Should you occur to take a seat subsequent to Mima Mendoza on a practice or stand behind her in a checkout line, you would possibly get an earful in regards to the advantages of lifting weights. “I’ve turn out to be just like the particular person on the practice station saying, ‘Have you ever heard the phrase of God not too long ago?’ Besides I’m like, ‘Have you ever considered energy coaching not too long ago?’” 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 treatment Zepbound to help her weight-loss efforts. “I wished to maintain this weight reduction long run, and I wished to handle metabolic sicknesses 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 every of many individuals to have taken to the load room shortly after beginning a GLP-1 treatment. And this pattern appears to be impacting gyms throughout the nation. Between 2024 and 2025 use of free-weight tools noticed a marked improve in U.S. gyms, with members 6.7% extra possible to make use of dumbbells, 3.8% extra possible to make use of barbells, and three.6% extra possible 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%.
“Accessible knowledge recommend that the rising curiosity in energy coaching is a part of a structural, long-term pattern, which partly is accelerated by GLP-1s’ growing recognition,” Anton Severin, vp of analysis on the Well being & Health Affiliation, tells SELF.
It’s vital to notice that weight-loss drugs usually are not the one factor at play right here. Traits round longevity and useful energy have been already pushing extra individuals towards resistance coaching, Severin says, however GLP-1s added a medical urgency as a result of they’re related with a lack of lean muscle mass that energy coaching may also help mitigate.
Right here’s a take a look at how these drugs are impacting fitness center tradition—plus some ideas that may enable you get began on (and follow) a weight-training 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 weight-reduction plan, surgical procedure, or treatment—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.
