Updated November 2026 · for adults on prescribed GLP-1 medication, under medical care

The 5-minute sessionfor the day the medication wins.

How to work out when tired on GLP-1, without the pep talk: pick what today actually is, read the one mistake people make on that day and the fix, and get a five-minute session you can do in the kitchen. Made by the studio behind Sturdy, the strength planner and protein log built for exactly these weeks.

Download Sturdy: Strength on GLP-1 on the App StoreSturdy · free on iPhone, no account

General information, not medical advice. Sturdy is an organizing and self-tracking tool; it does not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition or give medication advice. If you have a medical condition, recent injury or fracture, dizziness or pain, check with your clinician before exercising.

What is today?

Today

Wiped-out day: no energy at all

The mistake

Waiting for energy to come back before moving.

The fix

Do the easiest five minutes, then decide. Quick Movement is about five minutes in Sturdy; the second edition of the Physical Activity Guidelines dropped the old ten-minute minimum because any amount has some benefit. Energy tends to be something you get after moving, not before. If five minutes in you feel worse, end the session; the player has an end button for a reason.

Fatigue is listed at 11% on Wegovy versus 5% on placebo in the prescribing information. Common enough that the plan should assume some of these days.

Five easy minutes
  1. Sit-to-stand from a sturdy chairSquat pattern. Hands on thighs if you need them; stand fully, sit slowly.
    40s on · 20s off
  2. Wall push-upPushing. Hands on the wall at shoulder height, step back until it is work.
    40s on · 20s off
  3. Hip hinge, hands sliding down thighsHinge. Soft knees, long back, slide to just above the knees and return.
    40s on · 20s off
  4. Supported heel raises at the counterBalance and calves. Fingertips on the counter, rise slowly, lower slower.
    40s on · 20s off
  5. Standing march, one hand on the counterDaily movement. Knees only as high as feels steady.
    40s on · 20s off
5:00Counts down; a soft click at each minute. Nothing is saved.

Dizziness, chest pain, or sharp pain means stop. If you have a medical condition, recent injury or fracture, dizziness or pain, the listing says check with your clinician before exercising.

Movements above are general suggestions grouped by the same patterns Sturdy’s 35-movement library uses: squats, hinges, pushing, pulling, carrying, balance, mobility and daily movements. The app’s versions come with setup, steps, easier and harder options and when to stop.

Honest limits

It plans and records. It does not treat.

Per the listing, Sturdy does not diagnose, treat or prevent any condition or give medication advice, and it never suggests doses or changes schedules.

Checks without verdicts.

The optional 30-second chair stand check follows the CDC STEADI protocol, but Sturdy shows your history without scores, age norms or medical conclusions. You read it with your clinician.

Free covers the bad days.

Free: weekly planning, all three workout types, the core library, sessions up to 30 minutes, protein logging, three saved meals, medication records, check-ins, 30-day summaries, full export. Pro adds gym-equipment movements, 45-minute sessions, label reading with the camera, unlimited saved meals, longer progress and summaries.

The research is pointers, not promises.

The exercise trial below used liraglutide, not semaglutide or tirzepatide. The side-effect percentages are from one product’s label. Your pattern is yours.

A made-up Thursday

Wednesday 9 pmDose. Recorded in Sturdy as the date and the dose typed in, nothing suggested.

Thursday 7:10 amWiped out. The plan says Standard Strength, 20 minutes. The old move: skip, feel bad, skip Friday too. The new move: drag it to Saturday, drop Quick Movement in its place.

7:14 amFive minutes. Sit-to-stands from the kitchen chair, wall push-ups, the hinge, heel raises at the counter, a march. The player times it; end is right there if needed. It is not needed.

7:20 amMarked done. Protein logged as checkmarks because numbers are not happening today. The week still has two strength sessions in it. That was the whole point.

Sturdy weekly planner: Standard strength sessions on Monday and Thursday, rest days in between, with plan settings for training days
The planner: move, shorten, skip or repeat. Unfilled, never failed.
Sturdy movement break: a short, gentle break with supported heel raises, sit-to-stands, standing march and supported balance, two rounds of 40 seconds, stop any time
A short, gentle break: the kind of session a bad day can hold.

Questions from the tired days

Is it safe to work out when I feel tired on a GLP-1?

This page is general information, not medical advice, and it is written for adults using prescribed medication under medical care. Sturdy’s own listing says: if you have a medical condition, recent injury or fracture, dizziness or pain, check with your clinician before exercising. Tired is common (fatigue is listed at 11% vs 5% placebo for Wegovy); dizzy, faint or in pain is a different thing and a reason to stop.

Does exercise make the medication work better?

In the one-year Lundgren trial (NEJM, 2021), adults who paired a supervised exercise program with liraglutide after an 8-week diet lost 9.5 kg more than placebo at one year, versus 6.8 kg for the medication alone and 4.1 kg for exercise alone, and the combination group cut body fat by 3.9 percentage points and was the only group to improve cardiorespiratory fitness. It studied liraglutide, not semaglutide or tirzepatide, so treat it as a pointer, not a promise.

How much strength training do I need?

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, second edition, say adults need muscle-strengthening activity on at least two days each week, plus 150 to 300 minutes of moderate aerobic activity. The same edition removed the old ten-minute minimum: any amount of activity has some health benefit, which is the whole argument for a five-minute session on a bad day.

Should I exercise on injection day?

There is no single rule, and your prescriber’s guidance wins. A practical layout is gentle movement on dose day and the day after, with the harder sessions as far from the dose as the week allows, then adjust once you know your own side-effect pattern. Sturdy’s planner lets you move sessions freely and its optional medication records keep the dates you enter.

What should my protein target be?

Sturdy lets you set your own target, switch to simple meal checkmarks, or turn the goal off. A clinician or dietitian who knows your weight, kidneys and medication can give you a number; this page does not.

Does Sturdy suggest doses or tell me when to inject?

No. The listing is explicit: Sturdy never suggests doses or changes schedules, and it never changes what you enter. Medication records are optional, and you can turn the whole section off.

Week mover

Pick your dose day and how many sessions you can honestly do. The sketch below puts gentle movement next to the dose and the strength sessions as far from it as the week allows. It is a sketch, not a prescription; Sturdy’s planner does this with your own days, session length and equipment, and lets you drag it around all week.

    Make it a habit with Sturdy

    Three workout types, a planner that forgives, a protein log that can be just checkmarks, optional medication records that never suggest a dose, and a PDF summary for your next appointment. No account, no ads, records stay on your iPhone. Free; Pro optional.

    Download Sturdy: Strength on GLP-1 on the App StoreFree on iPhone · iOS 18 or later

    Sources

    1. Wegovy (semaglutide) injection, Prescribing Information, Adverse Reactions table for adults with obesity or overweight: fatigue 11% vs 5%, nausea 44% vs 16%, dizziness 8% vs 4%. novo-pi.com/wegovy.pdf
    2. Lundgren JR et al. Healthy Weight Loss Maintenance with Exercise, Liraglutide, or Both Combined. New England Journal of Medicine, 2021. PubMed; McMaster Optimal Aging summary
    3. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition: Top 10 things to know.
    4. Sturdy: Strength on GLP-1, App Store listing and version 1.1.0 release notes, read November 2026.

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