Study Reveals How Often You May Need To Exercise To Cut Belly Fat
An exercise neuroscience expert told Newsweek that the findings may be good news for busy adults short on time.
A new study published in Nature Communications suggests that adults with overweight and central obesity can reduce body fat and waist size whether they complete their weekly exercise in a single session or spread it across multiple workouts. Researchers in Hong Kong recruited 315 inactive adults and randomly assigned them to one of three groups: one group completed 75 minutes of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) in a single weekly session, another completed the same amount of HIIT divided into three weekly workouts, and a third control group received health education classes but did not participate in the exercise program.
The intervention lasted 16 weeks, and both exercise groups reduced body fat mass compared to the control group. Those who completed one workout per week reduced fat mass by an average of 0.8 kilograms, while those exercising three times per week reduced fat mass by around 1 kilogram. While the difference between the two exercise groups was not considered significant, participants who exercised three times a week experienced greater improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness.
The study provides evidence that people can achieve meaningful improvements even if they are only able to exercise once a week, but experts caution against viewing a single weekly workout as the ideal approach for everyone.
Brief written by urgent.news from Newsweek's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
