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Can you still lose body fat if you’re a weekend warrior? Researchers explore

The old adage is true: Any exercise is better than no exercise

athletic man running up stairs
Liliana Drew / Pexels

The term ‘weekend warrior’ really refers to anyone who clusters their workouts into any two or three days during the week, not necessarily on Saturday and Sunday. Many people have to fit their workouts into their busy schedules, and the weekend or a two or three-day block might just be the best or the only time to do that. If you’re getting some exercise in, you should give yourself credit because you’re prioritizing your health and fitness. Research shows you can still see results from your efforts, even if you’re a weekend warrior. In an interesting study, researchers explored the association between physical activity, overall body fat, and abdominal fat. Can you still ditch body fat if you get most of your exercise on the weekends?

The study

In a study published in the journal Obesity, the researchers examined the waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) of 9,629 individuals aged 20 to 59. They also used dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) to measure whole-body and abdominal body fat mass.

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The researchers collected data from 2011 to 2018 from the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and used questionnaires to help categorize the study participants into three groups:

  1. Regularly active
  2. Weekend warrior
  3. Inactive

Those who are regularly active spread their workouts throughout the week, such as exercising four or five days per week. Those in the inactive group did little to no physical activity.

The results

The findings revealed that both the weekend warriors and the regularly active group had lower whole-body fat mass and lower abdominal fat than the inactive group. The weekend warriors and regularly active group also had lower BMI and waist circumference compared to the inactive group.

The takeaway

Put simply, this study concluded that even people who did most or all of their exercise on weekends still had lower body fat than those who didn’t exercise. If you can only fit your exercise in on the weekend or just one or two days a week, the research shows you should still see results when it comes to losing body fat.

In this study, weekend warriors and regularly active participants had similar levels of body fat, and Saturday and Sunday sessions were almost as effective as splitting the exercise sessions throughout the week. Whatever you choose and whatever works best for you, it’s definitely better than nothing. Additional studies have shown that being a weekend warrior is linked to a 30% reduction in all-cause mortality.

Steph Green (Steph Zee) is a singer-songwriter and professional writer with over 12 years of experience in healthcare and… Read Full Bio
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