I was overwhelmed when I received an email confirming my acceptance to the London Marathon. I felt terrified. Six months after my last marathon, I realized how committed I would have to continue running day in, day out, week in, month out, through rain, cold and tiredness, grumpiness, nausea, and hangovers.
The hardest part of the marathon is not what anyone warns you about. The hardest part about the marathon is the grind. Finding ways to make it interesting and fresh is part of the challenge.
Exercise enthusiasts believe they have found a way: ChatGPT, an AI chatbot that acts as a proxy personal trainer. OpenAI created it, and you can get it to produce everything from legal documents to love poems. These athletes use it to make running harder and more enjoyable. ChatGPT fitness plans are being packaged by entrepreneurs and sold to the public.
Its appeal is evident. ChatGPT responds to questions within seconds. This saves you the time of having to go through tons of information. ChatGPT allows you to ask additional questions for a more personalized and detailed answer. ChatGPT's friendly tone makes it ideal for giving fitness advice and the information is clear. OpenAI is not revealing any details. However, we do know that ChatGPT was trained using data from Wikipedia entries and crawling websites. This makes it seem quite adept at answering general questions, although there's no guarantee they are correct.
ChatGPT is the future of working out. Is ChatGPT a confident bullshitter or a tepid one?
It's possible to do it!
GPT was able to design a 16-week training program for me. This was to test its ability to make fitness plans. It was clear, however, that this plan wasn't going work. You need to increase your weekly running distances if you are going to be able to properly train for a marathon. According to the conventional wisdom, your longest run should be between 20 and 25 miles. ChatGPT recommended a maximum run of 10 miles. It's hard to imagine how I would cope with a marathon I was not prepared for. I would be in great pain and at risk of injuring myself.
It suggested that I run 19 miles on the day before the race, when I asked the same question in another conversation. This would have been a recipe of disaster. I would have been exhausted at the marathon start line and probably with an injury.
ChatGPT was giving me two different answers for the same question. I didn't understand why so I asked OpenAI. A spokesperson explained that large language models are more likely to give me a new answer every time a question is posed. She also said, "This is because it's not a database." It generates a new answer for each question or query." Open AI's website explains that ChatGPT cannot learn from past conversations and can only use those conversations to help it predict future answers.
OpenAI's spokesperson explained to me why ChatGPT gave me potentially dangerous advice when I asked.
One of the AI-generated plans I made wisely suggested that you should check it out with a coach. Another advises me to listen and to take rest days. Another warning doesn't exist. The chatbot's responses are inconsistent and not very helpful.
I was disappointed and slightly worried. It didn't work for me. As I browsed through Reddit and TikTok, I found that many other people had used ChatGPT for creating workout plans. Some, however, did not follow its recommendations, unlike me.
ChatGPT limits being tested
ChatGPT's workout tips are at most superficially impressive. Austin Goodwin, a fellow fitness fanatic based in Tennessee, discovered it through his day job of a content marketer. He quickly began playing around with it and asking general questions about exercise.
It was asked to explain progressive overload in weightlifting (gradually increasing the weight or repetitions) and why a calorie deficit is necessary for weight loss. He says, "It was giving me answers that I would expect someone with multiple years of experience to have." It's like putting a Google search or Wikipedia search on steroids. It amplifies it and takes it to the next level.
ChatGPT is not the only one who sees ChatGPT as a competitor to Google search. Google's management has apparently declared ChatGPT a "code red” threat.
ChatGPT's ability to present information clearly was evident when I asked it for a weightlifting program (purely theoretical purpose–I didn't intend to pump any AI-recommended iron). It returned with a decent routine of exercises such as squats and pull-ups. To further test its limits, I stated that my purpose was to "get lean". (Of course, this time I lied for journalistic purposes). I received an astonishingly detailed answer from it, which included the advice that "for your purpose of getting lean" you should pay attention to what you eat.
Goodwin has been using ChatGPT to test its limits by asking questions that he already knows the answers. Alex Cohen, a fitness enthusiast who works at a startup in health-care called Carbon Health, has also tested ChatGPT's limits.
Cohen began by asking the computer to calculate his daily energy expenditure. This is how many calories one burns per day. It can be used to estimate how much food you should eat to lose, maintain or gain weight. Then, he asked the program to generate sample meals and workout plans. He was impressed with the way it presented information, just like Goodwin. It quickly became apparent that it is not a substitute for a nutritionist, personal trainer, or any other professional.
He says, "It's no personalizing workouts based upon my body type or build or my experience." ChatGPT does not ask additional questions to improve its answers.
Going to the gym
ChatGPT's tips for fitness are not always the best, but some people actually follow its advice at the gym.
John Yu, a TikTok content writer based in the US filmed himself following a six day full-body workout program courtesy ChatGPT. It gave him a workout plan that was tailored to his body (his arms and legs) each day. Then he did the exercise it provided.
It came up with a number of exercises that were well-designed and easy to follow. Yu felt that there was not enough variety in the moves. He says, "Staying strictly to what ChatGPT offers me is something that I'm not really interested."
Lee Lem, an Australian bodybuilding content creator, had a similar experience. ChatGPT was asked to design a "optimal leg day program". The program suggested the correct exercises, such as deadlifts, lunges and squats. However, the time between each exercise was too short. Lem laughs, "It's difficult!" It's unrealistic to rest for 30 seconds between sets of squats.
ChatGPT's suggestions are flawed because they don't consider the human body. Lem identified this problem. Yu and he both discovered that repetitive movements can quickly make us tired or bored. Human coaches are able to mix and match their suggestions. ChatGPT must be clearly stated.
Some people find the appeal of an AI-produced workout irresistible. They're willing to pay for it. ChatGPT-produced plans are being sold by Ahmed Mire, a London-based software engineer. Each plan costs $15. ChatGPT allows people to give their workout goals and preferences. Since launching ChatGPT last month, he has already signed up customers and is looking into adding the ability to create diet plans. ChatGPT is completely free but people pay for convenience.
The common thread that unites everyone was the decision to view ChatGPT's suggestions for training as fun experiments, rather than serious guidance. All of them had enough knowledge about fitness and what works for their bodies to recognize the model's flaws. All of them knew that they had to be skeptical about the model's answers. People who are less experienced in working out may be more inclined than others to accept them as they are.
What is the future of fitness?
However, this doesn't mean AI models shouldn't be used in the development of fitness plans. It does highlight the fact that AI models cannot be trusted. ChatGPT will become more intelligent and may be able to ask its users questions. ChatGPT might ask users about their disliked exercises or any injuries. It can't provide any original suggestions and doesn't have a solid understanding of the concepts it is reciting.
Philippe De Wilde is a professor of artificial Intelligence at the University of Kent in England. While many of its answers may be technically correct, an expert human will almost always be more accurate.
ChatGPT is useful if you're looking to spice up your workout routine or save time by suggesting exercises that you might not have considered. It's a tool but not a gospel, says Rebecca Robinson, a UK consultant in sports and exercise medicine.
To help me with my marathon training, I used advice from running magazines and books.
ChatGPT's advice is not the only one I ignored. Lem followed it for the purpose of filming one video. Yu, on the other hand, switched back to his AI-free workout, which he finds much more enjoyable. "I would rather continue doing that and modify it than trying to give ChatGPT additional information and not getting super excited about it."
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By: Rhiannon Williams
Title: People are already using ChatGPT to create workout plans
Sourced From: www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/26/1067299/chatgpt-workout-plans/
Published Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2023 10:47:25 +0000
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