Aim: The study aimed to assess the effect of exercise intervention on the management of obese T2DM patients. Methods: The literature retrieval was conducted in relevant databases from their inception to 2015, with predefined searching strategy and selection criteria. The Cochrane Collaboration's tool was utilized to assess the quality of included studies. Weighted mean difference (WMD) with its corresponding 95% CI (confidence interval) was used as the effect size. Results: A subset of 13 eligible studies was selected. Exercise significantly reduced the concentration of high sensitivity C reactive protein (4 months: WMD = -1.03, 95% CI: -1.77 to -0.29, P<0.01), triglyceride (6 months: WMD = -24.75, 95% CI: -27.67 to -21.83, P < 0.01), diastolic blood pressure (6 months: WMD = -2.70, 95% CI: -4.12 to -1.28, P=0.0002), systolic blood pressure (WMD=-7.98, 95% CI: -9.87 to -6.08, P<0.01)), HbA(1c) (4 months: WMD = -0.25, 95% CI: -0.49 to -0.02, P=0.04) and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (3 months: WMD = -0.19, 95% CI: -0.37 to -0.01, P=0.04); and a pronounced increase of HDL-C (12 months: WMD=3.57, 95% CI: 1.92 to 5.21, P < 0.01). Conclusion: Exercise was beneficial to obese T2DM patients. (C) 2015 Primary Care Diabetes Europe. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.