AI vs Human Generated Programs

Our drive towards more tech seems to be unstoppable and never quenching. The convenience it offers, the speed, the mass of information and knowledge at our fingertips and we can’t forget the ability to buy stuff we see at an impulse with the press of a button, continues to cure the predicament of our dependency.

It’s given us and continues to give us so much. You have a question, you can get an instant answer. You want a new shirt, you get it the next day without even having to re-enter your payment details. Your fingerprint can control your entire life on your smartphone and social media just gives you the joy of being able to spend your life watching glimpses of the lives of others. 

We definitely can’t ignore the ability it’s provided us to measure our health, daily movement and fitness work. Now it’s almost becoming a necessity, with the inception of AI becoming the next big thing in tech, where we can prompt a computer to almost humanely give us instantaneous compiled knowledge with science and what others have previously input.

So naturally, when we want a fitness program or even a nutrition program, we’ve started to turn to AI. ChatGPT seems to be the answer to it all. And to be fair, it probably would write you a decent workable program. In fact, there are now people selling AI generated programs with ads I’ve seen that are dedicated to it promising the best programs because of how they are generated. It all makes sense, so what’s the problem with that?

On the surface, you would be right. I mean an artificial intelligence that can access any information on the web will compile what it believes to be the perfect scientific based program. You want a program to drop weight, it would collate the knowledge and return what it believes to be the perfect program. It would do the same thing for a strength training program or a calorie surplus program, or really any program of your choice considering your goals and that you use the right prompts.

It can’t really get any better than that, right. I mean it takes everything into account. It instantaneously does its research on all the articles, papers, journals, social media posts and everything else and obviously returns the perfect program. It’s technology, and tech is always right in today’s world and only a dinosaur would believe otherwise.

But let’s talk about what it actually doesn’t take into account. In short, it’s the human factor. What I mean by this is there’s no two way communication when it‘s needed. And when you need a bit of a push or motivation, can the AI really motivate you when it comes down to it?

The other thing it doesn’t take into account is you or your life. I’m not talking about your athletic prowess or physical attributes and ability. I’m talking about your day to day life, work, family, stress, and the time or energy you have available. The perfect program isn’t just based on the science of exercise, health, and nutrition. The perfect program understands you as a human being with daily struggles and responsibilities living your day to day life and how you can compliment it with fitness. How fitness can help and improve your life and most importantly where it fits in.

These are important factors because they will dictate the energy you can put into it and your long term commitment to it. If it doesn’t fit in with the rest of your life as a whole, it won’t last. Yes, either way, you will need to make some changes. You will need to sacrifice some things in your life if you want to really get the most out of your fitness. But all the other elements in your life are still important. Your work is important. Your family and friends are important. Your time is important. They are all important.

A program from someone who has been working as a human being with other human beings over several years includes the human factor. Most fitness, health and nutrition professionals have managed their programs with people who, like you, live a day to day life and have had to understand the struggles and different elements of their clients lives. They have to adapt and build their perfect program to work alongside life. This is what you get from a human program.

In today’s day and age where we have become more dependent on technology and less and less on our human factor than ever, it may be difficult to believe that sometimes a human may possibly offer something better. Yes, ChatGPT is a great tool, but will it really help you on your fitness journey and most importantly improve your life?