Research

Hormonal

Skeletal muscle exhibits significant intramuscular lipolysis, evidenced by interstitial glycerol concentrations in muscle tissue that are 40-fold higher than plasma levels and comparable to adipose tissue levels, which are suppressed by insulin and stimulated by sympathetic blockade.

Your muscles store and burn their own fat, not just what's floating in your blood. This internal fat store is regulated by insulin (which stops the burning) and stress hormones (which start it). To optimize this, maintain insulin sensitivity through diet and exercise, as high insulin levels will suppress this local fat burning mechanism in your muscles.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Our data suggest unexpectedly high rates of intramuscular lipolysis in humans that may play an important role in fuel metabolism.
David Maggs et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 1995

Why this rating

High-quality human study using microdialysis with rigorous calibration (no net flux and zero flow rate protocols) and MRI-confirmed probe placement in lean subjects.

Source

Interstitial fluid concentrations of glycerol, glucose, and amino acids in human quadricep muscle and adipose tissue. Evidence for significant lipolysis in skeletal muscle.

David Maggs et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 1995

DOI 10.1172/jci118043

clinical_trial · n=10Cited 172×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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