Have you considered using AI as a personal trainer? Artificial Intelligence is no longer science fiction, from retail to health, nearly every professional sector uses it in some capacity.
The fitness industry is no exception with Promo reporting that 84% of fitness consumers want to use AI for their fitness routines. We’ll discuss this emerging technology in detail, covering topics such as:
Contents:
- What is AI?
- How to Use AI As a Personal Trainer
- What Are The Benefits of Using AI As A Personal Trainer?
- Best AI for Personal Trainers: What Apps Should You Use?
- What Are The Downsides of Using AI As a Personal Trainer?
- Will AI Replace Personal Trainers?
With AI, you can free up time to expand your skills as a PT. You could complete a Level 4 Nutrition Course to write your clients’ meal plans. Download our course prospectus to learn more.
What is AI?
IBM, a multinational technology company that works with AI, defines it as a:
“Technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human learning, comprehension, problem solving, decision making, creativity and autonomy.”
Some of the capabilities of AI software include:
- Recognising speech
- Understanding language
- Analysing information
- Answering questions
One of the most popular examples of AI is ChatGPT which has over 200 million weekly users according to WiserNotify. Others you may be familiar with include:
- Devices like Alexa & Google Nest
- Recommended Posts on Social Media
- Navigation Tools: Google & Apple Maps
Despite its advancements, AI still has limitations such as the information it provides can be biased or not fully representative. Additionally, there are also privacy concerns regarding the handling of private data and personal details.
We’d encourage you to do some research before using AI for personal training to ensure you’re using safe and reputable software.
How to Use AI As a Personal Trainer
There is no doubt that AI personal trainer tools are transforming the fitness industry, by improving client experience and reducing workloads to help businesses run more efficiently.
Here are some ways that you can implement AI software and tools into your own PT business:
#1 Create Customised Workout Programmes
As a personal trainer, one of your main responsibilities will be to create and deliver bespoke workout programmes to clients. AI can help with this process, through data analysis it can provide suggestions that will help ensure a client’s goals and specifications are met.
AI tools such as Microsoft’s Copilot can analyse data and help generate these programmes. To receive these suggestions, you can input a client’s:
- Body composition
- Cardiovascular endurance
- Strength benchmarks
- Flexibility readings
This information will help ensure that the recommendations provided by the AI software will align with your client’s capabilities. You could also use the same data analytic tools to help create bespoke meal plans.
Be aware, as a personal trainer AI should be used as a supportive tool and not replace your entire job. Do not use this software to copy and paste these programmes, instead, you should proofread and edit them prior to sending them to a client.
#2 Develop Effective Business Strategies
Staying on the subject of data analysis, AI for personal trainers can also be used to recognise patterns in clients’ behaviour, such as:
- Motivations
- Engagement
- Attendance Levels
These can help to identify strengths and weaknesses in your business model, in addition to learning how you perform about your competitors.
With this information, you can make amendments to factors such as marketing strategies and pricing structures. For example, after analysing a client’s behaviours you may find that they are willing to pay extra for additional services such as meal plans.
You can then amend your price packages to reflect this, charging an increased fee for these specialist services.
#3 Manage Your Work Schedule
The best AI for personal trainers can help structure your workday through the creation of schedules and plans.
Software such as Scheduleify aims to create the most productive work schedule for your day. These can be moulded and adapted to the rules you input, for example, you can state which days you don’t work to ensure these are freed up.
Having a set schedule to work from can boost productivity and ensure you stay on track. Rather than jumping aimlessly from one task to another, you can make sure they are completed efficiently before a set deadline.
#4 Communicate with Your Clients Effortlessly
Communicating with your clients has never been easier thanks to AI tools. Many businesses choose to incorporate chatbots across their website and social media platforms, training them to answer commonly asked questions and queries.
AI tools can be used to write tailored responses based on a client’s history in the same way Facebook Messenger interacts with their users.
They do this through two types of chatbots:
- Rule-based chatbots– Uses pre-scripts to answer questions about operating hours, prices, and offers.
