A Swedish study offers evidence that men can reduce their risk of prostate cancer by ramping up cardio exercise.

Plenty of research has linked regular exercise to a lower risk of cancer, but a new study suggests that getting into better shape could reduce the risk of prostate cancer in particular, a diagnosis that around 113 out of every 100,000 men get every year in the U.S.

The research, published Tuesday in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, showed that men whose cardiorespiratory fitness improved by 3% or more annually over three years, on average, were 35% less likely to develop prostate cancer than men whose cardiorespiratory fitness declined by 3% annually. That was true regardless of men’s fitness levels when they started out.

It’s evidence, in other words, that "no matter what age, no matter where you are in your life or your relative fitness, that if you improve your fitness, even by a relatively small amount, you may significantly decrease your risk of developing prostate cancer,” said Dr. William Oh, the chief medical officer of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, who wasn’t involved in the research.