BeingNow is the time to step up your exercise intensity and find more ways to get active. You can begin by incorporating strength or resistance training exercises using your body weight, resistance bands or free weights into your walk or exercise routine. Strength training is known to increase insulin sensitivity and reduce the risk of prediabetes in adults by helping the exercising muscles more readily use glucose for fuel to make energy. You should strive to complete both upper and lower body exercises, on two non-consecutive days, at least three days a week.

This week, you will challenged to build on last week's small step and begin to incorporate strength training into your weekly plan. Use this resistance training handout as a guide to find fun, easy to do exercises in your office, home or on the go. 

 physically active can help prevent prediabetes and improve our general health and well-being by keeping the weight off, improving muscle tone and mood, helping us to sleep better, increasing our energy and reducing stress. During this challenge your weekly small steps will be designed to help you increase your physical fitness and meet the goal of sustaining moderate physical activity for a minimum of 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. According to a study published in the Journal of Diabetologia, moderate physical activity was shown to  be more effective at combatting prediabetes and this week you will be challenged to build physical activity into your workday by finding an activity or several activities you enjoy and successfully completing this week's small steps.