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Twenty years of progress in human exercise metabolism research

Molecular biology and omics-based approaches over the past 20 years have rapidly advanced the discipline of exercise metabolism. Here, we examine three innovative human metabolic studies that have increased our understanding of exercise’s complex molecular landscape in skeletal muscle and beyond, and highlight key future directions.

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Fig. 1: Landmark studies in human exercise metabolism from the past two decades.

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Correspondence to John A. Hawley.

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Hawley, J.A., Hoffman, N.J. Twenty years of progress in human exercise metabolism research. Nat Rev Endocrinol 21, 658–659 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41574-025-01181-1

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