Acute effects of concentric and eccentric exercise matched for energy expenditure on glucose metabolism in healthy females: a randomized crossover trial.

Background Single bouts of muscle damaging eccentric exercise (EE) affect glucose metabolism negatively while single bouts of concentric (CE) and not muscle damaging eccentric exercise have positive acute short-term effects on glucose metabolism. It has been proposed that long-term endurance EE might be more effective in improving glucose metabolism than long-term CE when adjusted for energy expenditure. This would imply that adaptations of glucose metabolism are dependent on the type of exercise. Interleukin-6 (IL-6) released from the exercising muscles may be involved in and could therefore explain acute adaptations on glucose metabolism. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of a single bout of CE and a single bout of EE inducing no or just mild muscle damage, matched for energy expenditure, on glucose metabolism.