Contrary to popular belief, AI text generators are not the spawn of the devil. In fact, they can be pretty useful in everyday life. Inspired by fellow writer Lizzie Murray, I decided to test OpenAI’s Chat GPT function’s ability to write comprehensive workouts.

Equipment Workouts

I began my study with prompting the text generator to write me workouts using equipment to target various muscle groups. Each workout comes straight from the generator, I just removed some explanatory phrases as to not overwhelm the article.

Back

• Warmup
  • 5 minutes of light cardio
• Main Workout
  • Lat pulldowns: 3 sets 10-12 reps
  • Seated cable rows: 3 sets 10-12 reps
  • Bent over rows: 3 sets 10-12 reps
  • One arm dumbbell rows: 3 sets 10-12 reps
• Cool Down
  • 5 minutes of stretching focusing on the back

Legs

• Warmup
  • 5-10 minutes of light cardio
• Main workout
  • Barbell squats: 3 sets 10-12 reps
  • Leg press: 3 sets 10-12 reps
  • Leg curls: 3 sets 10-12 reps
  • Lunges: 3 sets 10-12 reps each leg
  • Calf raises: 3 sets 10-12 reps
• Cool down
  • 5-10 minutes of stretching focusing on quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and hip flexors

Arms

• Warmup
  • 5-10 minutes of cardio, specifically jumping jacks or jogging
• Main workout
  • Bicep curls: 3 sets 10-12 reps
  • Tricep extensions: 3 sets 10-12 reps
  • Hammer curls: 3 sets 10-12 reps
  • Cable tricep pushdowns: 3 sets 10-12 reps
  • Overhead tricep extensions: 3 sets 10-12 reps
• Cool down
  • 5-10 minutes of stretching focusing on biceps, triceps, and forearms

Each of these workouts are pretty standard, and almost seem like they came straight from a blog. However, the AI seems to have a good understanding of the muscle groups to target. It would be interesting to see how these prompts were responded to when Chat GPT was just beginning, as it had not learned as much as it has now.

Yoga/Pilates

Next, I wanted to see how well Chat GPT would be able to write a yoga or Pilates session. I was curious if it would be as comprehensive as the equipment-based exercises. I asked the generator to write 30 minute exercises for each.

Yoga

• Mountain pose
• Forward fold
• Downward dog
• Warrior I
• Triangle pose
• Child’s pose
• Cobra Pose
• Seated forward fold
• Savasana

I was surprised that not only did the generator respond with real yoga poses, it also showed them in a very accurate progression. Each pose could easily flow into the next one. My only issue is that it does not include enough information about repeating or how much time to hold each pose. I asked for a 30 minute workout, but you would have to do a lot of repetition to make it that far with these 9 poses.

Pilates

• Warmup
  • Start by lying on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Place your hands on your lower abs and take a few deep breaths, focusing on engaging your core muscles. Then, extend your arms and legs out to a 45-degree angle and hold for a few breaths, engaging your abs to keep your spine stable.
• Main workout
  • Hundred: Stay in the same position and life your head and shoulders off the ground. Pump your arms up and down for 100 counts, inhaling for 5 counts and exhaling for 5 counts. Keep your abs engaged and your lower back pressed into the ground.
  • Single leg stretch: Stay in the same position and bring one knee towards your chest, extending the other leg out straight. Switch legs and repeat, focusing on keeping your abs engaged and your lower back pressed into the ground. Do 10-12 reps on each leg.
  • Double leg stretch: Bring both knees toward your chest and wrap your arms around your shins. Extend your arms and legs out to a 45-degree angle, then bring them back in towards your chest. Do 10-12 reps.
  • Roll-ups: Lie on your back with your legs straight and your arms overhead. Slowly roll up, reaching for your toes. Roll back down one vertebrae at a time. Repeat for 5-6 repetitions.
  • Pilates pushups: come onto your hands and knees with your wrists under your shoulders. Extend one leg out straight and then the other. Lower your chest towards the ground, keeping your elbows close to your body. Push back up to the starting position. Do 5-6 reps.
  • Plank: 30-60 seconds
  • Side plank: 30 seconds each side
• Cool down
  • Come onto your back and hug your knees into your chest. Roll side to side to massage your lower back. Then, extend your legs out straight and reach your arms overhead for a full body stretch.

This workout was incredibly in depth, arguably too in depth. I had to reread sections multiple times over just to figure out what was going on. However, once it made sense, this workout seemed to be pretty intense.

Swimming

For fun, I decided to see if the generator could write a swimming workout that would make sense without being too crazy.

Endurance

• Warmup
  • 10 minutes easy free
• Main set
  • 4 x 200 free, 30 seconds rest
  • 8 x 50 kick, 15 seconds rest
  • 2 x 400 free, 45 seconds rest
  • 6 x 100 pull, 20 seconds rest
  • 4 x 50 free sprint, 30 seconds rest
• Cool down
  • 5 minutes easy choice

Honestly, I was expecting something insane like 800 repeats, so I was pretty surprised when this pulled up.

Butterfly

• Warmup
  • 10 minutes easy free
• Main set
  • 4 x 50 fly, 20 seconds rest
  • 4 x 100 free, 30 seconds rest
  • 4 x 25 fly kick, 10 seconds rest
  • 2 x 200 free, 45 seconds rest
  • 4 x 50 fly pull, 20 seconds rest
  • 4 x 25 fly drill, 10 seconds rest
  • 2 x 100 free sprint, 30 seconds rest
• Cool down
  • 5 minutes easy choice

Once again, this does not seem horrifically miserable. The only thing both of these sets are missing is my favorite part of any swimming workout, 15 minutes of starts and turns, a.k.a. chat time.

Overall, all of these workouts seem super comprehensive and doable. If you generally know what you’re doing and are struggling to figure out a workout plan, using AI could be very helpful.