While a heart-thumping, high-octane spinning class or long run outdoors burns plenty of calories, aerobic exercise may not be enough to keep an expanding waistline in check. A new study says it takes weight training, too.
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have found regular weight training can slow down the pace of waistline expansion that’s common in men as they age.
The study, which was published Monday in the journal Obesity, involved 10,500 healthy men, age 40 and older, who took part in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study between 1996 and 2008. The researchers analyzed 12 years of data to see which types of exercise had the biggest impact on men’s health over time.
The researchers found that 20 minutes of weight training per day was enough to significantly curb weight gain in the midriff.