Tens of millions of Individuals are taking GLP-1 agonist drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound to shed pounds, deal with kind 2 diabetes, and handle different continual well being circumstances. And whereas these medication are usually actually efficient, they will additionally carry on some not-so-great negative effects, together with an enormous drop in muscle mass for some folks.
Dropping muscle isn’t simply an aesthetic bummer–it might probably make you extra more likely to develop sarcopenia down the highway. Sarcopenia is a elaborate time period for low muscle mass, and it might probably result in decreased power, endurance, and mobility, in addition to elevated danger of falls and accidents later in life, as SELF beforehand reported. Mainly, if you wish to dwell an extended, wholesome life, you’ll wish to keep away from sarcopenia as greatest you possibly can. And one efficient approach to decrease your danger of it? Power coaching.
Particularly, lifting heavy weights whereas taking a GLP-1 may also help protect your lean muscle mass as you shed pounds, Gregory Norman, a licensed private coach and regional private coaching supervisor of Focus Built-in Health, tells SELF. Not solely does coaching with heavy hundreds enhance neural effectivity (principally, your physique’s skill to successfully interact muscular tissues), it additionally spurs your muscular tissues to develop greater and stronger.
With that in thoughts, Norman developed for SELF a total-body newbie power exercise geared in direction of folks taking GLP-1s. (Essential caveat: Whereas this routine is designed to take care of and even develop your muscle mass, it might not be secure for everybody on GLP-1s. Earlier than giving it a go, verify along with your physician to grasp if it’s the proper alternative for you.)
This routine options seven workout routines that collectively hit all the essential motion patterns it is advisable to work your total physique, Norman explains.
These embrace a lower-body push motion (squat); an upper-body horizontal push (hands-elevated push-up); an upper-body horizontal pull (dumbbell bent-over row); a lower-body pull (dumbbell glute bridge); an upper-body vertical push (excessive plank to downward canine faucet); upper-body vertical pull (dumbbell pullover); and a bonus core transfer (the lifeless bug).
All of those strikes are compound workout routines, which means they work a number of joints at a time. In comparison with isolation workout routines, the place only one joint works at a time (like tricep extensions or hamstring curls, for instance), compound strikes recruit extra muscular tissues, which makes them an environment friendly, efficient alternative for sustaining and rising your muscle mass.
Norman recommends doing this full-body exercise two to a few instances per week, with relaxation days taken in between every session.
