Weight Training Helps Prevent Belly Fat Later In Life

Adding weight-training to your regular aerobic routine could help prevent belly fat over the years.

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that combining the two distinct types of fitness is also particularly beneficial for your heart health.

"When we age, we lose muscle mass and we tend to accumulate more body fat. If you only engage in aerobic activities, such as running, jogging,you will end up losing fat, as well as muscle mass," said study co-author Rania Mekary, a researcher at Harvard School of Public Health. "That's why you need to supplement your workout with resistance training, in order to preserve the muscle mass."

For the study, researchers examined close to 10,500 healthy American men ages 40 and over who participated in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study between 1996 and 2008.

Researchers studied the participants' weight, physical activity and waist circumference, along with the men's activity levels over 12 years and how it affected their waistlines.

Findings revealed that those who increased the amount of time spent in weight training by 20 minutes a day typically had less weight gain in their waisteline (-0.67 cm) compared with men who similarly increased the amount of time they spent on moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise (-0.33 cm), and yard work or stair climbing (-0.16 cm).

More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Obesity.

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