Time To Shake Legs?

The terms "shake leg" and "jiak zhua" (eat snake in Hokkien) is a local colloquialism or slang used to describe a person's attitude towards work or tasks. It means slacking off from work and responsibilities.

When I write you have reasons to "shake leg" now, it does not mean I'm asking you to skive at work. Not at all.

I am suggesting that you can do a tiptoeing exercise while sitting down. Start with your foot flat on the floor, then raise your heel off the ground and let it fall back down. I am sure you have seen someone doing it in the office, restaurants or even at home.

Why shake legs? If done correctly, this movement activates your soleus muscle and boosts your metabolism during which blood sugar is utilized at high levels for hours (Hamilton et al, 2022).

When you work the soleus, it can also double the normal rate of fat burning between meals as found by Hamilton et al (2022). Test subjects were given a sugar drink before performing the soleus push-up (this is what Hamilton called the exercise in their study) in a controlled setting for 270 minutes (4.5 hours) spread through out the day. They found a 52 percent improvement in blood glucose fluctations and 60 percent less insulin requirement that lasted over 3 hours.

This is useful since elevated blood levels and fat levels are associated with metabolic syndrome - a collection of health issues that occur together including diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease.

The soleus push-up may well help lower your blood sugar levels and reduce your risk of metabolic diseases since the soleus is made up up predominantly of Type 1 slow twitch muscle fibers. They are more fatigue resistant and can be exercised for longer which will lead to greater blood glucose being utilized. This is also why test subjects can do the soleus push up for 4.5 hours.

This would be especially useful for a desk bound person at work or home, especially if seated for long periods. They can be performed barefooted and do not require any extra space.

But 4.5 hours is a lot of time to be shaking your legs (soleus push-ups). The subjects did it in a highly controlled lab setting and I'm wondering it it can be replicated in a real life home or work setting. Even though it is a low intensity exercise, performing it for 4.5 hours may lead to delayed onset of muscle soreness( DOMs) initially for those not used to it and even other musculoskeletal problems like muscle cramps and strains.

Even though the soleus push-ups help with lowering your blood sugar levels, it cannot replaced other forms of exercise since it does not help with your aerobic fitness. They could be added to your other aerobic and strength training exercises instead of replacing them.

Shall we all shake our legs?

Reference

Hamilton MT, Hamilton DG and Zderic TW (2022). A Potent Physiological Method To Magnify And Sustain Soleus Oxidative Metabolism Improves Glucose And Lipid Regulation. IScience. 25(9): 104869. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104869