Best Exercise for Insulin Resistance

Exercise improves our health in many ways and it is especially helpful for insulin resistance. But, what is the best exercise for insulin resistance? And, why should we be concerned about insulin resistance anyway? Let’s start with some information about insulin resistance and why we want to avoid or reduce insulin resistance.

What is Insulin Resistance?

Insulin resistance occurs when the body’s cells become less responsive to the effects of insulin. This is important because insulin helps glucose (energy) get into the cells of the body, and keeps blood glucose levels lower.  If glucose can’t get into the cells easily, more will stay in the blood and that causes problems.

The problem with more glucose in the blood is that it doesn’t feel good and it causes health issues.  Some of these health issues are weight gain and increased risk for heart disease and all kinds of other vascular problems.  

There’s also a link between insulin resistance and lower bone density.  So, if you are wanting to improve your bone health, it’s best to reduce insulin resistance as much as you can. 

It’s helpful to think of healthy blood vessels as being pliable, maybe even a little spongy.  Extra glucose in our blood vessels make them less pliable and flexible and that makes our heart work harder.  This also causes increased inflammation and all of this can affect our heart, vision, nerves, cognition and more.

If you are focused on longevity, as we all should be, it’s best to reduce insulin resistance as much as possible.

Causes and Symptoms of Insulin Resistance

Causes Of Insulin Resistance

• Weight gain, especially around the belly
• Excess calories 
• Excess carbohydrates
• High sugar intake or processed carbs, especially in combination with unhealthy fats
• Inflammation
• Decreased physical activity/being sedentary

Symptoms of Insulin Resistance:

• Fatigue
• Tingling in hands and feet,
• Frequent urination
• Hungry after meals
• Dark dry patches on skin or skin tags
• Continued weight gain
• Sugar and carb cravings
• Intense thirst/hunger

While it might seem overwhelming, there’s a lot we can do to prevent, improve and even reverse, insulin resistance.  Exercise is one way to decrease blood sugar levels and to improve how sensitive your body is to insulin. We want our bodies to be accepting of insulin, allowing insulin to do its job.

Having good insulin sensitivity allows our cells to accept the glucose (blood sugar) and be used as energy. When sugar can’t get into the cell, the body thinks, hey we need more insulin, so more insulin is released. This promotes insulin resistance even more and over time can exhaust your pancreas (where insulin is made).

Exercise Improves Insulin Resistance

Exercise is something you can do everyday that is very effective at reducing insulin resistance. There’s lots of different exercises you can do. But, if you are busy, like most of my clients, you want to do the exercise that will benefit you the most. Note: please consult with your healthcare provider but you start any exercise program.

Just 30 minutes of exercise increases insulin sensitivity for up to 48 hours and increases glucose uptake by your muscles up to 40%. When muscles take up glucose, then less is in your blood, which is ideal.    

Muscles store glucose and then release it when we need more energy.  Tip: the more muscle you have, the more glucose you can store.

Best Exercise for Insulin Resistance

The best exercise for insulin resistance can be 30 minutes of any activity with some bonus high intensity intervals during that time.  Some examples are:  walking briskly, cycling, dancing, hiking, pickleball, tennis, or any cardio exercise. Ideally, when you are exercising your heart rate increases some, so this is not a stroll to the mailbox. 

The goal is to get your heart rate up enough so that you can talk but you shouldn’t be able to sing a song.  If you wear a watch that tracks your heart rate, you can figure out your target heart rate by following the calculation in this article by the CDC.  

Once you have a consistent routine of doing 30 minutes of exercise, you can add some high intensity interval training (5-20 minutes) into your 30 minute session.  This increases your insulin sensitivity even more, which reduces insulin resistance. Even just 5 minutes of higher intensity during your exercise will increase your insulin sensitivity (which is the opposite of insulin resistance).  

What is High Intensity Interval Training?

High intensity interval training (HIIT) is exercise with repeated bouts of high intensity effort followed by varied recovery times. For example, if you are walking you would increase your pace for 30 seconds and then slow down for 60 seconds, then repeat. 

Over time you are going to increase the time you walk faster or have max output. You should take the breaks you need, but you’ll find out that you can quickly increase the higher intensity time. Even if you start with a 5-second higher intensity interval and rest for 30, that’s fine. You can customize your intervals to fit your physical ability.

So, the best exercise for insulin resistance is 30 minutes of exercise with high intensity intervals within that time.  How often?  Most days (or everyday!) is ideal but if you aren’t used to exercising, then start slow and work up to what you can.  If you can’t do 30 minutes, do 5 minutes more often throughout the day. 

There’s no limit to exercise. Our bodies are made to move and as long as your health allows, more exercise is helpful.

A Couple More Exercise Options To Reduce Insulin Resistance:

Resistance training (lifting weights or using your body resistance for weight-bearing exercises) increases muscle mass, which increases glucose uptake by muscles. I recommend you work with a personal trainer if you haven’t ever lifted weights before but this is a great way to improve insulin resistance, bone health, energy levels, and more.

Yoga – yoga is great because it helps decrease stress as well as make you stronger and more flexible. Stress increases blood sugar so yoga is a great way to exercise.  Here’s a free yoga challenge that is only 30 minutes a day: Yoga with Adriene

For Those With Limited Mobility

If you have limited mobility or another condition that limits your ability to exercise I suggest that you ask your healthcare provider what exercise you can do. Whatever your health issue, google: “my health issue” and exercise and see what others are doing or what physical therapists are recommending. There are stretching routines, chair exercises and chair yoga.

I’ve had clients flat out tell me they won’t exercise and that is certainly a personal choice. But, I hope that when people understand the benefits of exercise and understand that they don’t have to exercise for hours for it to make a difference that they will start and continue to exercise on a regular basis.

Here are the 3 things I recommend for getting started with exercise:

1. Don’t make excuses. If you are not mobile, you can still exercise. Some of the most intense exercise I did was when I was paralyzed and was just trying to move my feet…until I could move more. When I was in a wheelchair, I did a lot of arm exercises and moved more as I was able. You can literally find any kind of exercise on youtube and follow along for free.
2. Make the decision to exercise and improve your insulin sensitivity and then get started.  Find a friend to support you and provide accountability.
3. Find what works for you. Everyone is different. You might like walking, jogging, pilates or dance. I’ve enjoyed kickboxing in the past and I love hiking/snowshoeing and playing pickleball. I also lift weights and practice balance exercises, which allows me to do more of what I enjoy.

I challenge you to keep trying new ways to exercise until you find what works for you. Make the time. Start with 5 minutes a day and then go from there.  

About the author: Jen Birge is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Diabetes Educator specializing in insulin resistance, bone health, menopause, weight loss and more. She lives in Colorado and loves hiking in the mountains and playing pickleball. She has an online support group for women going through menopause and/or wanting to focus on their bone health.  You can join her free Facebook Group here.