Have you met your new AI fitness coach yet? If not, they’re out there waiting for you, in whatever app or device you choose. If you buy into the hype, your new AI personal trainer will be ready and willing to give you the advice and workout plans you need, not to mention solving all your fitness issues in one fell swoop.
Yeah, right.
If there’s one thing we’ve all learned about AI in the last couple of years, it’s that it comes in many flavors. Good and bad. Straightforward and duplicitous. Complete and sketchy. As someone who has worked in tech and written about AI, my approach has always been to dig in and understand how it works, its strengths, and how to address its limitations. So let’s go there.
The AI fitness info
Any investigation of AI-based fitness coaching begins with the quality of the information it gathers. For fitness executives like Jonathan Shottan, the Chief Product and Content Officer of Tonal, the goal is to use AI fitness information to create what he calls “training modalities” like Pilates. The idea is to give Tonal trainers complete information they can use with both elite athletes and ordinary folks looking to improve their fitness level.
“Each new modality we introduce unlocks new types of movement patterns, data streams, and user behaviors,” Shottan explains.
That means gathering information on various lifestyles to understand the components of fitness, such as daily recovery, as well as covering different demographics, e.g., beginners and aging adults. The idea is to build what Shottan calls a “digital twin” for every existing Tonal member, and to have that twin become more complete, fitness-wise, for each new member.
How you can use this AI fitness information
While the information and data set Shottan comes up with might be proprietary to Tonal, that doesn’t mean you can’t follow your own versions of that process from whatever app you choose.
You, too, can build your own digital twin and get recommendations from any number of fitness apps that incorporate AI coaching capability. Whether it’s Fitbod or Jefit for strength training or Runna or TrainAsOne for running, you can find an app that offers coaching in the form of workout and fitness plans, along with recommendations.
The key to getting those recommendations right is the quality of your questions and prompts. To get an idea of how this works, let’s come up with some sample questions in a couple of basic areas.
Strength training. It’s laudable to want to get stronger, but do you have the right plan in place to do it? Are you looking to build a stronger core or add weight to your lifting program? Working with dumbbells, machines, or from a bench? Are you performing the correct number of reps, and are you targeting all the necessary muscle groups?
Speed and agility. If you’re a distance runner or you have specific speed goals, the questions and prompts change considerably. Are you focusing on HIIT training, or do you have weekly mileage goals? Working too hard? Adding in the right amount of recovery?
These questions may be basic, but if your questions and prompts are off base, you won’t get the answers you need to improve. Similarly, you need to formulate the right prompts in areas like recovery, sleep quality, and nutrition, which is where the link to your trainer reenters the picture.
Using AI to make workout adjustments with your trainer
While it might seem like AI fitness coaches have the chops to replace their real-life counterparts, that’s a bit of an illusion. Clayton Kim, the CTO and co-founder of Flykitt, has helped build an app designed to get a great workout while traveling, but he sees the basic role of a trainer remaining intact.
“Half of the job of a good coach is to help their athlete make real, tangible progress over the course of months and years,” Kim states. AI coaches can excel at this, he indicates, because they can provide both basic fitness goals and motivators.
“But buy-in is key,” he adds. “The creation of a tailored program based on assessment and goals is the easiest piece for AI to do, and a good coach adapts the program based on the athlete’s abilities and how they are performing day-to-day.”
It’s important to remember that any training plan set up by an AI fitness coach represents a starting point, just like it would be for a celebrity trainer or the trainer from your local gym. The evolution of a training plan is what separates the quality of the coaching, and it’s really all about making the right adjustments.
“A good trainer will make these adjustments for you, but if you can’t access a person, AI can be good at modifying if it has the data it needs,” Kim says. “You can select a mobility workout versus a high-intensity workout when you’re not feeling a hundred percent. You can also indicate how recovered you are, so that’s another great way to get the workout you need that day, even if you don’t want to change styles.”
Do you still need a real personal trainer?
Given the way AI fitness coaches can fill in the gaps and help you make adjustments, it’s fair to ask if you can ditch your personal trainer and save a few bucks in the process. For Kim, the answer is an emphatic “no.”
“The human impact of a coach cannot be underestimated,” he says. “Just by having another human being physically present or holding you accountable, it makes a tremendous difference in how well you stick to your program, especially in the long term.”
What AI does, Kim adds, is mimic the tricks of the trade that coaches use, along with some of the rules of thumb, guidelines, and strategies. It’s also especially appealing to both Gen Z and Gen Alpha, Kim says, because there’s “a much, much higher affinity to casually talking to an AI.”
Realistic expectations and the future of AI fitness coaches
From entertainment to the workplace, any discussion of AI tends to focus on the future, both in the long and short term, and fitness is no exception. It won’t change the world right away, but it’s carving out a significant role.
“I don’t see AI completely replacing the human touch, [but] virtual fitness coaches have great potential to help trainers manage their client loads, continue progress outside of the gym, or maintain fitness goals while traveling or outside of a normal routine,” Kim summarizes.
“The same way physical therapists have started to implement AI to help their clients complete assignments in between sessions, for example, AI fitness coaches can be a complement for those who still want that in-person touch.”
The future, though, looks far different for AI fitness coaches. “I expect to see a live, vision-powered coach coming onto the market soon,” Kim predicts. “Gyms will start integrating AI programs into their apps, and some will start providing live form feedback at various exercise stations. Expect to see cameras popping up in gyms because it’s hard to use your phone.”
That, in turn, will likely lead to in-person encounters with a coach that isn’t necessarily a flesh-and-blood counterpart.
“Eventually, AI coaches will become avatars you can FaceTime call through your workout,” Kim says, “giving you live updates and motivation as you go. Or with cameras in the gym, you can reach out when you need form assists or changes to your plan.”
