BACKGROUND: Physical exercise has been used to mitigate the metabolic effects of diabetes mellitus. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of resistance exercise when compared to aerobic exercise without insulin therapy on metabolic and clinical outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. METHODS: Papers were searched on the databases Medline/PubMed, CINAHL, SPORTDiscus, LILACS, and SCIELO, without language or date of publication limits. Clinical trials that compared resistance exercise to aerobic exercise in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus who did not use insulin therapy were included. The quality of evidence and risk of bias were assessed using the GRADE system and the Cochrane risk of bias tool, respectively. Meta-analysis was also used, whenever possible. Two reviewers extracted the data independently. Eight eligible articles were included in this study, with a total of 336 individuals, with a mean age of 48 to 58 years. The protocols of aerobic and resistance exercise varied in duration from eight to 22 weeks, 30 to 60 min/day, three to five times/week. RESULTS: Overall the available evidence came from a very low quality of evidence and there was an increase in Maximal oxygen consumption (mean difference -2.86; 95% CI -3.90 to -1.81; random effect) for the resistance exercise and no difference was found in glycated hemoglobin, body mass index, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and total cholesterol. CONCLUSIONS: Resistance exercise appears to be more effective in promoting an increase in maximal oxygen consumption in protocols longer than 12 weeks and there is no difference in the control of glycemic and lipid levels between the two types of exercise.

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