dr Mahesh Kumar's Medical Institute
Training somebody with a medical condition is a different job from training somebody without one, and a gym should be able to show why it is qualified to do it rather than simply assert that it is.
Brijesh Joshi holds a special population training certificate from Dr Mahesh Kumar's Medical Institute, covering training for people with additional medical or physical considerations, alongside personal training certification from GFFI, a functional training qualification from the Energy Kettlebell Fitness Academy Asia, and a first aid and CPR component in the trainers' course he teaches on.
Every certificate is photographed and shown onthe credentials page, with the ones awaiting a scan listed separately and marked as such.
What that qualification does not make him is a doctor, and this page is written on that basis throughout.
The research this page rests on
The effect sizes on this page are stated as the trials found them, including where that number is smaller than a reader might hope. Nothing here is a treatment claim.
Effects of resistance training on glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes
Pooled analysis of randomised trials, PMC8915309, 2022 · Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised trials
Resistance training reduced HbA1c by roughly 0.35 to 0.39 percentage points in adults with type 2 diabetes, with the clearest effects from programmes running two to three sessions a week over twelve to sixteen weeks. That is a real improvement in long-term blood sugar control and it is a modest one, which is why it belongs alongside medical care rather than in place of it.
Resistance training and glycaemic control: a second independent meta-analysis
European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, supplement, 2023 · Systematic review and meta-analysis
An independently conducted review reached a very similar figure for the HbA1c reduction achievable with resistance training. Two separate reviews arriving at the same modest number is the reason this page states an effect size rather than a promise.
The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 2023 · National cross-sectional study
Among Indian adults, the study reported diabetes in 11.4 percent, prediabetes in 15.3 percent, hypertension in 35.5 percent and abdominal obesity in 39.5 percent. This is the context for why a gym in Surat should be able to talk about this competently rather than send people away.
Where, when and what it costs
Membership starts at ₹5,000 for 3 months. For most people arriving with a medical condition,personal training is the better starting point, since it means every session is supervised and the programme is built around your reports. That starts at ₹25,000 for 3 months.Full fees.
Adajan, Surat, Gujarat 395009
S R Gym Katargam
Vihar Society-2, Wadinath Chowk, Plot 169, Ved Road, near Singanpor Char Rasta, Ishwar Nagar Society,Katargam, Surat, Gujarat 395004
- Mon–Sat
- 05:00 am – 10:00 pm
- Sunday
- Closed
- Google rating
- 4.5 from 91 reviews
Training with a medical condition: common questions
- Can exercise reduce blood sugar?
- Yes, and the size of the effect is known. Pooled trials find that structured resistance training lowers HbA1c, which measures average blood sugar over about three months, by roughly 0.35 to 0.39 percentage points in adults with type 2 diabetes. That is a genuine improvement and a modest one. It works alongside your medication and your doctor's care rather than replacing either.
- Is weight training safe for a diabetic?
- For most people with well-managed type 2 diabetes, yes, and it is among the more useful things you can do. There are situations that need medical clearance first, including diabetic retinopathy, significant neuropathy, kidney complications, or blood sugar that is currently unstable. Bring your latest reports and any restriction your doctor has given you, and we will build around it rather than guess.
- Can I go to the gym with high blood pressure?
- Usually yes, with your doctor's agreement and with sensible adjustments. Regular exercise lowers blood pressure over time. What we change is the technique: breathing through the effort instead of holding the breath, avoiding maximal straining, and building up load gradually. If your blood pressure is currently uncontrolled, that is a conversation with your doctor before you begin, and I will say so.
- Do you offer diabetes reversal?
- No, and I would be cautious of anybody in Surat who does. What can honestly be offered is well-coached training that improves long-term blood sugar control by a measurable amount, better body composition, and habits that hold. Some people do see their medication reduced by their doctor over time. That is a decision for the doctor, on the basis of your numbers, and never something a gym should promise in advance.
- Is there a gym in Surat with a trainer who understands medical conditions?
- Brijesh Joshi holds a special population training certificate covering work with people who have additional medical or physical considerations, alongside personal training certifications and a functional training qualification. The certificate is photographed on the credentials page. He has coached in Surat since 1999, and a good share of the members here are over forty and arrive with something on their file.
- What should I bring to the first session?
- Your most recent blood work, including HbA1c and fasting sugar if you have them, a list of your medication, and anything your doctor has told you to avoid. Also useful: how your sugar behaves through the day and whether you have had hypoglycaemic episodes. Call +91 98790 69960 to arrange a first conversation.
This page is general information written by a fitness coach holding a special population training certificate. It is not medical advice, it cannot tell you anything about your own condition, and nothing on it should be used to change medication. Speak to your doctor before starting, and keep seeing them once you have.
Bring your reports and let us talk
The first conversation costs nothing and it decides most of what follows. Call +91 98790 69960.