“Previous studies have shown strength training in adults with type 2 diabetes to be effective in controlling glycemic (blood sugar) and blood fat levels,” said Raza Qadir, one recently University of Oakland A graduate of the William Beaumont School of Medicine and lead author of the article. “Our research has shown that resistance training is useful in controlling these variables in addition to reducing body fat in people at risk for developing the disease.”
Elise Brown, Assistant Professor at the School of Health Sciences at the OU, Taylor Todd, a student in the School of Health Sciences of the OU and Nicholas Sculthorpe, Professor in the School of Health and Life Sciences at the University of the West of Scotland, were co-authors of the paper.
The researchers pulled data from controlled clinical trials tracking cardiometabolic outcomes in adults at risk of type 2 diabetes and compared those who had a resistance training intervention with those who did not. Sculthorpe performed the data analysis that showed that resistance training, when done for at least 12 weeks, was effective in lowering blood sugar, body fat, and blood lipids in adults at risk for type 2 diabetes.
“These results have implications for efforts to prevent type 2 diabetes,” Qadir said, adding that long-term studies are needed to determine whether regular weight training can prevent the disease altogether. “If we can prevent the disease, we can avoid the health complications and costs associated with it.”
The researchers found that the clinical trials that showed the most significant improvements in cardiometabolic outcomes in patients at risk for type 2 diabetes used specific exercise parameters – namely, the use of free weights or resistance bands with intensities greater than 60 15 repetitions at a time. This means that a person is using an intensity that is over 60% of the maximum resistance they can move through a reasonable range of motion with the right technique for one repetition.
SOURCE University of Oakland
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