Nearly 100 years ago, Otto Warburg discovered that cancer cells reprogramme their metabolism by increasing glucose uptake and lactate synthesis in the presence of oxygen, which is termed the Warburg effect.

Currently, we know that the metabolic reprogramming in proliferating healthy and cancer cells helps to generate glycolytic intermediates and other metabolites as substrates for anabolic reactions to build biomass.

Myc, hypoxia-induced factors and Pi3k–Akt–mTor not only regulate metabolic reprogramming in cancer but are also signalling molecules that are activated by resistance training and stimulate muscle hypertrophy.

For every gram of biomass that a muscle builds, it needs to take up 1 g of small-molecule substrates such as glucose, amino acids and other molecules. This uptake of glucose and other metabolites may explain why muscular organisms or resistance-trained individuals are often lean and have good insulin sensitivity.