It’s 10 a.m. on a Friday at SURFCORE Health, a boutique gymnasium in Mid-Metropolis, and a 52-year-old girl is following an train circuit as her coach watches on. The style advisor, who’s squeezing in a session earlier than work, lifts comparatively mild weights whereas doing easy actions to construct power: goblet squats with a 6-pound kettlebell, then bicep curls with a 10-pound weight.
You’d by no means guess it, however that is the newest train craze in motion: Name it the Ozempic exercise.
GLP-1 medication reminiscent of Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound and Mounjaro have helped thousands and thousands of individuals fight Sort 2 diabetes and heart problems in addition to shed weight. The category of medication — GLP-1 receptor agonists — has been round for 20 years as a diabetes remedy. Their recognition as a device for weight reduction skyrocketed after the FDA accepted Wegovy for weight administration in 2021.
However these medication have additionally created new challenges. The burden loss they spur usually comes with a discount in lean physique mass that features muscle, making folks bodily weaker. As a result of GLP-1 medication ship alerts to the mind telling folks to really feel full on fewer energy, these taking them are sometimes working in a caloric deficit. That diminished urge for food, if not overseen correctly by a physician, might trigger dietary deficiencies and depart folks with much less vitality for exercises, says Dr. Martha Gulati, director of preventive cardiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Heart. It’s then more durable to train on the depth wanted to achieve again the muscle they’ve been dropping.
“Depending on the drug, people can lose between 25%-50% of their lean body mass,” Gulati says.
Which is the place the GLP-1 exercise is available in. The routine’s intention is to assist sufferers construct and protect muscle mass by prioritizing power coaching over cardio. It usually incorporates training round diet and postworkout restoration methods, serving to contributors develop new, wholesome way of life habits to stop weight achieve as soon as they go off the GLP-1 medication. During the last 12 months, the hashtags #ozempicworkout and #glp1training have populated TikTok and Instagram, and the GLP-1 exercise has been promoted at gyms, on blogs and on the YouTube accounts of private trainers .
Coach Mike Kimani guides his shopper, Jessica Bunge, in a GLP-1 exercise at LM Health Heart in Atwater.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Occasions)
“If fitness professionals don’t tailor their approach to individuals on these medications, then there are risks for [them] losing functional strength, bone density, metabolic health.”
— Josh Leve, CEO of the Health Enterprise Affiliation
Luxurious health chain Equinox launched a “GLP-1 protocol” in January 2024 and has since rolled it out at 80 golf equipment internationally. Planet Health posts GLP-1 exercise tips on its weblog. Unbiased gyms in Los Angeles, reminiscent of SURFCORE Health, are selling GLP-1 exercises on Instagram, “to stay ahead of the curve,” says proprietor Carlos Sosa. Private trainers are getting in on the pattern as effectively. Train influencer and coach Chris Ryan debuted a GLP-1 exercise collection on his health app this month that features stay and on-demand routines.
“If fitness professionals don’t tailor their approach to individuals on these medications, then there are risks for [them] losing functional strength, bone density, metabolic health,” says Josh Leve, CEO of the Minneapolis-based Health Enterprise Assn. “So we’re seeing a pretty rapid response from the industry to offset these dangers.”
The newbie’s strength-training regime isn’t new. Moderately, it’s been repackaged for a brand new health viewers.
“It’s just marketing,” says Shawn M. Arent, professor and chair of the division of train science on the College of South Carolina. “We might have to take into account a lack of energy [on the part of GLP-1 exercisers]. But in terms of our general guidelines for resistance training, there really is nothing special about a GLP-1 workout. At the end of the day, it’s just resistance training. But that’s not sexy.”
Jessica Bunge makes use of the squat rack throughout a GLP-1 exercise at LM Health Heart.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Occasions)
Regardless, the routine seems to be right here to remain. About 6% of adults within the U.S. say they’re taking GLP-1 medication for weight reduction, in keeping with a 2024 ballot carried out by the San Francisco-based well being coverage nonprofit KFF. That’s greater than 15 million folks. With these branded exercises, health amenities and trainers are courting a brand new class of shoppers.
The pattern has had a ripple impact on organizations that administer certification packages for health trainers. The Nationwide Academy of Sports activities Drugs and the American Council on Train at the moment are providing GLP-1 training. The Nationwide Train & Sports activities Trainers Assn. debuted a “GLP-1 Exercise Specialist Certificate” in January that it touts as a “passport to success” for trainers.
