What’s the Best Exercise for Type 2 Diabetics? Study Finds Combining Aerobic and Resistance Training Greatly Improved Diabetes Numbers

A new randomized control trial found that both aerobic exercise–such as jogging, cycling or walking–and resistance exercise–such as weight lifting–improved glycemic/blood sugar control in people with type 2 diabetes. However, the best results were received when patients combined the workouts.

Each participant in the study, published in the journal, “Annals of Internal Medicine,” was evaluated on the changes in A1c value, a number that reflects blood sugar concentrations. A drop of 1 percent in this value is associated with a 15 to 20 percent drop in risk of heart attack or stroke and a 25-40 percent drop for risk of diabetes related eye disease or kidney disease.

Groups who only did one kind of workout saw a 0.5 percent drop in their A1c values while those who combined exercises saw a 0.97 percent drop compared to the control group that did not exercise. The study consisted of 251 diabetic adults who were not regularly exercising at the start of the trial.

Annals of Internal Medicine (www.annals.org) is one of the most widely cited peer-reviewed medical journals in the world. The journal has been published for 80 years and accepts only 7 percent of the original research studies submitted for publication. Annals of Internal Medicine is published by the American College of Physicians, the nation’s largest medical specialty society.