Why supervision changes the result
Two people can do the same amount of exercise and get different results from it, because what matters is the type, the intensity and the consistency rather than the total. A supervised program sets those deliberately, then adjusts them as your capacity changes.
Supervision also handles the parts that are genuinely medical. If you take insulin or a sulfonylurea, exercise can drop your blood glucose further than you expect, and the timing of food, medication and activity has to be planned rather than discovered. If you have had diabetes for a while, complications affecting the feet, eyes or heart change what is safe to prescribe. This is why a program starts with an assessment.
Where a group program fits
Small groups work well for this. There are other people at a similar starting point, the cost per session is much lower than one to one, and Medicare funds group allied health services under a separate referral from your GP.
The trade-off is that a group only works if everyone has been assessed individually first, and if it stays genuinely small. Ours is capped at six.
How to start
Ask your GP for a referral for group exercise physiology services. Then book an assessment, which is one to one and sets the level you start at. Do not start an unsupervised program on the strength of an article, this one included, if you take insulin or a sulfonylurea, or if you have any diabetes complication. Talk to your GP first.
Where to next. Our type 2 diabetes group exercise program runs at Kew and Oakleigh, six people at most, run by the exercise physiologist who assesses you. Book the assessment.