No matter whether or not these GLP-1 exercises are revolutionary, selling these workouts helps to construct neighborhood amongst those that are utilizing the medication, says Eric Durak, a Santa Barbara-based train physiologist who authored NESTA’s GLP-1 certificates program.
“It’s about changing the mind-set and lifestyle of overweight people, many of whom have never exercised before,” Durak says. “Some may be people who didn’t feel accepted by society because they weighed more than 300 pounds. We want to get them in the door, then create a space for them that they feel is more a community than a training center. The trainer’s job goes above sets and reps with this population. It’s also about developing relationships.”
“It’s about changing the mind-set and lifestyle of overweight people, many of whom have never exercised before.”
— Eric Durak, train physiologist
Gyms and trainers are approaching the GLP-1 exercise with totally different priorities in thoughts. Some give attention to educating shoppers about diet, advising they eat extra protein and monitor macronutrients. Others emphasize postworkout restoration methods, like guided stretching, sleep optimization and monitoring instruments to watch muscle-mass retention.
Mike Kimani stretches out shopper Jessica Bunge after her GLP-1 exercise at LM Health Heart.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Occasions)
Equinox’s GLP-1 protocol is taken into account a framework for folks taking the medication, one which addresses exercise depth, frequency and quantity (what number of reps) in addition to sturdy behavior teaching, says the membership’s senior private coaching supervisor, Stan Ward.
“When they’re getting these workouts in, we’re also talking about their lifestyle,” Ward says. “Whole food sources, portion sizes. We help them navigate food and understand when they feel full. And how to do that in a long-term, sustainable fashion.”
At SURFCORE Health, Sosa is in contact straight with shoppers’ medical doctors, he says.
“Doctors are sending people here: ‘I’m not gonna give you the [GLP-1] drug unless you workout,’ they tell them. So I talk with their doctor about what their needs are, the specific drugs they’re on and the dosage, any side effects, plus any other health concerns,” Sosa says. “I reassure them my workouts will address their needs.”
One in every of Sosa’s shoppers, the 52-year-old style advisor, went on Mounjaro final March and has since misplaced 40 kilos — however she noticed muscle on her triceps and legs dwindle. The GLP-1 exercise has helped her physique composition, Sosa says, and his being in contact together with her physician has given her confidence.
“She feels comfortable to be working out with me, specifically, because I know what her needs are, medically,” he says.
Jessica Bunge does dumbbell squats throughout her GLP-1 exercise.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Occasions)
The GLP-1 coaching regime at LA Athletic Membership, downtown, is especially targeted on the unwanted side effects of the drugs — after which tailoring exercises to mitigate them. It partnered with the San Diego County-based CHEK Institute, to carry workshops for trainers. They’re now cautious to not overexert shoppers or to rapidly swap up workouts from sitting to standing positions as a result of excessive doses of GLP-1 medication may cause dizziness. Longer and extra intense exercises could trigger elevated gastrointestinal points, like nausea and abdomen discomfort, so trainers give attention to constant, reasonably intense exercises.
“The last thing we want to do is push them too hard,” says LAAC Director Ed Gemdjian. “We want to work them to their comfort level, and then continue that consistency.”
“I no longer feel, ‘Oh, my gosh, is everyone looking at my body?’ I feel more confident [at the gym] now.”
— Jessica Bunge, who misplaced 30 kilos on Ozempic
Mike Kimani, an unbiased coach who works out of LM Health Heart in Atwater, says his GLP-1 exercises are notably data-driven.
“The whole workout is choreographed and timed to a T, customized to where they’re losing muscle,” Kimani says. He requires shoppers on GLP-1 medication to get physique scans each two to 4 weeks.
“It’s so we’re not just guessing. We’re feeling good, but what does that mean, data-wise? We’re looking to track muscle growth,” he says.
Kimani’s shopper, Jessica Bunge, 37, went on Ozempic in June for diabetes. She’d by no means been a severe exerciser — the gymnasium was “an intimidating place,” she says. However she misplaced greater than 30 kilos on the drug, which has been a game-changer.
“I no longer feel, ‘Oh, my gosh, is everyone looking at my body?’ I feel more confident here now,” she says. “I train twice a week — and it’s helped everything, massively. I definitely feel stronger, even just running up the stairs.”
Views on the GLP-1 exercise could range, however the trainers interviewed for this story burdened that one factor is vital: power coaching to counter muscle loss from the medication.
“Ultimately, we’re looking for people to create new healthy habits and improve their lives,” says FBA’s Leve. “It’s gotta start somewhere.”