A 2022 University of Houston study found that a seated heel raise, the “soleus push-up”, cut the rise in blood sugar after a glucose drink by about half. It’s a striking result from one small lab study. A follow-up pilot found a smaller effect. Here’s what was actually tested.
Evidence: Mixed two small, short studies; no long-term trials
There is a muscle in your calf you almost certainly never think about. It isn’t the gastrocnemius, the visible calf muscle. It’s the soleus, underneath it. It’s built for long, low-level work, and a 2022 study made it briefly famous.
The grades in this post: Strong means good randomised trials agree. Mixed means the trials are few, small, short or unblinded, or disagree. Observational means studies show a link, not proof of cause. Mechanistic means the biology or animal work makes sense but it hasn’t been shown to change outcomes in people. None means there’s no usable evidence in people.
The soleus is a slow, oxidative muscle, built for posture and endurance. It makes up only about 1% of body mass. In the Houston work, the soleus could raise its own oxidative metabolism to high levels for hours without tiring, even in unfit volunteers (Hamilton 2022). The idea is that keeping a small muscle like this working steadily while you sit can pull glucose out of the blood.
Marc Hamilton’s team asked 15 people, some of them at risk of type 2 diabetes, to drink a 75 g glucose drink (a standard glucose tolerance test) on separate days. On one day they sat still. On others they did seated soleus push-ups, heels up and down with the toes on the floor, for the whole three hours, at one of two effort levels. The paper’s headline figures come from the harder level: the rise in blood glucose was 52% smaller (about 50 mg/dL, roughly 2.8 mmol/L, less between one and two hours) and insulin was 60% lower. At the easier level insulin was 41% lower (Hamilton 2022). Muscle biopsies showed the soleus could keep working for hours using very little of its stored sugar.
This was a three-hour test, in 15 people, in a lab, after a sugar drink rather than a meal. Nobody has yet shown that doing this every day lowers HbA1c, weight or heart risk. The only follow-up I can find is a pilot in 10 people with prediabetes. It found about a 32% smaller glucose rise, and the authors say a larger study is needed (Elek 2025). It’s a promising, cheap idea. It isn’t a replacement for a drug, and I won’t compare it with one. Mixed
Long hours of sitting are linked with higher death rates. But in a pooled analysis of over a million people, the most active quarter (roughly an hour or more of moderate activity a day) showed no extra risk from sitting (Ekelund 2016). Observational It suggests the answer is moving more, in whatever form you’ll actually do. A soleus push-up at your desk is one small option.
In the study, participants sat with feet flat, raised the heel while keeping the front of the foot on the floor, and let it drop, over and over at an easy pace. The idea is to work the deep calf muscle (soleus) rather than the bigger one over it.
The study measured blood glucose and insulin during a glucose tolerance test. Nobody has tested whether doing soleus push-ups changes your fasting glucose, insulin, HbA1c or triglycerides over weeks or months. If you wear a glucose monitor, you can watch what happens for you. But that’s an experiment of one, not evidence.
The soleus is built for long, low-level work. Using it while you sit is free and harmless. The early evidence is interesting. The long-term evidence doesn’t exist yet.
| Claim | Grade | Main source |
|---|---|---|
| Soleus push-ups lower the glucose rise during a glucose tolerance test | Mixed 15-person crossover + 10-person pilot | Hamilton 2022; Elek 2025 |
| Long-term metabolic benefit | None untested | — |
| A bigger effect than diabetes drugs | None never compared | — |
| Lots of activity offsets the risk linked to sitting | Observational | Ekelund 2016 |
| Glucose monitors or blood ratios show who benefits | None untested | — |
I sell testing, consultations and personal training, so I declare an interest: the article’s grades apply to them too.
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