I tried training like a ‘romantasy’ character. Here’s how my weighted dagger workout went

T oday’s literary heroines are always running, sparring or climbing their way to greatness.

The wildly-popular genre of romantic-fantasy, a.k.a “romantasy,” sees protagonists like Violet Sorrengail from the Fourth Wing franchise , battling across a brutal obstacle course to become a dragon rider. In the ACOTAR series, heroine Feyre Archeron enters a dangerous maze to prove herself.

The romantasy genre generated $610 million in book sales in 2024, according to Bloomberg, as authors like Rebecca Yarros and Sarah J. Maas amassed huge followings for their franchises among a once Harry Potter- obsessed generation of Millennials.

Fourth Wing is set to be adapted for the big screen, directed by Michael B. Jordan. Romantasy has also seeped into theme nights at Major League Baseball, revived book launch parties and spiked merch sales.

Now, fitness studios are cashing in with “ romantasy classes ” – where weighted “daggers” are incorporated into full-body workouts that also includes spinning, Tai Chi and High-Intensity Interval Training .

“I’ve had people who have said, ‘I haven’t felt inspired to move and now I’m so excited to move. I look forward to moving my body every day,’” Catherine Carter, founder of weighted dagger brand, Dragon’s Edge, told The Independent .

Carter was inspired to make the daggers after being bored at a workout class, herself.

“I was in these battle scenes in my head ... and then I was in [the Warrior Two pose] with these little dumbbells and I just felt like the magic was broken,” she recalled. That’s when she started working on designs.

“It did not exist and so I sketched and prototyped and tested and experimented,” said Carter. “And now we have weighted daggers.”

In-person classes with the daggers are available at a few locations, including a studio in Massachusetts, but most fans appear to be seeking out online workouts.

Classes are engineered for a serious workout, Carter said, but are also rooted in romantasy storytelling. People who love romantasy books are being inspired to work out when they might not have gone to a regular gym class.

“This is finally a way to continue that emotional journey after we finish the last page,” she added.

The Independent decided to get involved – with daggers, of course. I’m a regular gym-goer but these classes were always going to appeal to me as I’m also a lifelong fan of fantasy novels. I once even traveled over 1,300 miles from a study abroad program in Australia to northern New Zealand to run through the hills and hide in Hobbit holes on the “Hobbiton” film location, in my own (very loose) reenactment of The Lord of The Rings .

The romantasy genre has me hooked - I’ve read Quicksilver , the Powerless trilogy and The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy - for those in the know.