Sweat and Pixels II: Augmenting, Not Replacing Personal Trainers

17

October

2023

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In my previous contribution to this blog, “Sweat and Pixels: Is ChatGPT the New Personal Trainer?”, I discussed the potential of generative AI in disrupting the fitness industry, specifically personal trainer related tasks. Experimenting with AI-generated training schedules, and their ability to incorporate progression from users. While it showed a lot of potential, and it’s positive contribution to the fitness world was recognized by multiple readers. The personal trainer’s motivational role was located as unreplaceable. That is why in this post, I will explore the possibility of AI working together with Personal Trainers, combining the best of both worlds.

AI-Assisted Training

A fitness industry without some form of AI or digital systems is unthinkable. From smartwatches, to for instance, Tempo, a smart home gym that uses computer vision (Garun, 2020). AI services a function and has been integrated in most tools linked to fitness. Assisting users on their fitness journey.

The Personal Trainer’s Role in the Digital World

One of the key questions posted in the previous discussion was whether or not personal trainers were still useful? The conclusion was, and is, that while some tasks are ready to be replaced by GenAI systems, others are not. Tasks that include some aspect of motivation and/or emotion still require a humans (e.g. personal trainers) involvement.

Best of Both Worlds

Instead of letting the user choose one, it might be in a personal trainer’s best interest to adopt to the digital era and adjust their daily operations and tasks. Making a shift towards an AI enhanced personal trainer experience, which could contribute to the following points:

Personalization
As discussed in the previous post, GenAI is an excellent tool that is capable of generating quick, clear, and personalised training schedules. This would allow trainers to develop a base schedule with minimal information and a couple of clicks.

Efficiency
The time that is won by automating the easier tasks, personal trainers can focus their attention to more personalised in-person coaching and motivating their clients.

The Future of Personal Training

While the world digitalizing, industries are changing and need to adapt accordingly. The fitness industry, specifically personal training is one of them. While the industry might not be replaced by (Generative) AI, it can be augmented by (Generative) AI. In my opinion I think the use of (Generative) AI could improve trainers’ tasks by making their time more efficient and well spend, and might become mandatory to stay relevant. Enabling trainers to focus more on personalization and motivational aspects of their job and letting AI handle the automatable parts. Let me know what you think, will the combination be the future, or do you think we could be better of with just AI/Personal trainers?

    Bibliography

    Garun, N. (2020, February 26). Tempo is a smart home gym that uses computer vision to track your form in real time. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/26/21154185/tempo-smart-home-gym-kinect-computer-vision-ai-form-correction

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    Sweat and Pixels: Is ChatGPT the New Personal Trainer?

    8

    October

    2023

    No ratings yet.

    The first time that I stepped into a gym, and got my membership. I remember receiving a list with strange names with a number of sets and repetitions next to them, a training schedule. This had been made by a personal trainer, someone who had a lot of knowledge and experience in the field of training. However as I started exploring and testing with Generative AI, a question began to intrigue me: Could GenAI’s capacity for creativity and content generation disrupt the way we approach fitness (Cremer et al., 2023)? In particular, to what extent is GenAI able to create individual customized training schedules? Thus, potentially shifting the need for personal trainers.

    Experiment

    Figure 1: Initial Schedule

    To test my theory, I decided to start an experiment in which I act as a potential user, assuming that I have no previous knowledge about gym routines nor of any exercise techniques.

    1. Creating the initial schedule

    The first prompt was to ask ChatGPT to come up with a schedule that would suit my fitness goal, in this case increasing strength. I mentioned a certain height, weight, and the availability of equipment. The results are shown in figure 1.

    Figure 2: Improving/Adjusting

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    2. Adapting and Testing

    Next was the step which could make or break the experiment, being GenAI’s capability of succesfully adjusting the schedule. To test this, I introduced ChatGPT to a hypothetical progress I had made and asked it to update the schedule. (see figure 2)

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    Figure 3: Safety tips

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    3. Safety

    With the prompts shown in figure 1 and 2, ChatGPT already added some tips to prevent injuries. These are shown in figure 3.

    In my opinion the results show a well working, free, automated schedule-maker. That, in contradiction to for instance personal trainers, can be easily adjusted, simply by typing a couple of sentences and clicking twice. Using ChatGPT this way, and for instance using YouTube to provide ample instructions and examples on how to do the exercises correctly, the personal fitness industry could be disrupted. The question then arises, whether or not this new way of working will help and support personal trainers in their daily work. Or whether the availability of an easy, free, automated schedule-maker (ChatGPT) will make their users want to try and become fit on their own. Of course a counterargument can be made that the role of a personal trainer is in most cases not only to provide schedules for the clients to adhere to, and to check the movements. It is often also to motivate and help clients beyond just the exercises. This is a drawback of the GenAI personal trainer, as there is limited motivational support nor physical presence. However in combination with for instance YouTube, or even a robotic personal trainer in the future (Benitez-Eves, 2019), I think the generative AI workout partner could be a real threat for the industry. Please let me know your thoughts and experiences! Do you make use of a personal trainer? And would you be willing to switch to ChatGPT, trusting it with your scheduling?

    References

    Benitez-Eves, T. (2019, March 14). Sony Is Creating a Robotic Personal Trainer. Muscle & Fitness. https://www.muscleandfitness.com/athletes-celebrities/news/sony-creating-robotic-personal-trainer/

    Cremer, D. D., Bianzino, N. M., & Falk, B. (2023, April 13). How Generative AI Could Disrupt Creative Work. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2023/04/how-generative-ai-could-disrupt-creative-work

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