Strength training may actually do more than just help build muscle. It could be even better than running when it comes to protecting against diabetes and unhealthy weight gain.

In a recently published study using mice fed a high-fat diet, scientists at Virginia Tech found that both running and weightlifting improved blood sugar control, but resistance training was more effective at reducing body fat, improving glucose tolerance and lowering insulin resistance.

Those factors all help prevent and manage type 2 diabetes.

“We all want to live a long, healthy life,” said senior study author Zhen Yan, director of the Center for Exercise Medicine Research at Virginia Tech in Roanoke, Virginia.

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“We all know the benefits of regular exercise. There is plenty of evidence in humans that both endurance exercise, such as running, and resistance exercise, such as weightlifting are effective in promoting insulin sensitivity,” Yan explained in a news release.

The findings were published online Oct. 30 in the Journal of Sport and Health Science. 

To compare the two exercise types directly, researchers created a first-of-its-kind “weightlifting” model for mice. 

The rodents in one group had a small shoulder collar attached to them and had to use it to lift a weighted lid to reach their food, mimicking a squat-like motion. 

Another group of mice had free access to a running wheel. 

A third group remained inactive or were fed a normal or high-fat diet, researchers said.

After eight weeks, both exercise groups showed improvements, but the weight-training mice had greater drops in belly and under-the-skin fat, along with better insulin signaling in the muscle.

“The take-home message is that you should do both endurance and resistance exercise, if possible, to get the most health benefit,” Yan said.

What's more, “the findings also bring good news for people who, for any number of reasons, cannot engage in endurance-type exercise,” Yan added. “Weight training has equal, if not better, anti-diabetes benefits.”

More than 38 million Americans have diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and obesity remains a major risk factor.

Yan said the findings are a reminder that even with the rise of diabetes drugs like GLP-1s, medication can’t replace the full health benefits of regular exercise.

Research in animals often has different results in humans.