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5 Strength-Training Moves to Help Improve Insulin Sensitivity

Grab a set of handweights and get motivated, get moving, get muscles!

BY NICOLE GLOR Research from the University of Michigan’s Life Sciences Institute shows that white muscle—the kind you get from lifting weights and resistance training, and that also develops with age—might be a big help when it comes to keeping blood sugar levels regulated.

Build muscle for better blood sugar?

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The link between muscle and diabetes

As we age, red muscle (the kind you find in young people and endurance athletes) gets overtaken by white muscle. Until recently, it was thought that this change could make you more susceptible to diabetes because white muscle would increase the body’s dependency on glucose as fuel. As a result, the cells would be overwhelmed by insulin and unable to respond to this sugar-metabolizing hormone. But when researchers examined the effect on mice, the results which were published in the journal Nature Medicine, revealed that white muscle appeared to create a pathway for keeping blood sugar regulated in mice. Human trials are underway to see if the same effect occurs in people.

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Written by Nicole Glor

Reviewed by Jessica DeCostole, RD, LDN

View Sources

1. "Lift weights to lower blood sugar? White muscle helps keep blood glucose levels under control," Life Sciences Institute at the University of Michigan, April 2013; http://www.ns.umich.edu/new/releases/21363-lift-weights-to-lower-blood-sugar-white-muscle-helps-keep-blood-glucose-levels-under-control

2. "Baf60c drives glycolytic metabolism in the muscle and improves systemic glucose homeostasis through Deptor-mediated Akt activation," Nature Medicine, 07 April 2013; http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v19/n5/full/nm.3144.html

3. "Resistance Training is Medicine: Effects of Strength Training on Health," American College of Sports Medicine; Jul-Aug 2012; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22777332

4. "Abdominal Fat and What To Do About It," Harvard Health Publications, Harvard Medical School; http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/abdominal-fat-and-what-to-do-about-it