Revolutionary seated exercise promotes fat and glucose metabolism for hours: Big results from a small muscle

The average American sits for about 10 hours a day, whether or not a regular exerciser. One consequence of this sedentary lifestyle is diabetes, a gateway disease. One in ten (37.3 million) have diabetes and more than one in three (96 million) have prediabetes. Glucose levels, one to two hours after an oral glucose tolerance test, are one of the strongest independent metabolic risk factors for chronic conditions such as dementia, dyslipidemia (cholesterol/triglyceride related disease) and cardiovascular disease.

Groundbreaking research by veteran exercise physiologist Marc Hamilton, at the University of Houston Health and Human Performance Department, demonstrates a method to reverse the damaging metabolic effects of a sedentary lifestyle, while sitting. In a remarkable series of experiments recently published in iScience, he reveals how isolated contractions of the diminutive soleus muscle in your calf (<1% of the body weight) can improve metabolic control quickly and meaningfully.

Meet the Soleus Pushup (SPU), a seated movement that beats any therapeutic approach to elevate metabolism for fat burning and glucose control including exercise, weight loss, intermittent fasting and pharmaceuticals. The profound effect of engaging a small…