Research
Hormonal
Exercise and insulin stimulate glucose uptake via distinct, independent signaling pathways that both converge on GLUT4 translocation.
Exercise improves blood sugar control through mechanisms that are separate from insulin. This means exercise can be beneficial even for those with severe insulin resistance, as it bypasses some of the defective insulin signaling pathways.
StrongSupportsHIGH confidence
Glucose uptake into the skeletal muscle can occur via multiple signaling pathways that lead to the translocation of the glucose transporter GLUT4; there are separate pathways for exercise-stimulated and insulin-stimulated glucose uptake.
Why this rating
Detailed molecular mechanisms are described with citations.
Source
Role of Skeletal Muscle in Insulin Resistance and Glucose Uptake
Karla E. Merz et al. · Comprehensive physiology · 2020
DOI 10.1002/cphy.c190029
narrative_reviewCited 485×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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