For students who are trying to balance classes, work and social lives, it can be difficult to find time to fit in exercise. Obtaining the money for a personal trainer or coach makes it even harder.
With generative AI on the rise, students have begun turning to chatbots to help with saving money and time management.
Students can now open their favourite large language model, explain their fitness goals and receive a fitness plan in seconds. The appeal is undeniable, but the broader question is:
Do these AI fitness plans actually work?
Beloved health apps such as Runna and MyFitnessPal have integrated AI into their systems, offering personalized plans for their users' goals.
Runna offers personalized running plans for goals such as running a 5 kilometre race or even a marathon. The plans created consider factors like a person's ability, training history, schedule and race goals. It offers workouts that complement the user's running goals, ranging from Pilates to strength training. The app will also make adjustments as a person progresses through their training.
MyFitnessPal entered the AI fitness space with their summer launch of an AI coach. This feature uses information from the person's food diary, calorie targets and previous entries to provide personalized nutrition suggestions such as what to eat with your remaining calories, menu advice and food swaps.
These new AI tools may be convenient, but research is showing that AI fitness is not as effective as we think.
A study published in JMIR Medical Education examined exercise recommendations produced by an AI chatbot for 26 different clinical populations.
They found that the recommendations were 90.7 per cent factually accurate, but only 41.2 per cent comprehensive when compared with established exercise-prescription guidelines.
This difference means that AI can provide information that is mostly correct while still leaving out important details. The researchers found gaps involving areas like exercise frequency, intensity, duration, volume and progression.
The researchers a part of the study recommend using these fitness platforms that use AI with caution, that professional expertise remains important.
AI fitness plans are limited by what the user tells it. A personal fitness coach will watch the person exercise and identify problems with their technique and change the workout based on what they see. A nutrition coach will check in on a client's goals, identify problems and ensure their client is eating a healthy, sustaining diet.
These same limitations when it comes to health information. If the user does not inform the AI about a medical condition, injury or other important health factors, then AI cannot account for it when creating a plan.
AI fitness tools can provide a useful structure and help students become more active, but are recommended as a supplementary tool rather than personalized professional exercise guidance.
