Are You Under-Muscled? 7 Truths About Resistance Training

By Cyrus Khambatta, PhD

Let’s talk about one of the most powerful tools in your toolbox for lowering blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol, and losing weight: Resistance Training.

Now, I know what you might be thinking.

"I’m not a bodybuilder, I don’t want to get bulky, and I definitely don’t want to spend hours in the gym grunting and throwing heavy weights around."

Let’s pause for a moment and think about this carefully.

Resistance training isn't about becoming a bodybuilder – it’s about building a body that’s biologically designed to burn glucose and fat efficiently.

It’s about creating a metabolic engine that works for you, not against you.

In this article, we’ll investigate 7 truths about resistance training that can transform your health from the inside out.

The "Under-Muscled" Epidemic

Here’s a hard truth: most people living with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, and metabolic syndrome are "under-muscled"

This term refers to a body with a low proportion of lean muscle mass and a high proportion of body fat.

This specific body composition is a playground for insulin resistance, because muscle is your body's largest reservoir for glucose uptake.

Think of your muscles as a gas tank. If you have a small gas tank (low muscle mass), you can’t uptake or store much fuel.

When you eat a meal, that glucose gets trapped in your blood because your tank is small and close to full.

The result? Glucose stays in your blood, causing high blood glucose.

By increasing your muscle density, you effectively build a bigger gas tank, which is capable of uptaking and storing a significantly larger amount of glucose.

In effect, you create more storage space for glucose, which pulls it out of your bloodstream and lowers your blood sugar.

Creating "Internal Muscle Hunger"

When you perform resistance training, you’re doing something that walking or light cardio simply cannot do to the same extent.

You’re depleting the energy stores (glycogen) inside your muscle fibers.

This creates a state of internal muscle hunger, which in turn increases the desire of your muscle to pull glucose out of your blood the next time you eat.

Think of your muscles as desperate to replenish energy stores. They send out signals to your blood that say, "We need fuel, and we need it NOW."

This triggers a biological mechanism that moves glucose transporters to the surface of your muscle cells without the need for insulin.

Resistance training allows your muscles to uptake glucose from your blood without the need for insulin. This is a superpower for anyone living with high blood glucose, and an extremely effective way to optimize blood glucose values.

This internal muscle hunger also increases the uptake of fatty acids and amino acids, helping to clear your blood of excess lipids, while lowering your cholesterol and triglycerides in the process.

Increasing Muscle Density and Mitochondrial Mass

Resistance training doesn't just make your muscles larger – it makes muscles denser and more efficient.

Inside your muscle cells are tiny power plants called mitochondria. We’ve talked about mitochondria previously, in the context of:

4 Foods to Make New Mitochondria, and What is Oxidative Stress?

Think of mitochondria as the furnaces where you burn fat and glucose for energy.

Resistance training remodels mitochondria inside of muscle cells, resulting in:

• The production of new mitochondria

• Making the existing mitochondria larger and more efficient

More mitochondria means you have more furnaces burning fuel 24/7 – even when you’re sitting in front of your computer and sleeping.

This in turn increases your resting metabolic rate (RMR), which increases the amount of energy you expend at rest.

This single concept is one of the most critical concepts for understanding how to lose weight and keep it off permanently.

Focus on Large Muscle Groups

If you want the biggest bang for your buck, simply focus on large muscle groups:

• Your legs (quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes)

• Your back (lower and upper back)

• Your chest

These muscles are the largest muscles in your body, which means that they become the hungriest tissues in your body after exercise.

Strength training on your legs elicits a significantly larger metabolic response than doing bicep curls and shoulder raises.

When you activate these large muscle groups, you are emptying the biggest gas tanks you have, creating the largest demand for glucose and fat oxidation.

Exercises like squats, lunges, push-ups, and rows are your best friends.

They recruit massive amounts of muscle fiber and trigger a systemic improvement in insulin sensitivity that you can measure on your blood glucose meter within minutes of finishing the exercise session.

Benefits for All Ages

I don't care if you’re 35, 55, or 85 – resistance training is good for you.

As humans age, we naturally lose muscle mass via a process called sarcopenia.

This natural muscle loss reduces your metabolic rate and significantly increases your risk of insulin resistance.

Resistance training is the most powerful way to stop and even reverse sarcopenia.

For both men and women between 35-65 years old, resistance training is non-negotiable.

It improves bone density, protects your joints, improves your balance, and gives you the strength to live an active, independent life.

Frequency and The Slow Ramp-Up

Resistance training is ideal when performed multiple times per week (2-4 times is a great target).

However, the key to performing resistance training is by slowly increasing your effort over the course of many months.

If you haven't trained in years, do not go hard on day one. You will get very sore, you might get injured, and you will likely quit.

Instead, play the long game.

Start with light intensity and low volume. Focus on perfect form, then gradually increase the intensity over weeks and months.

Consistency is far more important than intensity, especially at the beginning of the process.

No Gym Required: The Power of Bodyweight

Finally, let’s bust the biggest myth of all: you don’t require a gym membership or fancy equipment to get started with resistance training.

Bodyweight training is incredibly challenging and sufficient for the first 3-6 months of your journey.

What most people don’t realize is that your own body is a heavy weight, and can be very challenging to use.

Using your body weight to perform squats, lunges, push-ups (even against a wall or on your knees), and planks will provide plenty of stimulus to build muscle, increase mitochondrial density, and create that internal muscle hunger.

Once you can handle your own body weight, then it’s time to consider adding external weights.

How We Can Help

Resistance training is a fundamental aspect of how we help people with high blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol, and excess body weight transform their lives from the inside out. Permanently.

If you’ve been dreaming about living in a fit body that functions like a well oiled machine, click here to talk with us to see if our program is right for you.