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\n By \u06cc\u0648\u0631\u0648\u0646\u06cc\u0648\u0632 \u0641\u0627\u0631\u0633\u06cc\n<\/p>\n
\n Published on
\n 30\/05\/2026 – 7:00 GMT+2\n <\/p>\n
According to a new study, doing interval training just once a week can be as effective as exercising three times a week for losing weight and improving cardiovascular health.<\/p>\n
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This finding, published in the journal Nature Communications, offers a structured and time-efficient approach for people who, because of work or family commitments, do not have enough time to go to the gym on a regular basis.<\/p>\n
A breakthrough in managing abdominal obesity<\/p>\n
Abdominal obesity is one of the most dangerous forms of fat accumulation in the body and is directly linked to cardiovascular disease, metabolic disorders and an increased risk of death.<\/p>\n
Although exercise plays a key role in treating this condition, maintaining regular physical activity is a major challenge for many people, especially those who are overweight.<\/p>\n
The research team at the School of Public Health at the University of Hong Kong found that \u201cintermittent brisk walking\u201d, even if done only once a week, can reduce body fat mass and significantly improve cardiorespiratory fitness.<\/p>\n
Why is interval training more effective?<\/p>\n
Interval training consists of short bouts of high-intensity physical activity (such as very brisk walking) alternated with periods of rest or light activity (slow walking).<\/p>\n
Compared with steady, continuous walking, this method is considered a much faster way to burn visceral fat (fat around the internal organs).<\/p>\n
Professor Parco Siu Ming-Fai, head of the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Hong Kong and lead author of the study, says: \u201cCurrent guidelines usually recommend exercising three times a week, but our study shows that if the total weekly exercise time stays the same, splitting it into fewer, higher-quality sessions produces similar results.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clinical trial details: 75 minutes a week is enough<\/p>\n
The study was conducted between September 2021 and September 2024 on 315 adults in Hong Kong with abdominal obesity.<\/p>\n
Participants were divided into three groups: one group did 75 minutes of interval training in a single weekly session; the second group did the same 75 minutes split into three 25-minute sessions a week; and a third control group received only health education.<\/p>\n
After 16 weeks, the results were striking: both exercise groups, regardless of whether they had trained once or three times a week, experienced similar reductions in total body fat mass, body fat percentage and waist circumference. Their heart and lung fitness had also improved to the same extent.<\/p>\n
An ideal option for ‘weekend warriors’<\/p>\n
The findings support the exercise pattern known as \u201cweekend warriors\u201d: people who concentrate all their weekly physical activity into one or two days off.<\/p>\n
Professor Siu says: \u201cFor many adults juggling work, study and family, lack of time is the biggest barrier to exercising. Our findings suggest that working out once a week is a practical and effective alternative for people who cannot free up several days a week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Experts emphasise that the key to success with this method is maintaining the intensity of the workout in that single weekly session.<\/p>\n
In fact, this research opens up a new way of managing obesity in today\u2019s busy societies and shows that the quality and total duration of physical activity matter more than doing it every day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By \u06cc\u0648\u0631\u0648\u0646\u06cc\u0648\u0632 \u0641\u0627\u0631\u0633\u06cc Published on 30\/05\/2026 – 7:00 GMT+2 According to a new study, doing interval training just once…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6647,102,40613,128153,236,217,208046,56,54,55,208047],"class_list":["post-611646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-health-crisis","tag-obese","tag-obesity","tag-sport","tag-thinness","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wellness-beauty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}