New Study Suggests Just One Weekly Workout Could Help Reduce Belly Fat - Video

Too busy to work out three times a week? One power-packed walk might be all your body needs.

A single 75-minute session of brisk interval walking each week may help reduce body fat and improve fitness almost as effectively as exercising three times weekly, according to a new study from the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed). The findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest that even people with packed schedules can gain meaningful health benefits with just one focused workout.

Researchers conducted a randomized trial involving 315 Chinese adults aged 18 years or older who were overweight and had central obesity—a condition marked by excess abdominal fat that raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and early death.

Participants were assigned to one of three groups: one completed 75 minutes of brisk interval walking once a week, another spread the same total exercise time across three weekly sessions, while a control group attended health education sessions every two weeks. The intervention lasted 16 weeks, with follow-up assessments four months later.

Body fat was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans at the start, after 16 weeks, and again at 32 weeks.

The results showed that both exercise groups experienced similar reductions in total body fat, body fat percentage, and waist circumference. Participants in both groups also achieved comparable improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness when compared with the control group.

Interval walking alternates periods of brisk walking with slower recovery phases, making it a time-efficient form of exercise that has already been shown to reduce body and visceral fat.

Researchers say the findings could be especially valuable for adults who struggle to fit multiple workouts into busy schedules due to work, family, or other commitments.

Rather than insisting on frequent exercise sessions, a single weekly interval-walking workout may offer a realistic and effective alternative for managing central obesity.

REFERENCE: Parco M. Siu, et al.; Once and thrice weekly interval training in adults with central obesity: a randomized controlled trial. Nature Communications, 2026; 17 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-68149-7