This simple exercise helps metabolism and burn fat even while sitting, according to a new study

The human being, from the genetic and evolutionary point of view, is not a sedentary species. And that’s why problems arise when we spend many hours sitting.

Happen many hours sitting a day can cause numerous health problems, such as overweight Y obesity. But a study has found that a simple exercise associated with muscle soleus, reactivates the metabolism and burns fat, even while sitting.

The discovery has surprised experts, because it could be used to lose weight while sitting. It would allow exercise when we work or study, and would mitigate some of the problems associated with overweight and obesity.

The study has been carried out by Professor Marc Hamilton, head of Human Health and Performance at the University of Houston. It focuses on a very specific muscle of our body: the soleus. It is the largest muscle in the lower back of the leg, where the calf is.

An exercise to burn fat while sitting

The soleus is a muscle that is used when we walk, run or jump. “We had never dreamed that this muscle had this kind of ability. It’s been inside our bodies all along, but no one has researched how to use it to optimize our health, until now.explains Professor Marc Hamilton in University of Houston website.

“When properly activated, the soleus muscle can elevate local oxidative metabolism to high levels for hours, not just minutes, and it does so using a different fuel mix“.

During the study, 25 people, both sedentary and active, performed an exercise called soleus flexionconsisting of remain seated and lift the heel off the ground, without lifting the toe. You can see it in action in this video:

As explained IFL Scienceblood tests determined a 52% improvement in stabilizing blood glucose fluctuations, and reduced the need for insulin by 60% when participants received glucose drinks.

This exercise is also capable of burn blood fats, very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), which contribute to high cholesterol, by boosting the metabolism of the soleus muscles so that they keep working for hours. The effect meant that metabolism burning the fat doubled compared to normal indices without doing soleus flexion.

The key to this particular muscle is that the soleus burns energy differently to most of the muscles of the body.

Instead of breaking down glycogen, the soleus uses glucose and fats from the blood to be able to continue working while we walk and run without getting tired.

Unfortunately, at the moment we cannot do this exercise by ourselves. “Soleus flexion looks simple from the outside, but sometimes what we see with the naked eye is not the whole storyHamilton explained.It’s a very specific movement that right now requires a wearable device and experience to optimize the health benefits.“.

Now they are working on simplifying the wearable and exercise itself, so that everyone can take advantage of the unique benefits of soleus flexion: activate the metabolism and burn fat sitting down, with a simple exercise.