Surprising exercise can make you shed half a stone in a few months, scientists find
Doing your favourite workout underwater could help you shed half a stone in as little as 10 weeks, a new study has suggested.
Participants who took part in regular hour-long aqua exercise classes — including aerobics, zumba, yoga and even water jogging — also saw their waist shrink by 3cm (1.1inch).
The researchers, who followed nearly 300 participants between the ages of 20 and 70, argued that water adds extra resistance, boosting calorie burn and resulting in significant weight loss.
It also reduces the pressure on joints like knees and ankles, which can be weak in those with obesity, reducing the risk of injury, they added.
The scientists, from universities in Korea and China, found the technique was particularly effective in women over the age of 45.
For the study, researchers combined the results of 10 separate clinical trials from Malaysia, Brazil, India, the USA and the Netherlands to analyse how effective water workouts were for weight loss.
Participants — all of who were overweight or obese — had all participated in a water-based fitness plan lasting between six and 12 weeks.
This involved attending between two or three exercise classes a week, ranging from aqua zumba to underwater treadmill training.
Just three months of exercising in water can trim waist circumference by as much as 3cm, a new study has revealed
An analysis of the results showed these activities helped both men and women lose weight in a matter of months.
After less than 10 weeks of the programme, participants lost an average of 2kg (4.4lbs).
But those who continued to exercise for 10 weeks or more lost an average of 3kg (6.6lbs).
Previous research has supported the new findings.
A 2017 Polish study found overweight women lost an average of 3.4kg (7.4lbs) after six months of underwater exercise.
The study participants also had a decreased heart rate, and reduced body fat at the end of the training sessions.
Nearly 44 million people in the UK are currently overweight, according to the health service.
This number is only set to rise, a shocking global analysis claimed last week — with three quarters of British adults estimated to be overweight or obese by 2050.
Studies have shown that Britons, on average, don’t exercise enough, with 75 per cent failing to meet government targets of 150 minutes of moderate activity every week.
Speaking of the new findings, the researchers said they offered evidence that water-based fitness is an ‘effective intervention’ for reducing body weight and central obesity.
Study leader Dr Jongchul Park, a researcher at Pukyong University in Korea, said more research, looking at a larger population group, was needed to confirm that underwater exercise is superior to that done on dry land.
