Approximately one in eight Americans has taken a GLP-1 or glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist. These medications were originally developed to help manage type 2 diabetes, but they also support weight loss by , stabilizing blood sugar levels, and increasing feelings of fullness and satisfaction, which can reduce appetite. Many people taking GLP-1s find that they eat smaller meals and eat and drink less overall, which can at times lower energy availability for exercise and contribute to . As GLP-1s grow increasingly popular, people are becoming more curious about their effects, especially on how this medication impacts their workout gains.

Whether you鈥檙e already taking a GLP-1 like Mounjaro, Ozempic, or Wegovy, or you鈥檙e just starting to consider it, here鈥檚 what nutritionists, endocrinologists, and personal trainers say you need to know about working out when taking GLP-1s.

How Losing Weight Affects Muscle Mass

Weight loss can sometimes mean losing a bit of lean body mass, including muscle, especially if you鈥檙e not eating enough protein or doing some resistance training. This isn鈥檛 exactly unique to GLP-1s, though.

鈥淎ny successful weight loss, whether it’s diet, bariatric surgery, or GLP-1s, will cause a decrease in lean body mass,鈥� says , an endocrinologist and chief of the division of endocrinology at Stony Brook Medicine. So, taking steps to build and maintain muscle mass is important while taking GLP-1s.

Is It Safe to Exercise While Taking a GLP-1?

Yes. shows that it鈥檚 perfectly safe鈥攁nd beneficial鈥攖o work out and stay active while taking these medications.

Strength training and other forms of exercise during weight loss, helping people maintain strength. It also contributes to more sustainable weight loss and impacts metabolic health, such as by reducing blood sugar spikes.

What to Know About Exercising When Taking a GLP-1

Here’s what you should keep in mind when exercising while taking GLP-1 medications.

1. Increase Your Protein Intake

You may need to give a bit of extra attention to properly fueling your workouts when taking GLP-1s. There鈥檚 a good chance you鈥檒l be adapting to a smaller appetite than usual, and without some attention to a nutritious diet, you could miss the mark on consuming enough calories and nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, and fiber.

鈥淥ften people who take these medications lose not only fat but also muscle due to insufficient protein,鈥� says , a registered dietitian nutritionist and certified personal trainer with a private practice in New York. 鈥淥ne should ensure they consume protein at every meal, particularly if they are exercising.鈥�

Protein, in particular, plays a big role in helping avoid muscle loss. Any time you lose weight鈥攚hich is common among people on GLP-s鈥攜ou tend to lose some muscle. Making sure you鈥檙e consuming enough protein鈥攁nd at the right times鈥攊s key to minimizing or avoiding muscle loss when taking GLP-1s, says Obici. Why? Eating protein helps stimulate muscle protein synthesis, which is a process that builds and repairs muscle tissue. General guidelines call for between 1.2 and 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight daily. This works out to about 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal, or more. So, if you weigh 175 pounds, you鈥檒l need to eat between 95 and 119 grams of protein each day.

, an endocrinologist at Yale Medicine, says that the exact amount can vary from person to person depending on factors like training load, body weight and composition, and age.

When you eat is also important. Franco suggests scheduling your workouts before or after a meal that contains both protein and a carbohydrate. For example, a bowl of yogurt and fruit after a morning run. She suggests eating a piece of fruit or another carbohydrate-rich snack if you鈥檙e exercising before lunch or dinner.

2. Build and Maintain Muscle Mass with Strength Training

Resistance training is a great way to build and maintain muscle mass, support bone health, and help combat GLP-1-related muscle loss, Wojeck says.

Building muscle is important because it supports metabolism, strength, and sustainable weight loss, Obici says. When you lift weights or do other forms of resistance training like bodyweight exercises, you stimulate muscle protein synthesis, which is essential to building muscle, she adds. Combined with sufficient protein intake, resistance training helps your body preserve lean body mass while burning fat.

How Often Should You Work Out When Taking a GLP-1?

For people who are taking GLP-1s, experts recommend at least 150 minutes of moderately intense aerobic exercise each week, and two to three sessions of strength training.

3. Hydrate Consistently

It鈥檚 really important to pay attention to hydration when you鈥檙e taking a GLP-1, Wojeck says. The medication itself doesn鈥檛 cause people to lose fluids, but similar to the way that GLP-1s quiet the body鈥檚 hunger signals, they can also dampen thirst signals, he explains. 鈥淧eople forget to drink,鈥� Wojeck says. 鈥淪o you have to remember to drink water.鈥� GLP-1s can contribute to dehydration for anyone, but the risk is even higher in people who are active, he says.

