Insulin Sensitivity and Metabolic Flexibility in Obesity

Regular exercise is a cornerstone in the prevention and the management of cardio-metabolic risk factors. Some of the beneficial effect of exercise training occurs through metabolic flexibility' enhancement. Metabolic flexibility is the ability to respond or adapt to conditional changes in metabolic demand, and previous literature has shown that individuals living with obesity have an impaired metabolic flexibility compared to lean individuals. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the impact of sprint interval training on metabolic flexibility and whether this translates into clinically meaningful outcomes. This study will evaluate the impact of 4-week sprint interval training in normal weight individuals as well as individuals living with obesity on acute and chronic metabolic flexibility, irisin secretion and insulin sensitivity.