How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?
How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? is a Japanese manga series written by Yabako Sandrovich and illustrated by MAAM. It has been serialized via Shogakukan's Ura Sunday website and MangaONE app since August 2016 and has been collected into twenty volumes as of August 2024. The manga is licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. A twelve-episode anime television series adaptation by Doga Kobo aired from July to September 2019.
Plot
Hibiki Sakura is a second-year high school girl who has a voracious appetite; this habit leads to her gaining weight. Once this is brought to her attention, she reluctantly thinks about joining the Silverman Gym. At the gym, Hibiki finds out that Akemi Soryuin, a schoolmate of hers, is also thinking about joining. Upon meeting Naruzo Machio, one of the trainers, she falls heads over heels in love with him and joins the gym. Motivated, Hibiki vows to lose weight.Characters
Main characters
;Hibiki Sakura;Akemi Soryuin
;Ayaka Uehara
;Gina Boyd
;Satomi Tachibana
;Naruzo Machio
Supporting characters
;Harnold Dogegenchonegger;Nana Uehara
;Rumika Aina
;Yakusha Kure
;Kutaro Deire
;Jason Sgatham
Media
Manga
How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? is written by Yabako Sandrovich and illustrated by MAAM. Set in the same universe as Sandrovich's other work Kengan Ashura, it began serialization on Shogakukan's Ura Sunday website and MangaONE app on August 5, 2016. The manga went on hiatus in October 2023 and resumed in August 2024. Shogakukan has compiled its chapters into individual volumes. The first volume was published on December 19, 2016. As of August 19, 2024, twenty volumes have been published. In North America, Seven Seas Entertainment announced the acquisition of the manga for an English release in April 2019. The first volume was published on November 26, 2019.Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced on January 15, 2019. The series was produced by Doga Kobo and directed by Mitsue Yamazaki, with Fumihiko Shimo handling the series composition, Ai Kikuchi designing the characters, and Yukari Hashimoto composing the music. It aired from July 3 to September 18, 2019, on AT-X, Tokyo MX, KBS, SUN, and other channels. It ran for 12 episodes. The opening theme is "Onegai Muscle" performed by Hibiki Sakura and Naruzo Machio, while the ending theme is "Macho A Name?" performed by Machio.Funimation licensed the series outside Asia. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll. Medialink holds the license for the series in Southeast Asia.
Episodes
Reception
In 2019, the manga was nominated for the 65th Shogakukan Manga Award for the category.Gadget Tsūshin listed lines from the opening theme and the training video in their 2019 anime buzzwords list.
The anime series was nominated for Best Boy for Naruzo Machio and Best Comedy at the 4th Crunchyroll Anime Awards, but lost to Tanjiro Kamado from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Kaguya-sama: [Love Is War], respectively.