If you鈥檙e dehydrated, you might experience symptoms like dizziness, headaches, muscle cramping, and dark urine. To stay properly hydrated, aim to drink somewhere between two to three liters, or 8 to 12 cups, of water each day, along with hydrating fruits and vegetables like cucumber and watermelon. With intense or endurance activities, you鈥檒l also want to pay attention to your electrolyte balance, as you normally would with that type of exercise, Wojeck says.

4. Adjust Your Workout Intensity as Needed

Exercise is both safe and recommended while taking GLP-1s, but you may need to adjust your workouts at times, especially if you鈥檙e experiencing symptoms like fatigue, dizziness, or nausea, which are more common during the early weeks of treatment or if your dose has recently been increased. Paying attention to the nutrient composition of your meals, like making sure you鈥檙e eating enough protein and carbohydrates, can be helpful, Wojeck says.

Generally, you shouldn鈥檛 experience fatigue, low energy, hypoglycemia, or long-term nausea while taking GLP-1s, Obici says. But if you are experiencing them, or your workouts feel harder than usual, or you鈥檙e underweight, consider speaking with your doctor, who can help you figure out fueling or even adjust your GLP-1 dose.

鈥淕LP-1s are not supposed to make you feel that you have low energy,鈥� Obici says. 鈥淪o if that happens, consult your dietician or your doctor,鈥� Obici says.

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When your lower back or glutes flare up painfully after going too hard trail running over the weekend, your default instinct might be to add some extra stretching to your routine or schedule some time with your massage therapist or chiropractor.听 If the pain is excruciating, you might even consult with a sports medicine doctor.

But there’s another accessible and effective treatment option for aches and pains. One that has only limited side effects and that’s been practiced for thousands of years.

It’s acupuncture. And although the mechanisms through which acupuncture works in the body aren鈥檛 fully understood, and there may be a placebo effect in play, research repeatedly indicates that acupuncture is effective at treating various forms of pain, including those related to , the back, and .

Here鈥檚 what you need to know about acupuncture鈥檚 potential role in treating sports injuries.听

Acupuncture and Sports Medicine

is a practice in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that involves inserting small, thin needles through the skin and often into the superficial layers of the muscle to relieve pain and address health conditions like menstrual cramps, , and arthritis. The points where needles are inserted are pathways, each corresponding to a particular organ or system, along which energy, or qi, is believed to travel. According to TCM, the needle helps unblock meridians.听

From a Western medicine perspective, it鈥檚 believed that the needles stimulate the body鈥檚 muscles, connective tissue, and central nervous system, which can help with recovery from illnesses and pain. 鈥淏asically, what we’re doing with acupuncture is we’re using your body’s inherent means of healing itself,鈥� says , DO, who is a primary care and sports medicine physician and licensed acupuncturist at Houston Methodist.听

Sports medicine acupuncturists specifically treat sports injuries using the same foundations of TCM, but also incorporate functional anatomy, muscle testing, and range of motion testing. 鈥淯sing this approach, I can precisely identify complex injuries and their sources, especially when checking for posture issues during various movements,鈥� explains sports medicine acupuncturist .听

a doctor of Chinese Medicine and licensed acupuncturist who works with the Minnesota Vikings, believes combining TCM and sports medicine really helps nudge the body along on the path to healing. 鈥淭he body wants to be in harmony, it wants to be balanced, it wants to be functional,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut sometimes it has to be told what to do because it鈥檚 gotten out of alignment.鈥�

Acupuncture is used to treat all sorts of sports injuries, including joint problems, muscle sprains and strains, tight muscles and trigger points, lower back pain, cervical and lumbar herniations, and many other conditions. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just so incredibly helpful because we can treat the whole body effectively in that one treatment,鈥� Patzer says. 鈥淭hose needles are like little magic wands.鈥�

This broad approach means that when treating something like a quadriceps strain, an acupuncturist will also assess and potentially address other muscles around that injury that may be compromised or compensating. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 treat anything around [the injury], they鈥檙e going to continue to have that quad injury and it鈥檚 not going to heal nearly as fast as if you treat upstream and downstream as well,鈥� Patzer explains.

How Acupuncture Helps Sports Injuries

Here are a few ways that acupuncture can be useful when treating sports injuries, according to the experts:聽

1. Reduces Pain

Acupuncture is frequently used to of pain and is increasingly recognized as a non-drug alternative to painkillers. One reason for acupuncture鈥檚 pain relieving effect is that it鈥檚 known to , which can help decrease pain and lift your mood. 鈥淏y boosting the production of endorphins, acupuncture directly counters pain, a primary concern with sports-related injuries,鈥� Menard says.听

2. Decreases Inflammation

Acupuncturists commonly use the practice to reduce inflammation following injuries. Menard explains that acupuncture improves to targeted muscles, fascia, tendons, and ligaments, which helps reduce swelling and repair injured tissues.

