Working out can effect your waistline, as well as your bottom line.

As if you needed another reason to hit the gym, a newly published study concluded that people who exercise regularly receive higher pay than those who don’t.

Vasilios D. Kosteas, an economics professor at Cleveland State University, found that regular exercisers earn as much as nine percent more than other workers. Kosteas defined regular exercise as just three hours a week; good news for those who aren’t gym rats. However, even moderate exercise can yield a positive effect on income, according to his study in the Journal of Labor Research.

But don’t get carried away. Studies have long determined that people who exercise more have better discipline, focus and energy. Perhaps they just work harder than the rest of us, and that leads to the higher pay, some proponents of the study suggest.

Whether directly or indirectly, it seems exercise can tip all the numbers in your favor that matter the most.