- Intent-based chatbots– Create more conversation-based responses to create the impression someone is talking to another person.
When you use a chatbot feature, you’ll free up time for complex tasks, such as dealing with complex queries, handling complaints and interacting with your current clients through things like check-ins.
#5 You Can Use it To Generate Creative Ideas for Marketing Content
Establishing a strong identity in the fitness industry is crucial to long-term success as a personal trainer. To achieve this, you’ll need to create effective marketing materials such as:
- Social media posts
- Emails
- Blog posts
AI sites like Copy.ai can help you with this process, you can use it to brainstorm content ideas that reflect and maintain your existing brand.
#6 AI Can Help You Manage Equipment
If you work in a gym as a personal trainer, AI can also provide insight into how clients use equipment. You can use these tools to track and monitor the frequency at which they’re used and what times they’re most popular.
This knowledge can help a gym run more efficiently, for example, you may discover that more clients are using weights compared to cardio machines. Following this, you could arrange the space to provide more room for this popular option to avoid crowding.
You can also use these insights to create an effective cleaning schedule, noting the times when machines are most likely to be free.
What Are The Benefits of Using AI As A Personal Trainer?
There are many benefits to incorporating AI into your personal training business, ensuring that both you and your clients will reap the rewards:
#1 It Will Save You Time
When you use AI you’ll notice how much time is freed up through automating tasks such as:
- Email Marketing
- Direct Debit Payments / Contract Renewals
- Enquiries
Instead of spending time on your laptop or behind a desk, this will free up time to train clients at the gym and build up your relationship.
#2 Improves Your Productivity
AI personal trainer tools can improve your productivity by helping to automate your tasks. Some of the ways you can incorporate this into your business include:
- Creating a schedule for yourself
- Generating ideas for marketing materials
- Implementing chatbots to respond to enquiries
Automating with AI frees up more time for you to focus on other tasks that require your attention such as meeting with clients face-to-face and engaging with them to keep retention rates high.
In short, if a task is simple and can be automated you should look into whether it’s possible for your business to boost your productivity.
#3 You Can Better Understand Your Clients
An effective training programme can’t be created without first understanding a client’s behaviour. AI is a powerful tool that can be used to analyse large amounts of data, in order to:
- Monitor A Client’s Current Performance
- Set Accurate Goals
- Create A Bespoke Training Programme
Through this improved monitoring system you will have a better understanding of your client. This allows for a greater level of customisation, ensuring they receive a unique experience that has been tailored to their specific needs.
Additionally, AI can also analyse data on other business aspects such as customer retention rates. This can help you identify areas where you can improve, to ensure these levels remain high.
#4 Innovative Ideas
Personal trainers are used to having a busy schedule and may find it difficult to have the time to think creatively to discover unique ideas and solutions that can enhance their work as a personal trainer.
With the emergence of AI, you can discover new ideas that you might not be able to uncover yourself. It can help you escape routine thinking and explore new pathways you might not have discovered before.
This is commonly referred to as ‘Divergent Thinking’ which is a vital psychological component in the creative process. AI software achieves this through analysing your clients’ existing data and behavioural patterns.
For example, if you’re working with older populations, ChatGPT can recommend low-impact exercises such as chair squats, balance drills, and safety precautions to help them enjoy a safe workout that matches their ability.
You could also provide data regarding how your clients interact with your content on social media. This can help to generate ideas that are purposely created to get the most clicks and engagement.
See AI as a tool that helps you expand your skills and ways of thinking to help your sessions continually put your clients first.
#5 Help With Safety Issues
Studies prove that AI can improve people’s safety, Protex AI noted that when Marks and Spencer deployed this technology warehouse incidents were reduced by 80%.
As a personal trainer, the safety of your clients should always come first. Thanks to advancements in AI, you will be able to monitor behavioural patterns that could be potential risks.
