Improving Insulin Sensitivity

This post may not be the best fit for the nutrition forum but I’ll make it anyway as insulin sensitivity regularly features here.

A BBC documentary recently featured research showing insulin sensitivity can be radically improved by a mere 3 mins per week of HIIT (HIT, as they referred to it rather misleadingly). To cut to the chase, the show’s presenter saw a 23% improvement in his insulin sensitivity following a month on this system, i.e. 3x20s intervals on a exercise bike done 3 times per week.

Interestingly his VO2 max didn’t alter and the researchers said they anticipated this following an earlier blood test taken prior to the experiment. They confirmed he was a ‘non-responder’ through a genetic test they claim can determine your true athletic potential, although they did not explain this in any detail.

As an aside, separate researchers demonstrated the ‘mind over muscle’ factor during strength testing. They measured strength responses in the subject in an oxygen depleted state, and then passed a electric pulse through the subject’s head designed to ‘bypass’ the brain’s perceived threat levels. This allowed the subject a greater strength output. The take home was the importance of neural efficieny for athletes - a subject discussed a lot on these forums.

If anyone is interested the link to this programme is below.

[quote]JamesBrawn007 wrote:
This post may not be the best fit for the nutrition forum but I’ll make it anyway as insulin sensitivity regularly features here.

A BBC documentary recently featured research showing insulin sensitivity can be radically improved by a mere 3 mins per week of HIIT (HIT, as they referred to it rather misleadingly). To cut to the chase, the show’s presenter saw a 23% improvement in his insulin sensitivity following a month on this system, i.e. 3x20s intervals on a exercise bike done 3 times per week.

Interestingly his VO2 max didn’t alter and the researchers said they anticipated this following an earlier blood test taken prior to the experiment. They confirmed he was a ‘non-responder’ through a genetic test they claim can determine your true athletic potential, although they did not explain this in any detail.

As an aside, separate researchers demonstrated the ‘mind over muscle’ factor during strength testing. They measured strength responses in the subject in an oxygen depleted state, and then passed a electric pulse through the subject’s head designed to ‘bypass’ the brain’s perceived threat levels. This allowed the subject a greater strength output. The take home was the importance of neural efficieny for athletes - a subject discussed a lot on these forums.

If anyone is interested the link to this programme is below.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01cywtq[/quote]

Very interesting, thanks for posting.

Not sure I’d take an electric pulse through the head for science, but glad someone else did.