5 Ways to Use ChatGPT to Improve Your Fitness Routine

AI is all the rage these days. If you listen to the media, it's taking the world by storm, revolutionizing business practices, and giving a welcome boost to stock prices. However, if you listen to internet forums, it's a virtual leviathan that will slowly render people's work, lifestyle, and purchasing power obsolete. While it's certainly innovative, AI programs are still in a nascent stage, and who knows what the future holds?

That said, current AI programs can be incredibly helpful for optimizing, reformulating, and condensing large amounts of information into a tidy, accessible package. One thing AI works great for, especially free language models like ChatGPT, is improving your fitness routine. Much like fitness in general, you get out what you put in. That's why we are going to explore some of the ways you can use ChatGPT to give your fitness routine a helpful makeover. Let's use the mainframe to make those gains. (Already on your fitness journey but feeling fatigued? Spot the burnout signals and refuel your motivation.)

To compile a list of ways to use ChatGPT to improve your fitness routine, 24/7 Tempo consulted a range of technology and fitness sites including CodeAcademy.com, Griproom.com, and Heathline.com. From there, we formulated an approach to using the program for fitness that takes into account your needs and limitations. After that, we confirmed aspects of our research using sites like Time.com and the MIT Technology Review.

ChatGPT isn't a miracle worker. It won't magically lose weight for you. It can help though, so take stock of your fitness goals before inputting any information. First things first, you need to be honest with yourself. Are you becoming more fitness-minded to lose weight, develop better cardiovascular health, or put on more muscle? Once you have an answer, estimate the type of time commitment you're willing to make for your fitness goals. Two, hour-long workout sessions a week will give different results than an hour every weekday.

After that, make a priority list of exercises. If you prefer lifting weights to calisthenics, be sure to note that accordingly on your list. Finally, take stock of what kind of fitness equipment you have at hand. A gym membership will give more exercise possibilities, but home workouts can be equally effective with a variety of bodyweight or free-weight exercises.

Once you've made a comprehensive list of your fitness goals you can start your conversation with ChatGPT. Leave no stone unturned. First, enter all the information from the list you've made and ask it to design a fitness program for you. To reiterate, what you put in you will get out. A vague prompt will likely return a vague fitness plan. The more detailed you are, the more the program can do for you. Telling the program to make a fitness routine will bear less fruit than telling it to, for example, "Design me a fitness plan for muscle building where I work out an hour a day, five days a week using gym equipment and free weights."

It's important to note that inputting your limitations will be helpful as well. Let's say you have a heart condition. If you don't include that in your prompt to ChatGPT, the program may spit out info at odds with your health capabilities and put your health at risk. It's imperative that you include any information about your health or medical history. Add anything that may be an obstacle to your fitness goals. By doing so, the program will get a better sense of your needs, and return a workout plan accordingly.

Now that you've inputted all the important information about your health and fitness goals, see what ChatGPT gives you. It can do some impressive things, but chances are, its first answer may not cover all of your bases. The AI may appear human in its answers, but it is far from it. It may not account for things like exercise boredom, progressive overload, or rest and recovery time.

Sure, it gave you a great plan to build muscle, but it's the same exercises every day, ones that will become grueling after a few weeks. By the same token, it may provide good muscle-building exercises but fails to account for the gradual weight increase needed to pack on pounds of muscle. Most importantly, ChatGPT may not appreciate the periods of rest and recovery time you need to make gains. Serious training requires serious rest as working out is hard on the body. Too much of it too soon can spell serious fatigue and even flu-like symptoms.

Luckily, you have already started your dialogue with the program. It can go back and forth as many times as you need to get the workout plan that's best for you. Don't hesitate to review and refine each successive option it gives you. Whatever you're not happy with, let the program know, and it will adjust your workout plan.

Perhaps you're taking a more holistic approach to working out. It's fine if you're going on intuition and feel with your newly designed workout plan. If you're looking for more help, however, the program can work more of its magic. ChatGPT helped you formulate your goals and get you into motion, but its help doesn't have to stop there. When looking to truly optimize your fitness routine and reach specific weight, muscle, or body fat goals, monitoring your progress can go a long way.

The more hardcore contingent may take a notebook to the gym and track each set they do and the weight they do them at. From there, they might take day-by-day measurements of their body weight, fat percentage, or even the circumference of their biceps. It's okay if these types of meticulous calculations are too much for you.

If you're looking for the best results, however, careful progress tracking will do wonders. Once you've recorded any kind of data about how the ChatGPT-generated workout plan is going, you can go back to the program and feed it that data. Even things like mood, energy levels, and exhaustion can be noted. This way, the program can adjust your workout plan week-over-week so you see the best results. (For more fitness inspiration, explore must-listen fitness podcasts to keep you motivated and moving.)

So you've made a list of your fitness goals, let ChatGPT produce a tailored fitness regiment, and refined it after weeks of trying it out, but you're not seeing the progress you were hoping for. It very well could be that you didn't account for the nutritional requirements. As the sayings go, "You can't outrun a bad diet" and "Abs are made in the kitchen."

Each type of fitness goal requires equally specific nutrition goals. A heavy cardio routine will help burn calories, but seeing real weight loss often requires good nutrition at a caloric deficit. By the same token, packing on muscle requires probably more food, especially protein, than you are used to.

Luckily, ChatGPT can create the same type of plan for your nutrition as it did for your fitness. Once again, the more specific you get with the program, the more it can do for you. First, plug in information about your weight, age, activity levels, and health habits. From there, give it a sense of what you're trying to accomplish in terms of lean muscle percentage or body weight. It may give back a very regimented plan that sounds as unappetizing as it is disciplined. Don't be afraid to get even more specific about your preferences. Tell it the types of foods you like and the foods you may be allergic to. This way, it can formulate a nutrition plan that is harmonious with your eating habits, food preferences, and fitness goals. From there, implement your new nutrition schedule and refine and reorganize as needed. Since ChatGPT is plugged into the internet, it can also provide the latest trends, data, and evidence for nutrition and how it vibes with your goals.

Those who fear the onslaught of AI likely do so out of ignorance. Once you try programs like ChatGPT for yourself, you will get a better sense of their features, advantages, and limitations. When it comes to your fitness goals, it can make actualizing them remarkably simple. There's a whole fitness industry out there looking to squeeze money out of your pocket by providing what they say are the best shortcuts, innovations, and get-ahead tactics. With a program like ChatGPT, however, you can get personally tailored fitness and nutrition plans for free.

As illustrated by some articles, like this one in Time Magazine, not everyone benefitted from using AI for their fitness. ChatGPT may not be the best on-the-ground fitness coach. It definitely can't work through your training with you like a personal trainer can. Plus, veteran fitness people may require more specialized knowledge than the program can provide. If you are just starting down the fitness path, however, ChatGPT can go a long way in helping you make noticeable changes to your body and health. (Looking to change your body but not sure where to start? Discover 20 important questions to ask before buying a gym membership.)