Research

Hormonal

Six months of resistance training improves absolute glucose disposal in nonobese young women primarily through increased fat-free mass (mass effect) without altering intrinsic muscle insulin sensitivity.

If you are a young, healthy woman, doing resistance training three times a week for six months will improve your body's ability to manage blood sugar. This happens because you are building more muscle mass, which acts as a larger sink for glucose, rather than by losing fat. You do not need to lose weight to see this metabolic benefit.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
An increase in the amount of FFM from resistance training contributes to increased glucose disposal probably from a mass effect, without altering the intrinsic capacity of the muscle to respond to insulin.
Éric T. Poehlman et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2000

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial with clamp methodology, though limited to a specific demographic (young, nonobese women).

Source

Effects of Resistance Training and Endurance Training on Insulin Sensitivity in Nonobese, Young Women: A Controlled Randomized Trial1

Éric T. Poehlman et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2000

DOI 10.1210/jcem.85.7.6692

rct · n=51Cited 280×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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