First-Ever "Bolus & Barbells" Diabetes Bodybuilding Event

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Today we"re delighted to introduce Rodney Miller, a longtime type 1 in Texas who"s starting a first-of-its-kind diabetes program focused on weightlifting and bodybuilding.

The 32-year-old was diagnosed almost three decades ago, and after years of not taking the best care of his diabetes, he found a new calling that"s led to his Bolus and Barbells event coming up on June 11. Rodney sees it as a brand new way to educate and empower people with diabetes, not to mention getting attendees in shape!

We have to give props to diabetes advocate Daniele Hargenrader, another longtime type 1 who"s an exercise and lifting guru herself (aka the Diabetes Dominator), for giving us the heads-up on Rodney and this novel event.

On Weightlifting and Diabetes, by Rodney Miller

My diabetes story starts in November 1987, when I was four years old.

I was exhibiting extreme thirst and frequent urination, which sounds familiar to some of you I’m sure! I was taken to the hospital by my parents, and they found out my blood glucose was an astounding 880 mg/dL! Needless to say I was admitted right then and there with a rush to bring my glucose down to a normal range. I actually spent two weeks in a coma after that, but I don’t remember anything from that time. Before long, we were packed up and sent off with a standard chart from the hospital"s dietitian, and a blood glucose meter.

Fast-forward 20 years when I got married and started a career. My blood sugars were erratic and my body was weak. One night, my wife came to me and told me we were going to be having a baby. Talk about a wake-up call! I decided that I had to get better control so that I could watch my child grow up.

I knew losing weight would help with blood glucose control, so I joined the local gym where I worked with a personal trainer for about a year.

After that, I became really fascinated by bodybuilding. For the next year or so, I set a goal to get bigger muscles and use nutrition to my advantage so I could be ready to step on a bodybuilding stage.

I really started learning about nutrition at this point. I managed to go from a chunky 172 pounds to a proportioned 205 lbs. I had dropped my body fat from 32% to 18%. It became apparent, however, that I was not blessed with the right proportions to be successful in bodybuilding. Feeling at a loss, I came into the gym one night and found a flyer for a powerlifting meet. I thought to myself, “You already enjoy doing these lifts and going heavy, so why not jump in and compete?”

With very little training, I competed at 210 lbs and won 2nd place in the deadlift and 1st place in the bench press. I found out that I really enjoyed competing, and all the training/dieting had greatly improved my blood glucose control. My body was fitter, stronger, and less prone to illness. As I continued to dig into nutrition and training, I was able to piece together information in order to become the best diabetic athlete I could be.

After a couple of injuries, I took up training strongman (the sport of lifting heavy objects). It was much more demanding than powerlifting, and again I had to really dig through hundreds of articles and websites, and talk to experts in the field. As I was learning how to deadlift cars, pull fire trucks, and press logs overhead, I had to learn how to fuel my body and keep blood sugars stable through these grueling events.

I’ve competed in nine different strongman competitions to date. The Dexcom continuous glucose monitor has proved to be invaluable during these 5-8 hour long days, giving me constant feedback and helping me know when and how much food and insulin I’m going to need. I am constantly checking or eating between lifts. I have achieved my goal A1Cs, and have been able to perform at a high level in several different strength sports.

All of that led to my advocacy in the arena of athletes with diabetes.

As I’ve gotten older, I began noticing that there was a lack of community support for diabetic athletes.

When I started becoming more outspoken regarding diabetes and fitness, a now good friend Daniel Borba reached out to me and asked me if I would join his Facebook group for Type 1 Diabetic Athletes. I was thrilled! Here were several-thousand diabetics that were involved in a wide range of sports and chasing their own ideals of fitness.

I also started working more with my local American Diabetes Association office. Last year, I was able to deadlift a car to help raise money and awareness for diabetes. It has been extremely fulfilling showing diabetics everywhere that it doesn’t have to define who we are; I am a strongman first and a diabetic second.

Bolus & Barbells

With that in mind, I decided to put together a live event called Bolus and Barbells. This event is on June 11, 2016, in Austin, Texas, and it will be the first of its kind. In addition, we will have several lifting events throughout the day. We will train and engage with people who know what we go through in the day-to-day life of living with type 1.

This event will also bring some incredible experts with applicable knowledge in nutrition and fitness to speak (and include lifting exercise!), and all are living with T1D themselves. Aside from me sharing my personal story, the speakers include:

• Jeffrey Huet, a T1D diagnosed at age 12 who played college football and is now a Crossfit athlete, powerlifter and strongman who strives to BREAK DIABETES.
• Hillary Emmons, another T1D Crossfit athlete and coach.
• Kelley Crumpler, a T1D registered nurse and educator at her family-run clinic, Brazos Valley Endocrinology in Texas, who will give an overview of insulins and pumps.

There will be plenty of time to answer questions, so everyone can gain the knowledge they need to elevate their control and performance. There will be a couple of lifting sessions that will allow everyone to lift, no matter what level of experience they currently have.

This event is being facilitated by the non-profit group Cleans for a Cure, which is based in North Carolina and supports diabetes research as well as camp scholarships, diabetic alert dog fundraising, and general T1D awareness in the Crossfit community.

My dream is to have several of these events per year all over the United States, and we currently have three others in the works -- more details to be announced!

If you would like more information, you can reach me at slbperformance@gmail.com or check out the website www.bolusandbarbells.com. Hope to see you there!

Thanks for sharing your story, Rodney! We look forward to hearing how the first Bolus and Barbells event goes, and can"t wait to see it expand across the country.

Disclaimer: Content created by the Diabetes Mine team. For more details click here.

Disclaimer

This content is created for Diabetes Mine, a consumer health blog focused on the diabetes community. The content is not medically reviewed and doesn"t adhere to Healthline"s editorial guidelines. For more information about Healthline"s partnership with Diabetes Mine, please click here.

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