The aim of this investigation was to determine if resistance training exercise improved glucose uptake and transport in rodent skeletal muscle. Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to one of the three groups: control (CON), resistance trained (RT) and aerobic exercise trained (AT). Resistance trained rats were placed in a rodent squat apparatus and performed three sets of 10 repetitions at 75% of their one repetition maximum 3 days week-1 for 12 weeks. Aerobic exercise training consisted of running the rats 3 days week-1 for 45 min over a 12-week period on a motor-driven treadmill (32 m min-1, 15% grade). Following the training period, all animals were subjected to hind limb perfusion in the presence of 500 microU mL-1 insulin. Hind limb glucose uptake was similar in the RT (9.91 +/- 0.7 micromol g-1 h-1) and AT (10.23 +/- 1.0 micromol g-1 h-1) animals and significantly greater than control (CON) (6.40 +/- 0.6 micromol g-1 h-1). Rates of 3-O-methyl-d-glucose transport in the RT animals were elevated in the muscles utilized for RT while in the AT animals rates of 3-O-methyl-d-glucose transport were increased in those muscles recruited for running. The increased rates of 3-O-methyl-d-glucose transport in the skeletal muscles of the resistance trained and aerobic exercise trained animals appeared to be, in part, because of an increased GLUT4 protein concentration. These findings suggest that both resistance or aerobic training exercise can improve insulin-stimulated skeletal muscle glucose uptake and transport, but the training adaptations are restricted to the muscles recruited for the exercise performance.