My AI-Powered Fitness Journey: A Robotics Engineer's Experiment with ChatGPT
As we move into the heat of summer 2023, I am compelled to share a distinct aspect of my life that has largely stayed under wraps in this blog: my fitness journey. Like many, my tryst with strength training began during the pandemic. I embraced Mark Riptoe's "Starting Strength" program in my neighbor’s makeshift garage gym and then ventured to create my personal regime. An important lesson imprinted on me was the principle of patience - success in strength training is a slow burn, and consistency is key.
Now, I'm thrilled to introduce you to my newest fitness coach: ChatGPT. The results have exceeded my wildest expectations.
My coworker, also a robotics engineer based in Pittsburgh, and I decided to tackle this AI-fueled challenge. We've been gym buddies for two years, leveraging our engineering mindset to stay data-oriented: our initial workout logs were penned down in notebooks, later shifting to the Strong app on our smartphones. This data-driven approach, coupled with tried-and-tested strength building routines, built our foundational strength.
When the pandemic began easing, we migrated to a local powerlifting gym, where the strength-focused community immensely enriched our learning and fueled our consistency.
The request we put to ChatGPT was simple: a workout routine satisfying specific criteria. And the output, at first glance, seemed sensible enough to warrant an experiment!
Below, I present the full narrative of our AI-generated fitness journey:
Question: What's a four-day a week workout split for hypertrophy?
ChatGPT: A popular 4-day split for hypertrophy (muscle growth) could be:
Day 1: Chest and triceps
Day 2: Back and biceps
Day 3: Rest
Day 4: Legs and shoulders
Day 5: Rest
Day 6: Repeat cycle.
To elaborate further, for chest and triceps, exercises like bench press, incline press, dips, and pushups are great. For back and biceps, try rows, pull-ups, and pulldowns. For legs and shoulders, squats, deadlifts, lunges, and overhead press are highly effective. This format should, of course, be tailored to your specific needs and capacity.
Question: Given the split, could you provide a breakdown of what exercises to do on each day?
ChatGPT: Absolutely, here's a detailed breakdown for each day of the 4-day hypertrophy split:
Day 1 (Chest and triceps):
- Barbell bench press (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Incline dumbbell press (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Dips (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Cable flyes (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Close-grip bench press (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Lying triceps extension (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
Day 2 (Back and biceps):
- Pull-ups (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Barbell rows (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Dumbbell rows (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Lat pulldowns (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Barbell curls (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Hammer curls (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
Day 4 (Legs and shoulders):
- Barbell squats (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Deadlifts (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Lunges (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Leg press (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Standing military press (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
- Lateral raises (3 sets of 8-12 reps)
The transition from a human coach to an AI counterpart was novel and rewarding. In the coming posts, I'll delve into the ups and downs, the unexpected challenges, and the triumphant moments of this unique journey. So, stick around for the rest of my AI-driven fitness adventure.