Smartwatches are great examples of devices with this software built-in. The data collected includes:
- Heart Rate
- Step Count
- Joint Angles
This data can help analyse issues such as joint instabilities and cardiovascular limitations that can impact their performance and the workout programme you create.
Using AI as part of your risk assessment to reduce clients’ injuries, helps you to foster a relationship of trust between your clients and to keep them safe.
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Best AI for Personal Trainers: What Apps Should You Use?
There are plenty of AI personal trainer tools to choose from, but with such a competitive market where do you even start?
Don’t worry, in this section, we’ll explore some of these apps/software and discuss how you can best implement them into your business.
ChatGPT
Cost: Free or £16 per month for ChatGPT Plus
ChatGPT is an AI language model that creates responses based on the inputs it receives. It can assist with a wide range of tasks like handling client queries and managing schedules when you embed it on your website.
For example, if someone messages it and asks for your operating hours, it can be programmed to automatically answer this question. It can also send automated reminders to clients who want to be notified about an upcoming training session.
It can even assist with marketing your business too! For example, you could use it to generate ideas for email campaigns, such as creating an eye-catching subject line that is sure to get clicks.
You can embed ChatGPT onto your website by following these 5 steps:
Check out this HubSpot article for more information on the technical ins and outs of ChatGPT integration.
If you want to get more from ChatGPT you can decide to pay for the Plus version which can give you access to:
- Everything in the free mode
- Access to new features before anyone else
- Access to voice mode
Full access to data analysis and image generation integrating ChatGPT onto your site can promote better engagement with prospective clients and offer a positive user experience for your current client base.
Microsoft Copilot
Cost: free or £19.99 per month
Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered tool that is integrated into 365 applications such as Word, Excel, and Outlook.
Copilot can also help you manage your schedule based on the email and calendar data it has access to. When implemented correctly, this can send you reminders, for example, what clients you’ll be working with that day.
Its data analysis capabilities can also help with the creation of marketing campaigns. For example, Copilot will be able to track:
- What posts do clients respond well to on socials
- What point a client is most likely to drop off
- What factors keep retention levels high – e.g. specific packages, referral programmes etc
It can also be used to analyse your competitor’s business and marketing strategies. Once collected, these results can help you to identify areas they may be struggling with in order to capitalise on.
You can also pay for a monthly subscription to get full access to its advanced features, which include:
- Assistance with email – e.g. drafting and editing
- Presentation analysis – e.g. idea generation, editing and slide summaries
- Creation of over 100 AI images every day
Fitbod
Cost: from £9.99
Fitbod is a fitness app that can create custom workouts based on a user’s:
- Fitness goals
- Level of experience
- The equipment they can use
It comes with AI-powered recommendations which can help you when creating bespoke workout programmes for clients. By gathering information logged from your clients, it can generate recommendations that help to facilitate their goals such as:
- The best kinds of exercises
- The number of reps
- Average workout time
Simply put, this AI personal trainer tool can help you understand your client’s existing strengths and areas where they need help. With this information, you can create an effective bespoke workout programme that suits their specific needs and abilities.
Fitness AI
Price: from £15.99
This AI personal training tool offers extensive libraries and plans that can help to customise your clients’ training sessions.
Whether your client is looking to lift heavier or improve their cardio fitness, this AI tool can help you create bespoke training programmes that are tailored to their specific preferences and current fitness levels.
Fitness AI can also track a client’s progress, this feature can help give you an indication of whether they’re going to hit their overall goal or whether adjustments can be made to make things more manageable.
MyFitnessPal
Cost: free or premium for £15.99 per month
This app uses AI to track meals and analyse nutrition intake. When implemented into your business it can help set calorie goals that monitor your client’s food and drink intake on any given day.
This feature helps to ensure they’re getting the right caloric intake to facilitate their fitness goals, e.g. build muscle or lose weight. You can also see how many calories they’ve burnt through the exercises that are entered into the app.
With the premium version, you can better monitor your client’s calorie intake by getting insights into:
- Tracking macro intake
- Recommend meals and workout plans
- Foods that are high in protein, sugars, carbs, etc.
