Strength training for GLP-1 weight loss.
The scale says you're lighter. Are you still strong?
In the big GLP-1 trials, up to 40% of the weight people lost was lean mass, not fat. Experts compare losing that much lean mass to a decade or more of ageing. They warn that losing muscle, a big part of lean mass, can cost you function and quality of life.1, 3, 7
Scan to open it on your phone.
Free: the strength check, Phase 1 and nutrition tracking.
VeraForma builds you a structured strength programme on the days you pick, and keeps checking your strength while the scale drops.
- A structured strength programme, shaped by a squat you film on your phone.
- A camera that watches your set, names what it sees with the number it measured, and draws it on your body.
- A free strength check, charted next to your weight.
- Free nutrition with a daily protein target.
VeraForma is coaching, not medicine. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it does not replace your doctor or physio. Talk to your prescriber about your medication.
What the scale doesn't show
In the big GLP-1 trials, up to 40% of the weight people lost was lean mass, not fat.
For anyone on a GLP-1 medication such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro or Zepbound.
The answer
The answer the experts give: strength training.
Structured strength training is “well established to help preserve lean mass during weight reduction”, says a 2025 joint advisory.2
Four obesity, nutrition and lifestyle-medicine societies say GLP-1s should be prescribed together with a structured exercise programme: strength training at least 3 times a week, plus at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise.2
Bone too: in one randomised trial of a GLP-1 drug, liraglutide, adding a moderate-to-vigorous exercise programme kept hip and spine bone density level with placebo. The drug alone lowered it more than exercise alone did.18
Pick three days a week, as the experts advise, and VeraForma builds your structured strength programme around them.
What you get
Built to train you through the weight loss.
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A real programme, built for you.
A programme that climbs in stages as you get stronger, the way a Master Trainer progresses his own clients. Your first stage is free for as long as you want it.
Film one squat and see what a trainer would spot, free. With Premium, every phase after Phase 1 is rebuilt from your latest squat.
Never lifted? Phase 1 is built for you: it starts where you are and builds you up properly.
Free + Premium -
A camera that watches your set.
Prop your phone up. The camera watches your set, names what it sees with the number it measured, and draws the line on your body. With Premium, it speaks the fix while you move.
Camera shy? See where your video goes →
Free + Premium -
Protein, handled.
Calorie and protein targets built for your body, that keep up with your real progress and show you why they moved.
A free meal plan built from your numbers and your training: real recipes, sized to your targets. Swap any food or rebuild it any time.
Short on protein tonight? It names one food you already eat, and how much, to close the gap.
Free -
Your lean mass, on a chart.
Add a body-fat reading with your weight and it works out your lean mass for you.
Fat mass and lean mass, worked out for you and charted beside your tape and posture angles.
Weigh in at the same time of day, in the same conditions. Your scale gives you a trend, not a lab scan.
Free -
No gym needed.
Built around the kit you have: a full gym, dumbbells, bands, or nothing at all.
Low-energy day? Pick a 15, 20 or 30-minute session and see the trimmed list before you start.
Free -
A real trainer to ask.
Premium + members message Brad directly. It goes to him, not a bot.
Premium +
Bench push-up
Bent-over dumbbell row
Alternating lunge
Band shoulder press
This demonstration features a synthetic performer: Merissa, VeraForma's AI-generated fitness model.
The strength check is free. So is Phase 1 of your programme, for as long as you want it, and nutrition: targets, meal plans, barcode logging and 3 AI food logs a day.
The strength check
The scale tells you that you are lighter. The strength check tells you whether you are still strong.
On a GLP-1? Turn on your free strength check, charted next to your weight on one page.
It charts your strength next to the scale, so you see both.
Not strong yet? The check starts where you are, and every gain shows.
As the scale drops
A quick strength check shows whether you are holding your strength while the scale drops.
It never touches your medication or your dose. It measures your strength and your weight.
Turn it on when you start, or any time in Settings.
