THERE’S an abuse of GLP1s in West Cork and the entire country that’s frightening – and it’s only going to get worse.

That’s according to fitness guru Karl Henry who said while weight loss drugs are life changing for those who need them, buying them on the black market is encouraging a return to a culture of skinniness which is ‘really sad’.

The Clonakilty-based personal trainer warned the abuse of the Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 drugs is only going to get worse when they become available to take orally.

‘For a lot of people, being lighter is their goal but it needs to be broader than that. The thing about GLPs is that you’ll lose weight but you’ll be weak and skinny. It’s strength that will help you age from a bone and muscle mass perspective. If you’re in any way considering a GLP1, my advice is to go and talk to your GP before you do anything,’ said Karl.

He’s celebrating recently completing his second Fastnet swim – in 2024 he swam from Baltimore to the iconic lighthouse and this time he did it the other way around.

He had actually been training to swim out to the lighthouse and back when he was struck with pneumonia and ended up going from being his fittest ever, to being unable to climb a flight of stairs.

‘Last July I had some sort of viral bug, and I started coughing and it just got really bad, to the point where I came down the stairs one morning and my wife told me I needed to go to hospital that I was really sick,’ he recalls.

He was admitted to the Bon Secours Hospital where he was treated for five days.

‘On day four, a physio came in. She told me not to get a fright because I mightn’t be able to do that much and she was right – I couldn’t climb a flight of stairs in the hospital and when I did I went back to bed for two hours.

‘It’s the first time in my life I’ve been floored by anything, and my consultant said if it hadn’t been for my fitness I’d have been in for two months.’

Recovery was slow when he got home and Karl admits that it was tough going at times.

‘It was three months before I could go back to any sort of exercise and then six months before I could properly train in terms of increasing the intensity,’ he said.

‘Exercise is my outlet for stress and all of a sudden I couldn’t do it. My mental health did suffer to a point. You feel sorry for yourself for a while, tuck into the chocolate, you go through all the emotions and then you cop yourself on.’

Karl also had to factor in a new diagnosis of sarcoidosis – an inflammatory disease – on his lungs.

‘I get hot sweats randomly at weird times, along with muscle fatigue and soreness but I’m getting better at managing it,’ he said.

All in all, training for the Fastnet was the perfect recovery goaL.

‘Life is short, you can go through it as comfortably as you want or try to experience things outside of your comfort zones and the Fastnet was a lovely, scary experience.’

Having his two kids waiting in the harbour for him was a lovely moment.

‘I feel strongly that it’s important to expose them to the idea of setting a target and working hard to achieve it. I’m not naturally fit or a great swimmer. I have to work quite hard for it. My son is seven and gets the fact that if you put the work in, you can achieve something.’

Karl pushed himself out of his comfort zone to complete a swim from the Fastnet back to Baltimore.

Karl moved with his GP wife Jean and their two children to Jean’s native Clon four years ago and it now very much feels like home. Jean has recently opened up her own aesthetics clinic in the town, which is going really well.

‘One of the reasons for moving down was to test the theory if you are healthier living by the countryside or by the sea and there’s no question that it’s a healthier place to live than in a city. We’re very happy here.’

He had 17 years of ‘Operation Transformation’ which ultimately was on the receiving end of public and professional backlash over weight stigma and a focus on calorie counting.

‘Everything has a shelf life,’ said Karl who added that ‘people had got quite opinionated about the fact that you’d track someone’s health. But it’s interesting that it’s back in vogue now, looking at heart rate, waist line and muscle mass.’