Exploring the glycemic impact of strength training, high-intensity resistance training, and HIIT
Your bloodstream is a busy highway where glucose vehicles transport essential energy to your cells. In type 2 diabetes, the off-ramps become clogged, leaving too many glucose vehicles idling in traffic.
This metabolic gridlock affects over 422 million people worldwide, with numbers projected to reach 552 million by 2030 3 . For decades, doctors have prescribed exercise as a primary treatment to unclog these metabolic off-ramps.
Not all exercise is created equal when it comes to blood sugar management. Recent scientific investigations have revealed fascinating differences between various exercise modalities.
Research now shows dramatic variations in how strength training, high-intensity resistance training, and high-intensity interval training impact our glucose metabolism. The results might surprise you and could revolutionize how we approach exercise prescription for metabolic health.
Type 2 diabetes isn't just about "high blood sugar"—it's a complex metabolic disorder characterized by:
This impaired insulin action leads to elevated blood glucose levels that damage organs and tissues throughout the body.
Exercise improves glucose metabolism through multiple mechanisms:
The American Diabetes Association recommends at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise plus two sessions of resistance training 3 .
A 2021 study published in the journal Anthropology directly compared the acute effects of three different exercise modalities on glycemic behavior in a type 2 diabetic individual 1 .
The researchers employed a meticulous approach to ensure reliable results. The study followed a six-visit protocol over several weeks 1 :
Informed consent, medical history review, and anthropometric measurements
10-repetition maximum testing to establish baseline strength levels
HIIT protocol familiarization
Implementation of the three different exercise protocols in random order
Follow-up measurements
The results demonstrated clearly divergent effects among the three exercise modalities. While all three approaches reduced blood glucose levels, the magnitude and timing of these reductions varied substantially 1 :
Maximum glucose reduction at 30 minutes post-exercise
Peak reduction at 20 minutes followed by a slight rebound
Maximum reduction at 20 minutes with sustained effects
What makes these findings particularly significant is that HIIT produced superior results despite requiring less total time commitment. The HIIT protocol involved just 2 minutes of intense exercise dispersed over approximately 23 minutes including rest periods, while the resistance training protocols required longer engagement periods 1 .
This time efficiency addresses a critical barrier in exercise adherence—the perceived lack of time—suggesting that HIIT might offer a practical solution for those struggling to meet traditional exercise recommendations .
Based on the accumulating evidence, including the featured case study, here are practical recommendations for using exercise to improve glycemic control:
3-5 minutes light activity
4-10 reps of 30-60s high intensity
1-4 minutes light activity between intervals
2-3 minutes gentle movement
The compelling case study provides a microcosm of the broader scientific understanding about exercise and metabolic health.
While all exercise benefits glucose metabolism, high-intensity interval training emerges as particularly potent for acute glucose reduction—a finding consistent across multiple study designs and populations 1 3 4 .
These findings don't diminish the value of other exercise forms but suggest that incorporating some high-intensity intervals might provide disproportionate metabolic advantages relative to time invested.
Knowing that just 10 minutes of interval training can lower my blood sugar as much as 30 minutes of continuous walking changes everything—I can always find 10 minutes.
As research continues to evolve, we move closer to personalized exercise prescriptions optimized for each unique metabolism. For now, the evidence strongly suggests that when it comes to blood sugar management, how you exercise may be just as important as how much you exercise.