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How to Activate a Small Leg Muscle That Can Boost Your Blood Sugar Control

Do you want to improve your metabolic health, but you don’t have time to exercise after eating? Are you a diabetic seeking to avoid sugar spikes after a meal? Do you spend most of your day sitting at the office, and you worry about the effects of a sedentary lifestyle on your body?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then I have some good news for you. There is a simple and effective way to activate a small but powerful muscle in your calf that can boost your metabolism and help you regulate your blood sugar levels, even when you are sitting down.

This muscle is called the soleus, and it is one of the 600 muscles in the human body. It runs from just below the knee to the heel, and it is responsible for stabilizing your ankle and maintaining your posture.

But the soleus muscle can do much more than that. According to a discovery by Marc Hamilton, a professor at the University of Houston, the soleus muscle can raise its oxidative metabolism to high levels for hours, not just minutes, if activated correctly. Oxidative metabolism is how your body uses oxygen to burn glucose or fats for energy.

Hamilton’s research, published in the journal iScience, shows that activating the soleus muscle can improve your blood sugar control more than other popular methods, such as exercise, weight loss and intermittent fasting. The soleus muscle also uses a different fuel mixture than other muscles, which makes it more efficient.

Hamilton said: “We never dreamed that this muscle has this type of capacity. It’s been inside our bodies all along, but no one ever investigated how to use it to optimize our health, until now.”

How to do Soleus push up

So how do you activate the soleus muscle? Hamilton has developed a new exercise called the “soleus pushup” (SPU) that can do the trick. The soleus pushup is easy to do and does not require any equipment or special skills. You can do it anywhere, anytime, even while sitting at the office.

To do the soleus pushup, you need to sit on a chair with your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent at 90 degrees. Then, you need to lift your heels off the floor and press them down again, as if you were pushing something away with your feet. You should feel a contraction in your calf muscles. You can do this exercise for 10 minutes every hour while sitting at the office.

By doing the soleus pushup regularly, you can activate the soleus muscle and increase its oxidative metabolism. This means that the muscle will use more glucose and fats for energy, and prevent them from accumulating in your blood. This can lower your risk of developing diabetes and other metabolic diseases.

The soleus pushup is a simple but powerful way to improve your metabolic health and blood sugar control, even when you are sitting down. It is based on scientific research and proven results. It is also easy to do and does not take much time or effort.

But how does the soleus pushup work? What makes it so effective? Here are some of the key findings from Hamilton’s research that explain the mechanism behind this amazing exercise:

  • The soleus muscle does not rely on glycogen as its main source of fuel. Glycogen is a type of carbohydrate that is stored in muscles and used for energy during exercise. However, glycogen can run out quickly and limit the endurance of muscles.
  • Instead of glycogen, the soleus muscle can use other types of fuels such as blood glucose and fats. This allows it to work for hours without getting tired or depleted. It also helps lower the levels of glucose and fats in the blood, which can improve blood sugar control and metabolic health.
  • The soleus pushup activates the soleus muscle in a unique way that maximizes its energy consumption. Unlike walking, which minimizes the energy used by the soleus muscle, the soleus pushup makes it use as much energy as possible for a long duration. This increases its oxidative metabolism and burns more calories.
  • The soleus pushup also has whole-body effects on blood chemistry. When tested on humans, it showed a 52% improvement in blood glucose levels and a 60% reduction in insulin requirements over three hours after drinking a glucose drink. It also doubled the rate of fat metabolism between meals and lowered the levels of fat in the blood.

Hamilton said: “This is not some new fitness tip or diet of the month. It’s a potent physiological movement that capitalizes on the unique features of the soleus.”

However, Hamilton also warned that doing the soleus pushup correctly requires some guidance and experience. He said: “The soleus pushup looks simple from the outside, but sometimes what we see with our naked eye isn’t the whole story. It’s a very specific movement that right now requires wearable technology and experience to optimize the health benefits.”

Hamilton and his team are working on developing more publications and instructions on how to perform the soleus pushup properly, without the need for sophisticated laboratory equipment.

So what are you waiting for? Try the soleus pushup today and see the difference for yourself.

Reference

Hamilton MT, Hamilton DG, Zderic TW. A potent physiological method to magnify and sustain soleus oxidative metabolism improves glucose and lipid regulation. iScience. 2022 Aug 5;25(9):104869. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104869.



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