For those who occur to sit down subsequent to Mima Mendoza on a prepare or stand behind her in a checkout line, you would possibly get an earful in regards to the advantages of lifting weights. “I’ve grow to be just like the individual on the prepare station saying, ‘Have you ever heard the phrase of God just lately?’ Besides I’m like, ‘Have you ever considered energy coaching just lately?’” she tells SELF.
The 34-year-old from Severna Park, Maryland, obtained critical about lifting in 2024, across the time her physician prescribed the GLP-1 remedy Zepbound to assist her weight-loss efforts. “I wished to maintain this weight reduction long run, and I wished to handle metabolic diseases like kind 2 diabetes, excessive ldl cholesterol, and hypertension that I used to be genetically predisposed to, and the reply to that was actually constructing muscle,” she says.
Mendoza is one in all many individuals to have taken to the load room shortly after beginning a GLP-1 remedy. And this development appears to be impacting gyms throughout the nation. Between 2024 and 2025 use of free-weight tools noticed a marked improve in US gyms, with members 6.7% extra seemingly to make use of dumbbells, 3.8% extra seemingly to make use of barbells, and three.6% extra seemingly to make use of kettlebells, in response to a forthcoming report from the Well being & Health Affiliation, a fitness-industry commerce group. In contrast with 2021 (the yr Wegovy obtained FDA approval) dumbbell use is up 28%.
“Out there knowledge recommend that the rising curiosity in energy coaching is a part of a structural, long-term development, which partially is accelerated by GLP-1s’ growing reputation,” Anton Severin, vp of analysis on the Well being & Health Affiliation, tells SELF.
It’s essential to notice that weight-loss drugs aren’t the one factor at play right here. Traits round longevity and useful energy had been already pushing extra folks towards resistance coaching, Severin says, however GLP-1s added a scientific urgency as a result of they’re related with a lack of lean muscle mass that energy coaching will help mitigate.
Right here’s a have a look at how these drugs are impacting gymnasium tradition—plus some ideas that may make it easier to get began on (and persist with) a weight coaching routine.
Why energy coaching is nonnegotiable on a GLP-1
To get a bit of extra particular, any type of weight reduction—whether or not it’s by way of food regimen, surgical procedure, or remedy—will result in some muscle loss, Jyotsna Ghosh, MD, an weight problems medication doctor at Johns Hopkins Medication, tells SELF. “Probably the most protecting issues we will do to stop the next proportion of muscle-mass discount are consuming sufficient protein and resistance coaching constantly,” she says.
