How Lifting Weights Plays An Integral Part In Preventing Diabetes?

• By vishwa on Health

• February 24, 2011

Adding muscle via a solid weight training program coupled with a well balanced diet, overtime, reverse the negative effects of insulin resistance.  Resistance training which also involves training with weights calls upon ATP/PC initially, and then primarily uses glucose from carbohydrates as an energy source to proceed with the routine.  The harder one trains, the more adaptive the muscles become to storing glucose as muscle glycogen.  As the demand for glycogen increases with regular training, for increased muscle mass demands more glucose, and also the increased intensity of the workouts speeds up the demand for more glucose.  When this occurs glycogen storing pathways, including the receptiveness of insulin receptors located on muscle tissue become upgraded and are much more ready to accept insulin and glucose.

In addition, resistance training not only reverses insulin resistance by increasing your ability to draw glucose, but as suggested above it increases muscle size, including the size of even the tiniest components of muscles:  The muscle cell.  When muscle cells increase in size, the receptors for insulin actually stretch and increase in diameter making them more insulin friendly. The more friendly the muscle to insulin the smaller the insulin spike:  When adequate amount of insulin is released in the body from the pancreas and when  the released insulin is utilized rightly by the body, it would lead to lesser circulating insulin.  It is known that insulin resistance leads to greater circulating insulin, which can damage blood vessels.  Hyperinsulinemia–high circulating insulin levels– is also associated with blood pressure, heart disease, heart failure and obesity.

Two of my clients who were border line diabetics started weight training on a regular basis, and after several months of training they now have nothing to do with sugar controlling pills.  I believe, you should not underestimate the power of your body.  And, I don’t want you to blindly accept my words, but please open your eyes and look at what exercise specialists and health care professionals are shouting at you.  The required information is at the tip of your fingers, for you will have to merely Google and scrupulously search for the required material and remove the mask of ignorance.  At the same-time, please be aware as there is a great deal of wrong information, which has been and is being propagated.  You will have to use your common sense to distinguish between the right and wrong, which perhaps is pain staking.

PS:  I have above referred to the benefits of weight training.  And, yes, weight training is the  mainstay at our gym, but we work more towards improving our functional strength, for the body works as an unit rather than in isolation.   More thoughts on functional strength training will follow in the coming blog entries.