A recent published in the journal Nature found that acupuncture can trigger an anti-inflammatory response and suppress inflammation through the involvement of a nerve pathway between the vagus nerve and the adrenals called the vagal-adrenal axis. Other show similar findings, with acupuncture reducing or controlling inflammation by stimulating various pathways that connect the nervous and immune systems, both of which are known to play a role in the body鈥檚 inflammatory response. It鈥檚 important to note that these studies were conducted on mice, which isn鈥檛 always an exact predictor of human response.

Another found that acupuncture may reduce inflammation by stimulating the vagus nerve, which is part of the parasympathetic nervous system and plays a large role in the body鈥檚 stress response.

3. Corrects Muscle Imbalances

Acupuncture can enhance proprioception鈥攎eaning the body鈥檚 sense of its position and movement鈥攂y addressing trigger points and knots in the muscle tissue, Menard says. For athletes, proprioception is really important because it plays a role in balance, coordinating movements, and adjusting muscle activity. When proprioception is low, sports injuries may be to occur

鈥淭hese knots, if untreated, can hinder muscles and their counterparts from functioning correctly, leading to imbalances and further complications,鈥� Menard explains. 鈥淎cupuncture’s ability to identify and treat these points can provide immediate relief, helping athletes regain their proper form and function.鈥�

Patzer compares muscle functioning to a slinky鈥攚hen a muscle is functioning properly it opens and closes like a spring, and that鈥檚 a good thing. But if it鈥檚 pulled too long or locked up too tight, it may not perform at its best. Left untreated, this can sometimes lead to problems with nearby muscles, tendons, and joints. 鈥淲ith acupuncture, I鈥檓 able to help the muscle get that kind of proper movement and function back,鈥� Patzer says.听

Do All Acupuncturists Treat Sports Injuries?

Many acupuncturists may be able to help someone with a sports injury, but if you鈥檙e an athlete and experiencing pain, Patzer says it鈥檚 best to see someone who specializes or is certified in sports medicine acupuncture. If you have an X-ray or MRI results, bring a copy to your appointment to help inform treatment. 鈥淚t’s essential to accurately diagnose each condition to tailor the most effective acupuncture treatment to the patient’s specific needs,鈥� Menard says.

Keep in mind that acupuncture likely isn鈥檛 going to be a one-stop cure for any sports injury that arises, and it鈥檚 often most effective when used in conjunction with other types of treatment. Acupuncturists will even refer patients to other care facilities or professionals, like hospitals, chiropractors, physical therapists, and massage therapists. 鈥淲e work in tandem, ensuring every patient gets the holistic care they need,鈥滿enard says.

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At age 18, Kate Badgett was your typical young runner. She clocked about 20 miles a week, usually on the road, and took spin classes and did basic core work to cross-train. However, like other dedicated athletes, she soon experienced a femoral stress fracture, a hairline fracture of the thigh bone.

This type of injury is typically the result of overuse, but Badgett鈥檚 weekly mileage didn鈥檛 seem high enough for the two to be correlated. She started experiencing other pain, including partial dislocations of her shoulder. Badgett鈥檚 case suddenly felt anything but typical. Her physical therapist began to wonder if joint hypermobility, a greater-than-average range of motion in your joints, was at the root of the problem. Turns out, he was right.

Badgett has hypermobile joints due to , a connective tissue disorder that causes the ligaments to become looser and stretchier. She experienced two more femoral stress fractures over the next six years. (She later discovered that they were caused by extensive hypermobility and instability through her feet and ankles that placed too much pressure and strain on her bones.)

Research shows that some people with joint hypermobility may be more at risk of things like injuries, , and knee and shoulder dislocations. Badgett’s still able to run these days, but she had to change the way she trains. She goes to physical therapy regularly, cross-trains, runs on trails more than she used to, and does a specific yoga practice that鈥檚 designed to help the body rewire more effective movement patterns.

What Is Hypermobility?

Normally, your ligaments help keep your joints stable. But if you have joint hypermobility, your ligaments and other connective tissue can be loose, so your body has to work harder to keep the joints stable. As a result, the joints of hypermobile people may frequently subluxate or dislocate, says , MD, an integrated medicine physician at .

鈥淗ypermobility is really common, and it’s a different body type that requires a lot of maintenance鈥攁nd if treated well, will perform well,鈥� explains , MD, a sports medicine physician and medical director of the and the Tulane Fascia Institute and Treatment Center.

