The effects of twelve weeks of combined exercises on GLP-1 and insulin resistance in women with type 2 diabetes

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of twelve weeks of combined exercise with two patterns (aerobic-resistance and resistance-aerobic) on GLP-1 and insulin resistance in women with type 2 diabetes. In this practical and semi-experimental study, 42 women with type 2 diabetes were divided into three groups: aerobic-resistance group (n=15), resistance-aerobic group (n=15) and control group (n=15). Then, they were practiced three sessions a week for 12 weeks. The exercise protocol for both groups was the same and the only difference was in the sequence of exercises. The aerobic exercise protocol was 10×1 minutes active with one minute active rest between the sets with using a treadmill. Resistance exercises included movements such as leg press, bench press, seated leg extension, lat pulldown, and lying leg curl, seated shoulder press, which included the main muscles of the lower trunk and upper trunk and was done by the machine. Blood samples were prepared in the pre-test and 48 hours after the last exercise session in the post-test. The data were analyzed through SPSS version.16 (Inc., Chicago, IL); the results of analysis of variance and dependent t-Student were analyzed at the significance level (P<0.05). The values of GLP-1 increased and insulin resistance significantly decreased in the training groups compared to the control group (P≤0.05), however, there was no statistically significant difference between the aerobic-resistance and resistance-aerobic training group (P>0.05).
Conclusion The results of this research show that combined exercises with increased levels of GLP-1 play an important role in the improving the status of insulin resistance in women with type 2 diabetes. However, more research is needed about different patterns of combined exercises.