The Checkup: Cardio Best for Weight Loss, Study Says

If you're short on time and weight loss is your goal, focus on aerobics, not resistance training.

• At a time of year when you’re more likely to loosen your belt than tighten it, a new study brings some good news: Researchers at Duke University Medical Center, who set out to compare aerobic exercise (a.k.a. cardio) and resistance training, found that cardio is your best bet for burning fat and losing weight. They took 234 middle-aged men and women, all overweight or obese, and split them into three groups: one that did just cardio, one that did just resistance training, and one that did a combo of both. In terms of workout time, the resistance-training group logged three hours a week, the aerobics group logged two-and-a-quarter hours a week, and the combo group logged what the two other groups did combined—amounting to double the work and time commitment of the other groups. At the end of eight months, subjects in the cardio and combination groups reduced more body and fat mass than those in the resistance-training group. But interestingly, their weight loss was almost identical: an average of 3.8 pounds for the aerobics group and 3.6 pounds for the combo group. Meaning? Even though the combo group worked twice as hard and long at the gym, they didn’t see significantly better results. “If fat mass is something a person wants to target, I would say your most time-efficient method would be to focus on the cardiovascular exercise,” study author Leslie Willis said to HealthDay. And that’s something to take to the bank.

• What do one in eight men and one in five women have in common? They both report being bullied at work. Yup, it’s true. Workplace bullying is more common than you think, according to ABC News. Here’s why.

• Woohoo! Cleaning up the air we breathe helps us live longer, according to a new study. Now, let’s keep up the good work.

Photo: Shutterstock