This has been on my mind for a while and I finally decided to share my thoughts on the rise of the use of Chat GPT and other AI programmes to design your training plan.
As a coach of more than 15 years experience, and as someone who has trained for over 3 decades, I know enough about myself to set the right parameters for AI to write me a pretty decent training plan, but someone who is new to the gym, or has limited experience, won’t understand all of the factors that must be taken into consideration when design a plan for a client.
When a client comes to me, I might need to ask the following,
What is their training history/ experience?
Do they have a history of injuries?
Have they got a busy work/ study schedule?
Do they have children/ commitments to others that require a large time commitment?
Other activities that impact training time (for example, do they play football, or some other sport?)
What time can they realistically set aside for training,
What is their goal, and how far away are they from achieving it?
What time frame have they set to achieve their goal?
What equipment is available to them?
What is their medical history (high blood pressure, heart complications, etc.)
All of these factors must be considered when writing a plan for the client in order to give them the best possible results.
Now, someone who has little to no experience with training, won’t know to ask these questions, and as such, won’t know what parameters they need to give AI in order to return the best possible program for them.
They might just ask for a 5 day, push/pull plan for upper and lower body, which will then result in a very generic plan, compiled of the majority of information available on these types of training programme.
The issue here, is that the plan doesn’t account for experience levels, equipment availability, medical conditions, injury history or ability to recover, leading to a programme that is entirely unsuitable for the person using it.
Additionally, what a coach can do that AI can’t, is make changes to a plan in real time, responding to the circumstances of that training session. We will look at factors such as fatigue, hydration, stress levels, equipment availability, and technical profficiency, to make suitable changes to the session that give the client a safe, effective workout.
AI also can’t corrective coach when a client is struggling with a certain exercise. They might be failing to hit depth in a squat, or get their hips into the right position to deadlift. These are things a good coach can assess, and make adjustments to how the client is moving, to get the most efficient pattern for their specific anatomy.
As with all technology, there is a long way to go and the propblems with AI in the fitness industry are the same as they are anywhere else, it is only as good as the person using it. If you have a high degree of knowledge, you can get the best outcomes, but without fully understanding the subject, you simply won’t get something truly useful.
Dan.