Free
Turn on your free strength check.
Built by Brad Glaser · NASM Master Trainer · NASM-CPT, CES, PES · 20+ years · has certified 100+ personal trainers.
He owns a personal-training studio in Southern California. The same method he uses standing next to a client, built into the app.
Next to the others
Next to the GLP-1 programmes.
We read what WeightWatchers, Noom, TRX, Gym Rookie, GLPro and FitCraft publish about their GLP-1 programmes, and found no programme that checks your form with just your phone's camera.10–17
Questions
Straight answers.
Is there a free GLP-1 strength training programme?
Yes. Phase 1 of your strength programme is free for as long as you want it, and so is the strength check.
So is nutrition: targets, meal plans, barcode logging and 3 AI food logs a day.
I've never lifted a weight.
Never lifted? Phase 1 is built for you: it starts where you are and builds you up properly.
New move? Learning mode lets the camera watch without grading you.
After each set you get the fault, the fix, the worst reading, and a photo of the rep where it happened.
I'm scared of getting hurt.
It doesn't assume you're healthy. It asks what Brad asks a new client in person, and when your answers call for a doctor's OK, your plan waits for it.
Phase 1 starts where you are, and after each set you get the fault, the fix, and a photo of the rep where it happened.
New move? Learning mode lets the camera watch without grading you.
VeraForma is coaching, not medicine. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it does not replace your doctor or physio.
My doctor never mentioned strength training.
Four obesity, nutrition and lifestyle-medicine societies put it in writing in 2025: strength training at least 3 times a week, alongside the medication.2
Bring this page to your next appointment.
I'll start once the weight is off.
The lean mass goes during the weight loss. That is why the advice is strength training with the medication, not after it.2
Isn't walking enough?
Aerobic exercise alone keeps less lean mass during weight loss than strength training does.9
Walk as well: the same advice adds at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week.
I'm too tired to train.
Tell it. A few quick taps before you start, and today fits how you actually feel: bad night, today gets lighter.
Or pick a 15, 20 or 30-minute session and see the trimmed list first. Rate the session, and next time is pitched to match.
Talk to your prescriber about your medication.
I feel sick and can't eat.
Rest, and wait until you feel better.
Rest Mode holds your streak while you're sick.
Talk to your prescriber about your medication.
I have diabetes or a heart condition.
VeraForma does not assume you are healthy. It asks what Brad asks a new client in person, and when your answers call for a doctor's OK, your plan waits for it.
Tell it you have diabetes and your programme card reminds you to check your blood glucose before training, keep fast-acting carbohydrate within reach, and not train fasted.
On medication that changes your heart rate? Your cardio is still paced right for you, and your doctor's numbers always come first.
Talk to your prescriber about your medication.
Does it change my medication?
It never touches your medication or your dose. It measures your strength and your weight.
Talk to your prescriber about your medication.
I already have an app for my GLP-1.
Keep it. VeraForma adds the strength training.
We read what WeightWatchers, Noom, TRX, Gym Rookie, GLPro and FitCraft publish about their GLP-1 programmes, and found no programme that checks your form with just your phone's camera.10–17
A free strength check, charted next to your weight.
Make a free account and run your movement screen right in your browser.
I don't have a gym.
Built around the kit you have: a full gym, dumbbells, bands, or nothing at all.
I don't want to be filmed.
The camera reads you on your phone. Your form-check video stays on your phone unless you choose to send it.
You decide what else goes: a meal photo or a gym scan is sent to be read by AI; a photo or set you choose to send Brad goes to him; and a bug report or a wall post goes where you send it.
What does Premium cost?
Premium: $29.99 a month, or $249.99 a year (save 30%).
A trainer once a week runs about $238 a month. Premium is with you every workout, not one hour a week.
Get Premium here with a card, or in the Android app through Google Play.
Android, web or iPhone?
All three.
Get the Android app on Google Play. On an iPhone or a computer, open veraforma.app in your browser and start today.
