Millions of people around the world are living with type 2 diabetes, and many more have prediabetes without realizing it.
Prediabetes means blood sugar levels are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be called diabetes. Without healthy lifestyle changes, many people with prediabetes eventually develop type 2 diabetes.
Exercise has always been one of the most powerful tools for preventing diabetes. Most health advice focuses on walking, jogging, cycling, or other aerobic activities. A new study now suggests that strength training deserves equal attention.
Strength training involves making muscles work against resistance. People can lift free weights, use gym machines, resistance bands, or perform body-weight exercises. These activities strengthen muscles while helping the body use insulin more efficiently.
Researchers tracked more than 143,000 American adults for as long as 19 years to examine how strength training affected diabetes risk. Their findings, published in JAMA Network Open, showed that people who regularly performed resistance training were much less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.
Compared with adults who never performed resistance training, those completing at least two hours each week had a 27% lower risk of developing diabetes. The greatest protection was seen among people who continued strength training consistently throughout middle age, lowering their risk by 42%.
The researchers also found that combining healthy movement habits produced the best results. Participants who performed both resistance training and the recommended amount of aerobic exercise while limiting long periods of sitting had the lowest overall diabetes risk.
According to endocrinologist Dr. Shirin Jaggi, the study highlights that consistency may be more important than trying to exercise for long periods. Even moderate sessions performed regularly over many years may provide meaningful health benefits.
Scientists believe strength training improves blood sugar control because muscles remove glucose from the bloodstream and store it for energy. As muscle mass increases, the body becomes better at responding to insulin, reducing strain on the pancreas.
The investigators, led by Dr. Tianyue Zhang from Zhejiang University School of Medicine, suggest that future diabetes prevention recommendations should place greater emphasis on resistance training alongside aerobic exercise.
The study’s strengths include its very large sample size and long follow-up period, allowing researchers to observe long-term health trends. However, participants reported their own exercise habits, which may not always be perfectly accurate, and observational studies cannot establish direct cause and effect.
Nevertheless, the evidence strongly suggests that maintaining regular strength training as part of an active lifestyle can play an important role in lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes.
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Source: Zhejiang University School of Medicine.
