alt Hacker NewsWeightlifting beats running for blood sugar control, researchers find (2025)
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Dr. Bernstein has long argued this and documents it extensively in his book "Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution"[1]. The main reason being that muscles act like natural glucose sinks that drain sugar directly out of the bloodstream, bypassing the liver, so more muscles = more glucose control.
I highly recommend the introductory chapter to "Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution" by the way, even for non-diabetics. It's basically just the "Life and career" section of his wiki page, but in way more detail -- a really interesting biographical account about an industrial engineer doing diabetes self-experiments with a glucose meter he procured through his wife and going up against the medical community/orthodoxy and failing, only to finally break through when he got a medical degree late in life. I could probably upload and link to just that section if people are interested.
Outside of the (in mice) factor, the study compares optional exercise with mandatory exercise factors.
> To eat, the mice had to lift the lid while wearing a small shoulder collar, causing a squat-like movement that engaged the muscle contractions people use during resistance exercise.
vs
> For the endurance group, mice were given open access to a running wheel, an established model of aerobic exercise
The study is comparing the exercise that came in right before eating, which is effective at sugar control over the exercise done at any time as desired.
Speaking as a runner, I ignore the diet bump which makes me put on extra fat when I am training up for the SF (+2.5 kg over June & July is normal).
Mostly because I eat more the night before and mostly light carbs.
In fact, I'd bet my resting metabolism is actually slower when I'm training and the resting heart rates drop to 45 bpm & sleep takes up fewer calories too.
The muscle mass increase from lifting probably never cuts your metabolism needs when you are recovering or resting.
Cardiovascular fitness doesn't really cause weight loss when you're resting. So you'll be comparing something which reduces the calorie spend for the all the time you're not running vs something slightly bumps the spend when you are not lifting.
The exercise you like doing and will do beats no exercise at all for blood sugar control
I have T1 diabetes and wear a GCM so have a continuous view of my blood sugar levels. I also go to the gym and exercise otherwise.
My experience is somewhat different. Even walking is more effective than chess presses or arm exercises for immediately reducing blood sugar.
After an hour or so of more intense aerobic exercise I find it basically impossible to avoid a hypo (low blood sugar).
Simplistically if the effect of exercise on blood glucose is roughly proportional to Volume of muscle engaged x Length of time engaged, things like running should be very effective. The bulk of your muscle is in your lower body and you’re continuously engaging it.
I suspect any decently intense exercise can have a moderate lowering effect on blood sugar levels after the immediate drop seen when you’re exercising, but the effective isn’t huge.
In mice...
These poor quality animal studies tend to be non-replicable, but provide fodder for predatory journals and tabloid journalism. And for getting grants from gullible philanthropists.
Citations and money, a great outcome for some random graduate student at a third tier programme...
I treat many obese adult diabetics. It is difficult to get most of them to go for a brisk walk a couple of times a week, far less do weight lifting before each meal. There is a reason why they are diabetics ( apart from the genetic overlay , which is a major factor in some populations).
Weightlifing is the only exercise that I've ever managed to make a habit. I do powerlifting 3x/week. I've tried running, swimming, cycling, etc. and hated all of it.
I try to be open minded about research choices because I have no special knowledge of what will or won’t be important. Left-field discoveries have made profound and positive impacts on many occasions.
I’m having trouble with this one, and am tempted to write it off as playing with mice in a lab. The extrapolation to human conditions is hyperbolic, maybe worse.
Given the number of people with continuous glucose monitors and activity tracking watches in the world, why not study that data directly? Causation by activity would be more apparent, more relevant and more significant (if present) wouldn’t it?
(in mice) - I get it if it’s some new experimental drug, a mouse probably makes sense to test first. With exercise you’d think they could go straight to humans? Seems like it would be more effort getting mice to lift weights than it’s worth.
Anyone who's ever done a proper session of heavy squats or deadlifts knows this. Nothing compares to that feeling, certainly no amount of cardio.
I used to do weightlifting, but it's hard to keep up daily discipline with potential injury risk. Rest days are mandatory and this is the #1 killer of compliance over time (for me).
Rowing is my go-to now. It is low impact so I can do it every day without any exceptions. I've been able to hold onto this discipline for 2 years now. The advantage of rowing is that there isn't really a limit to how much it can suck. You can burn 500 calories per hour, or 9000. It's more of a psychological battle than a physical one.
My system is to row at whatever intensity and duration until I my brain starts to internally play music from Spotify. However long that takes. Sometimes it's 40 minutes, sometimes it's 80. I think this variance mostly boils down to blood sugar and what I ate the previous day. If I gorge on a box of snacky crackers, I need to row for at least an hour before I stop feeling like shit.
As this is a mice study it’s worth pointing out humans are particularly adapted for endurance exercise compared to other animals. Not gonna pretend to be a HN expert, but it seems relevant when comparing this sort of thing across species.
Luckily, we live in the reality where every human who is interested in how their own body, and not the one of some random mouse, deals with blood sugar, can order a relatively inexpensive (for the benefits it provides) device — a continuous glucose monitor — and gather all the data they need to see what helps controlling the sugar level, and what does not. Using a CGM was a truly life changing experience for me, and I recommend trying it for everyone interested.
Simple trick for those outside of academia. Google the impact factor of the journal you are reading. If it's below 5 it's fake. If it's 5 or above, it's also fake.
Sprints and HIIT style exercise is shown to deplete muscle glycogen much, much faster than cardio.
From the top of my head: a 20 min HIIT session outperforms a ~2 to ~4 hour cardio session when it comes to glycogen depletion.
So doing cardio for blood sugar control (depletion) is probably a bad idea/waste of time (assuming you don't like to do cardio). Though obviously it's possible it may vary from diabetic to diabetic and from a healthy to a healthy person in extremes. A GCM is cheap to test it out.
For people talking about gym: legs are over 50% of your muscle mass so obviously chest and biceps curls aren't gonna cut it. Leg work is needed.
have you tried grape soda?
"In this model, mice lived in specially designed cages where food was accessed through a hinged, weighted lid. To eat, the mice had to lift the lid while wearing a small shoulder collar, causing a squat-like movement that engaged the muscle contractions people use during resistance exercise. The load was gradually increased over several days, mimicking progressive strength training."
So the study doesn't really show that weighlifting per se is beneficial, but putting food behind weighted hatches is?
"Voluntary wheel running (EEX) was conducted as previously described in single-housed mice with access to voluntary running wheels and food and water ad-libitum,"
And the runners could each as much as they liked?
Sounds like bunk.