Type-2 (non insulin dependent) diabetes is at epidemic proportions in the United States and other developed nations. Most experts agree that if the problem isn’t addressed real soon, one in three adults in this country will have this disease by the year 2020. Type-2 diabetes often reduces the life span of adults who are diagnosed with the disease. In other countries, such as the island of Samoa, 95% of the adult population suffers from type-2 diabetes.
While genetics play a role, diet and lifestyle ultimately determine whether a person at high risk will develop this disease. Finally, doctors are catching on that intense resistance training exercise is powerful preventative medicine that protects against the onset of type-2 diabetes. Regular weight training enhances insulin function by increase muscle’s sensitivity to insulin.
In this 16-week study, Dr. Carmen Castaneda and colleagues from Tufts University, assigned 62 patients with type-2 diabetes to a supervised resistance training program or to a control group. Training consisted of three sessions a week in which the subjects performed three sets of eight to six repetitions on five resistance training machines. Glycemic control and metabolic abnormalities in people with type-2 diabetes were shown to dramatically improve after the high-intensity the resistance training program. The results were reported in Diabetes Care.
Plasma HbA1c is an important blood test that measures the amount of glycated hemoglobin in the bloodstream over a 120-day period. HbA1c levels showed a significant decrease from 8.7% to 7.6% in the type-2 diabetics participating in the weight training program. Muscle glycogen stores increased in this group from 60.3 to 79.1 mmol glucose/kg of muscle. In addition, 72% of patients in this group had a reduction in the dose of prescribed diabetes medication. Conversely, there was a 42% increase in prescribed diabetes medications in the group not performing weight training exercise. These are compelling results that substantiate the positive effects that resistance training has on this disease.
The key to the success of the resistance training program was progressive overload. Maximum efforts in the lower rep rangers were encouraged as was a gradual increase in the weight used. This guidance coaxed the participants to work a little harder each week, this triggering the improvements in their condition.
As well as building a great body, Max-OT training would appear to be an extremely cost-effective method for protection against type-2 diabetes.
Source: Diabetes Care
