Once a week interval walking may be all you need to finally see stubborn belly fat disappearing. Interval walking is more effective than fixed pace walking for burning fat.
You may not need to work out several times a week to see meaningful benefits from interval walking.
Research from the University of Hong Kong suggests that adults with excess abdominal fat can improve their body composition and fitness with just one brisk interval-walking workout per week.
This may sound too good to be true, but many people underestimate the effectiveness of interval walking, while others do it incorrectly and then wonder why the fat in their midsections won’t budge.
The study found that a single weekly session produced benefits similar to those seen in people who exercised three times a week.
The findings were published in Nature Communications. However, personal trainers won’t be surprised by these findings, as science has been showing for years that interval cardio exercise beats steady pace exercise any day for melting fat.
Shrinking Belly Fat Cells Is More than About Looks
Abdominal fat is the worst kind of fat when in excess.
Excess fat around the waist is associated with cardiovascular disease, metabolic problems and an increased risk of premature death.
Excess fat that surrounds the organs is also known as visceral fat and central obesity.
How Interval Walking Works
Interval training involves switching between periods of harder exercise and easier recovery.
But some people don’t switch between the two modes as much as they think they do — not enough to incite meaninful fat burning.
Previous research has found that this peak and valley approach can be an efficient way to reduce total body fat — not just in the stomach — compared with exercising continuously at a moderate intensity, even if that medium intensity is done for much longer.
The researchers wanted to know if one interval session per week could be enough to reduce belly size.
Testing Once a Week vs. Three Times
Researchers at the School of Public Health at HKUMed conducted a randomized trial in Hong Kong between September 2021 and September 2024.
The study included 315 adults who were at least 18, overweight and had central obesity. Participants were divided into three groups.
- One group performed interval training once a week.
- Another exercised three times a week.
- The third group served as a control.
Both exercise groups completed the same total amount of exercise: 75 minutes of interval training each week.
The difference was simply how that time was divided. One group completed all 75 minutes in a single workout, while the other spread the exercise across three sessions.
Researchers measured participants’ body fat before the program, after 16 weeks and again 32 weeks later.
Similar Results from Different Schedules
After 16 weeks, both exercise groups showed comparable improvements.
Those who exercised just once a week reduced their total body fat, body fat percentage and waist circumference. The 3x group saw similar changes.
Both groups also improved their cardiorespiratory fitness compared with the control group.
That doesn’t necessarily mean exercising only once a week is always as good as exercising more often.
But the results provide hope to those who struggle to do cardio routines more than once a week.
Mistakes that Sabotage Interval Walking’s Effect on Burning Fat
Perhaps the biggest blunder is that of holding onto a treadmill. Keep your hands off except when adjusting the settings or drinking water.
The “harder” you walk on a treadmill while holding on, the tighter your grip will be, which will subtract signifcant workload, even at a high incline.
The calorie display is remakably deceiving; it’s triggered by ONLY the settings, not the person!
Swing your arms at your sides as you would if outdoors, even if this means having to reduce the incline or go slower.
The second mistake is that of not working hard enough during the interval phase.
For best results at shedding fat in your middle, each interval should be DIFFICULT, making you huff and puff, unable to hold a conversation.
If you can sustain the interval for longer than a minute, this means you have room to work harder.
You can do this by raising the incline (don’t hold on!), walking hills if you’re outside, going faster and/or adding light hand weights.
The recovery interval should last a few minutes to allow hardcore effort for the next work interval.
