This once-a-week workout may help cut belly fat, study shows

A study from the University of Hong Kong's School of Public Health suggests that a single weekly brisk interval walking session can help reduce body fat and improve cardiorespiratory fitness in adults with central obesity. This finding is comparable to the benefits seen in participants who exercise three times per week, which is the frequency typically recommended in traditional exercise guidelines.

The research, published in Nature Communications, supports the use of weekly brisk interval walking as a practical option for those with limited time or difficulty fitting multiple workouts into their schedules. Central obesity, or excess fat around the abdomen, is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders, and premature death.

While interval training is known to be time-efficient for reducing overall and visceral fat, the traditional recommendation is three sessions per week, which can be challenging for many individuals. The Hong Kong study involved 315 overweight adults aged 18 or older with central obesity. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a weekly interval training group, a three-times-per-week interval training group, and a control group that participated in a two-and-a-half-hour health education session every two weeks.

Both the weekly and thrice-weekly interval groups completed 75 minutes of interval training each week, with one group completing it all in a single session and the other splitting it across three sessions. Researchers measured body fat at three points using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry: before the program, after 16 weeks, and at 32 weeks.

Both interval groups showed similar improvements in total body fat mass, body fat percentage, waist circumference, and cardiorespiratory fitness by the 16-week mark, compared to the control group. Professor Parco Siu Ming-fai, the study's lead researcher, emphasizes that once-weekly interval training can be a feasible and effective alternative to the more commonly recommended thrice-weekly schedule, especially for those with busy lives.