‘Special’ muscle can promote fat burning for hours while sitting
Indeed, this headline reads very sensationalist. But in fact, that is precisely the conclusion of a published study by the University of Houston.
The ‘special muscle’ is the Soleus m., a deep layer muscle in the calf. This muscle encompass only approximately 1% of a person’s body weight (this can vary depending on obesity levels), but it turns out, it can do great things to improve the metabolic health of your entire body.
Its benefits are delivered in the form of an exercise called the “Soleus pushup”, which elevates muscle metabolism for hours, even while sitting. The study suggests it helps sustain an elevated oxidative metabolism, which improves the regulation of blood glucose more effectively than other exercises, weight loss and even intermittent fasting.
Oxidative metabolism is the process by which oxygen is used to burn blood glucose or fats, and depends in part on the immediate energy requirements of a muscle when it’s working.
According to the researchers, “when activated correctly, the Soleus muscle can raise local oxidative metabolism to high levels for hours, not just minutes, and does so by using a different fuel mixture”.
This is the Soleus Push Up:
Perform it sitting
Start by having your feet flat on the floor
Raise the heels off the floor while keeping the front of the foot on the ground
The researchers state “All of the 600 muscles combined normally contribute only about 15% of the whole-body oxidative metabolism in the three hours after ingesting carbohydrate. Despite the fact that the soleus is only 1% the body weight, it is capable of raising its metabolic rate during Soleus Push Up contractions to easily double, even sometimes triple, the whole-body carbohydrate oxidation.
We are unaware of any existing or promising pharmaceuticals that come close to raising and sustaining whole-body oxidative metabolism at this magnitude.”
Here is the original publication:
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(22)01141-5?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2589004222011415%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
Good stuff, folks!
The Finch Team