Doctors measure joint hypermobility using a screening test called the , which looks at the range of motion of various joints, including your spine, thumbs, elbows, and knees. The higher the score, the more likely someone has joint hypermobility. But physicians also look at other factors, like how flexible or hypermobile someone may have been in the past. Some people with hypermobility can become more stiff as they age, due to arthritis and other physical changes.

Joint hypermobility occurs on a spectrum and can manifest in different ways. Some people may only have one hypermobile joint in their body, whereas others, like Badgett, may experience hypermobility as one symptom of a broader genetic connective tissue disorder. And hypermobility doesn鈥檛 always equal flexibility. If you鈥檙e hypermobile, your body may compensate for joints that move past the normal range of motion by tightening muscles around the joint to hold it in place. In these cases, you may feel stiff and inflexible.

How Might Hypermobility Affect Someone Who Lives an Active Lifestyle?

Having hypermobile joints definitely doesn鈥檛 mean you need to ditch your active lifestyle. In fact, it may work to your advantage in your athletic pursuits. For a swimmer, spine and shoulder hypermobility can offer increased range of motion, torque, and efficiency. And a hypermobile pitcher may have greater range of motion in their shoulders or elbows that allows them to throw a faster and more forceful pitch.

鈥淚n general, hypermobility probably offers a mechanical advantage when it comes to cycling, running, and hiking, and it certainly offers a mechanical advantage with anyone who throws anything, like pitchers, javelin, and quarterbacks,鈥� Courseault says.

But hypermobility can also be problematic in some cases. 鈥淔or people who have problems with their kneecap tracking, hiking can actually be really tough and so can bicycling,鈥� says , MD, a board-certified physician and founder of P.R.I.S.M. Spine and Joint, a clinic that treats patients with hypermobility and connective tissue disorders. 鈥淲hen you have kneecap tracking problems, that midrange of knee mobility is actually where you have the most pressure on your kneecap.鈥�

For someone with a hypermobile spine or shoulders, she says, cycling may put a lot of pressure on the thoracic spine or overstretch the muscles in your back, causing pain.

Does Hypermobility Lead to More Injuries?

Not necessarily. show that hypermobility doesn鈥檛 always lead to more injuries. In fact, many high-performing and even professional athletes are hypermobile, Courseault says. But the care and maintenance required to keep a hypermobile body well-functioning and injury-free through things like strength and balance work is a bit higher than for someone without hypermobility.

For example, a strong, hypermobile climber who has well-supported joints may actually benefit from increased range of motion in her joints that allows her to move her body in ways that makes it easier to reach and grab holds. 鈥淵ou can make the argument that hypermobile bodies are less prone to injury because they can stretch in ways that a non-hyper mobile body can鈥檛,鈥� Courseault says.

But if an athlete鈥檚 joints become too loose, they could get injured in settings where others wouldn鈥檛. People who are hypermobile are more likely to dislocate a joint, as well as get tendinopathies, tendonitis, and tendinosis, Bluestein says. It also may take them longer to recover from these injuries.

How to Deal With Hypermobility

If you鈥檙e hypermobile, the most critical thing you can do is listen to the signals your body sends your way鈥攁nd respect that your anatomy may change over time. Some people with hypermobility can engage in all the activities they love without any issues. But if you鈥檙e experiencing a lot of injuries, Bluestein recommends taking a close look at what activities you can participate in without problem (green light activities), which cause your symptoms to flare up a bit (yellow light activities), and which cause lots of pain and injuries (red light activities).

鈥淥ver the course of your lifetime, those things are of course going to change, but you want to get to where you鈥檙e as active as you can be, but in a zone that is appropriate for your body at that point in time,鈥� she says.

Here are some ways to manage hypermobility鈥攂ut keep in mind that managing hypermobility is highly individual.

11 Ways to Manage Hypermobility

1. Wear supportive shoes that offer .
2. Work with a physical therapist who is knowledgeable about hypermobility.
3. Strengthen your body with isometric exercises and Pilates.
4. Work on stabilizing exercises that maintain space in the joints.
5. Move your body and exercise regularly, but stick to activities that don鈥檛 cause pain.
6. Avoid repetitive physical activities if they cause pain or irritation.
7. Keep proper form and biomechanics when engaging in physical activities.
8. Try to maintain correct posture and alignment in your body, even when you鈥檙e not being physically active.
9. Stay hydrated, including with electrolyte drinks.
10. See a doctor who specializes in or is knowledgeable about hypermobility.
11. Speak with your doctor about the benefits of prolotherapy and other forms of regenerative injections.

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