Physical Exercise Policy

ALCYDON Sports Teams

It is the intention of ALCYDON to create sports teams in the near future to get people moving, no matter what stage their physiology and metabolism is in at that moment.

We want to find the possibility together with local government agencies to give participants also a direct economic benefit in their current and future medical costs.

Structured exercise

The optimal functioning of the liver is essential for athletic performance. It is necessary to maintain the liver’s enzymes at an optimal level so that liver cells can be protected from inflammation.

Structured exercise as part of lifestyle modification plays an important role in the improvement of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however, its effectiveness has been shown to vary.

Structured exercise

Structured exercise as part of lifestyle modification plays an important role in the improvement of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however, its effectiveness has been shown to vary.

There is support for the effectiveness of exercise in improving liver function markers but not in blood glucose control in people with NAFLD. Additional studies are needed to determine the exercise prescription to maximize health in this group. Endurance training of 150 minutes per week can reduce the risk of NASH in people with NAFLD by up to 47%.

Additional strength training is also interesting to build sufficient muscle mass and ensures that more glucose can be removed from the bloodstream. This can help break a vicious cycle of insulin resistance.

Without changing dietary habits by people with NAFLD, it is still possible to achieve a lower fat content of up to 20%.

In the long term, exercise plays an important role in the reduction of fat reserves in the liver by stimulating metabolic processes.

Randomized controlled trials

Overall studies show, exercise without significant weight loss significantly reduced the intrahepatic lipid (IHL) content (SMD: −0.76, 95% CI: −1.04, −0.48) and concentrations of alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) (SMD: −0.52, 95% CI: −0.90, −0.14), aspartate aminotransaminase (AST) (SMD: −0.68, 95% CI: −1.21, −0.15), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (SMD: −0.34, 95% CI: −0.66, −0.02), and triglycerides (TG) (SMD: −0.59, 95% CI: −1.16, −0.02).

The concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol (TC), fasting glucose, fasting insulin, and glycated hemoglobin were non-significantly altered. Aerobic exercise alone significantly reduced IHL, ALT, and AST; resistance training alone significantly reduced TC and TG; a combination of both exercise types significantly reduced IHL. Exercise overall likely had a beneficial effect on alleviating NAFLD without significant weight loss.

Strength training: 80% rule

Strength training is important in addition to endurance training. Incorrect training can lead to damage rather than fitness. The intensity of the training is based on the maximum effort that someone can perform.

A good workout is geared to 80% of that maximum effort. Someone who can lift a maximum of 50kg should train at a maximum of 40k, not 50kg. The degree of muscle soreness the day after the exercise is a good benchmark to determine whether you have had a good workout.

If the day after training slight muscle pain is felt, with which one can still move well, then it is ok. Slight pain indicates that a lot of effort has been made, whereby the satellite cells, the stem cells of the muscle, have been stimulated. As a result, these cells start to divide and muscle mass is added. That is exactly the intention.

When muscle pain is so severe that one can hardly stand up from a chair, then cells are damaged and more harm than good has been done by the training. So it is not about top performances, but about healthy stimulation of the muscles and especially the perseverance of the training.

Exercise alone (with or without weight loss) was shown to improve the clinical parameters of NAFLD, such as intrahepatic lipid (IHL) content, insulin sensitivity in skeletal muscle, and liver enzymes, such as alanine aminotransaminase (ALT) and asparagine aminotransferase (AST) . However, the results of exercise studies remain inconsistent . Aerobic exercise alone was shown to improve body weight, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), blood pressure, and cholesterol concentration . These aerobic exercises range from low (walking) to high intensity (running, swimming) and focus on cardiovascular conditioning. On the other hand, resistance training exercises focus on increasing muscle strength by working the muscles against a force. Such exercises were shown to decrease blood pressure and IHL and improve insulin resistance . Moreover, a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training was also shown to improve the metabolic parameters known to interfere in NAFLD development and offer a protective role against it.

Little or no exercise increases the risk of fatty liver disease even in active, lower weight people. Sitting for periods of up to 5 hours continuously has also been shown to be a risk factor for developing fatty liver disease in lower weight people.

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