The App Store app is in Apple's review.
Do I need an account?
Yes, a free one, and no card. Your training, your food and your screen results sync to it.
VeraForma is coaching, not medicine. It does not diagnose, treat or cure anything, and it does not replace your doctor or physio. Talk to your prescriber about your medication.
Ozempic and Wegovy are registered trademarks of Novo Nordisk A/S. Mounjaro and Zepbound are registered trademarks of Eli Lilly and Company. VeraForma is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by either company.
Sources
Sources and app facts on this page checked 6 October 2026.
- STEP 1, semaglutide: 40% of the weight lost was lean mass. Mechanick JI et al., Obesity Reviews 2025. Read it. The same trial read at 38% by the joint advisory (source 2), and at about 40% by Wadden TA et al., Current Obesity Reports 2023 (read it), who call it a high value that needs confirming. Across the big trials the share ran from about a quarter (SURMOUNT-1, source 5) to 40%. SUSTAIN 8, semaglutide: lean 2.3 kg and fat 3.4 kg lost (lean = 40% of the two, our arithmetic), McCrimmon RJ et al., Diabetologia 2020 (read it).
- Mozaffarian D et al. Nutritional priorities to support GLP-1 therapy for obesity: a joint advisory from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the American Society for Nutrition, the Obesity Medicine Association and The Obesity Society. Obesity Pillars 2025 (read it); the same advisory in Obesity 2025 (read it) and Am J Clin Nutr 2025.
- Locatelli JC et al. Incretin-based weight loss pharmacotherapy: can resistance exercise optimize changes in body composition? Diabetes Care 2024. Read it. Muscle and function, “crucial to avoiding sarcopenia and frailty”: Locatelli 2024; losses “can lead to reduced functional and metabolic health, weight cycling, compromised quality of life”: Mechanick 2025 (source 1).
- Wilding JPH et al. STEP 1, semaglutide 2.4 mg. N Engl J Med 2021. Read it.
- Lean mass down 9.7% in STEP 1: Wilding JPH et al., body-scan substudy, ENDO 2021 abstract (read it), measured across the 68 treatment weeks of the trial in source 4. Down 10.9% in SURMOUNT-1, tirzepatide, across 72 weeks: Look M et al., Diabetes Obes Metab 2025 (read it).
- Villareal DT et al. Aerobic or resistance exercise, or both, in dieting obese older adults. N Engl J Med 2017. Read it.
- “Comparable to a decade or more of aging”: Locatelli 2024 (source 3). About 20 years of age-related loss: Mechanick 2025 (source 1).
- Lean mass “includes not only muscle but also organs, bone, fluids”: Neeland IJ et al., Diabetes Obes Metab 2024 (read it); lean body mass is “muscle and other non-fat tissues”, and muscle is about half of it, joint advisory (source 2).
- Aerobic exercise alone kept less lean mass than resistance training during dieting: Villareal 2017 (source 6); the joint advisory (source 2).
- WeightWatchers, Introducing the new WeightWatchers, 12 Dec 2025. Read it.
- WeightWatchers GLP-1 Program page. Read it.
- Longevity.Technology, Noom makes GLP-1 support free for all users, 24 Jun 2026. Read it.
- Noom press release (GlobeNewswire), Noom adds Muscle Defense to its GLP-1 Companion, 9 May 2024. Read it.
- TRX GLP-1 Strength. Read it.
- Gym Rookie: GLP-1 Strength, App Store listing. Read it.
- GLPro. Read it.
- FitCraft, best fitness app for GLP-1 users. Read it.
- Jensen SBK et al. Bone health after exercise alone, GLP-1 receptor agonist treatment, or combination treatment: a secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Netw Open 2024 (195 adults, 52 weeks, after an 8-week low-calorie diet). Read it.
Start your strength programme today, free.
Scan to open it on your phone.
Free account, no card. Brad's questions. One squat on camera. Then your results.