Using AI-powered analysis it can help you as a trainer fine-tune your client’s nutrition consumption and strategies for exercise to help them get better fitness results.
What Are The Downsides of Using AI As a Personal Trainer?
As you’ve read so far, personal training with AI can enhance a client’s overall experience.
However, there are some limitations to its usage, understanding this can help you make informed decisions about how you use the tools.
#1 It Can Be a Costly Investment
Whilst AI is becoming more accessible to the general public, that doesn’t mean all these capabilities are available for free. If you’re looking to integrate complex technologies and software into your business you’ll likely have to pay a recurring fee to do so.
These can be quite a costly investment, especially if you’re just starting. For example, Jasper AI is a tool used for copywriting, in total the prices range between $39(£30) -$59 (£46) per month depending on how many words you need.
Likewise, MarketingCloudFX is an AI platform designed to help manage and enhance successful marketing campaigns. On average, pieces range between $299 (£234.45) – $999 (£783.18) per month.
Remember, the more complex tasks you want AI to complete, you’ll likely have to pay a higher fee. We’d recommend shopping around and trying to find a cost-effective solution that fits within your budget.
#2 AI is Not a Self-Learning Tool
There are AI apps and websites, particularly free or lower-cost options, that cannot learn independently and need human intervention to optimise their performance. Trainers may need to continuously feed data, adjust settings, and provide insights to the AI to ensure it performs as intended.
This can therefore be a time-consuming process that requires a great deal of effort on your part, you simply won’t be able to install it and expect it to perform as you intended.
#3 The Results Provided Are Not Personable
AI is a tool that delivers objective results and can’t use emotional intelligence to help you improve your relationships with clients. This is still a responsibility that you will need to fulfil, ensuring that you’re empathetic and supportive of your client’s individual situations.
If you use AI to produce all your content then you run the risk of your content losing a sense of humanity and personality. This can make your business less appealing to clients as it makes them feel undervalued.
#4 There are Data Security Concerns
When learning how to use AI as a personal trainer, it’s important to always check the company’s data protection policies. Your client’s personal information will be handled, therefore you will want to ensure it’s kept safe and in line with the UK data protection laws.
As a result, you need to make sure the AI provider follows data protection regulations, as the potential for its misuse could undermine the client’s trust in you and could entangle you with legal complications.
#5 Your Dependency on AI Can Grow
The more you use AI, the more your dependency on it can grow as it makes your life more convenient.
However, not every piece of technology is reliable and this includes AI. There is the possibility it can stop working which can interfere with your workflow, requiring you to do manual work that you would normally outsource to AI.
In some instances, you may need to repair the tool in addition to all these other responsibilities, essentially doubling your workload.
That is why it’s important to find a balance between using AI and completing tasks yourself to keep those skills refreshed. This will help you have the skills to manage support from clients with greater ease in the event you can’t use AI.
Will AI Replace Personal Trainers?
AI is not going to replace personal trainers in the future. Whilst it can perform tasks such as personalising training programmes and tracking clients’ nutrition there is no replacement for the human touch you bring.
Only you as a PT can adjust workouts in real time, offer hands-on guidance in the gym, and create a sense of community during your group sessions, all of which can’t be achieved by AI.
As a personal trainer integrating AI into your work, you’ll be able to improve the quality of the training you provide and streamline your administrative tasks.
This collaboration can lead to more effective training experiences, allowing you as a PT to concentrate on what you do best: inspiring and guiding individuals on their fitness journeys.
Before You Go!
There is no denying that personal training with AI can positively impact your work and streamline your business. When incorporating it into your business you should always remember to monitor its quality to ensure it does not reflect poorly on your business.
If you’re looking for new ways to advance your business as a PT, be sure to enquire about OriGym’s Level 4 Nutrition Course. With this qualification, you can offer bespoke meal plans and nutrition coaching services to clients.
Download our FREE course prospectus to learn more!
