Critics concerned GLP-1 drugs may give athletes a performance edge

Healthcare Critics concerned GLP-1 drugs may give athletes a performance edge Comments: by Alicia Sitz - 06/23/26 2:23 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Alicia Sitz - 06/23/26 2:23 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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(NewsNation) — GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are a hot health topic. Now, critics are debating whether the medications should be banned in sports for potentially being performance-enhancing drugs.

The debate comes after 23-time Grand Slam-winning superstar Serena Williams officially came back to tennis after stepping away from the game for four years. During that time, she admitted to using a GLP-1 medication to get back in shape, saying it helped her lose 34 pounds.

Williams told People magazine in August that the drug “helped me enhance everything that I was already doing — eating healthy and working out, whether it was as a professional athlete at the top level of tennis or just going to the gym every day.”

She even became a spokesperson for Ro, a telehealth company that provides weight-loss medications.

On Monday, fitness expert Jillian Michaels and former professional tennis player Patrick McEnroe joined Chris Cuomo, saying they don’t believe GLP-1s enhance an athlete’s performance.

“Sure, it’s going to improve her power-to-weight ratio,” Michaels said, “but that simply means she’ll move quicker, she’ll be a little more agile, because she’s significantly lighter.”

She continued, saying the weight loss drugs are not a performance enhancer like stimulants or steroids, and it doesn’t improve fitness methods directly.

GLP-1s are a natural hormone made of peptides in your body, and recently, peptides have surged in popularity in the fitness and wellness space. But Michaels says GLP-1s are different.

“The benefits do seem to be pretty extensive when it comes to athletic performance and recovery,” she said of peptides, “but the GLP-1 drugs are not that. The benefits that you are seeing have to do, quite honestly, with the halo effect of her weight loss.”

The fitness guru added, “And if we look back to Serena in her prime, she was probably the exact same weight that she is now. But she was younger, and it was a different body composition.”

McEnroe believes her GLP-1 use isn’t tied to her sports performance, but rather to the fact that she just wanted to shed some pounds.

“I think she did it initially because she just had two young kids. It would help her get back in shape. … I think it’s something that just made her feel better about herself, made her feel good. And then I think she thought, ‘Hey, wait a second, maybe I’ll try to go back and play competitive tennis.'”

McEnroe points to the World Anti-Doping Organization announcing it was studying GLP-1s to see if athletes were abusing it, which is why so many people are drawn to Williams’ story.

“I haven’t heard of any other big-time pro athletes that are taking this drug. … So I don’t think it’s a competitive advantage at all,” McEnroe said. “But I think it’s something that they’re gonna look at and see if it is, then maybe down the road, they’ll look at monitoring it for pro athletes and the Olympic sports, as well.”