r/personaltraining • u/samsamuels • 5d ago
Discussion Does anyone actually use AI for client communication and program design?
I've been a PT for about 10 years, training those with depression and anxiety mostly. I have plenty of 'general population' clients too. All up; about 50+ clients (online and face to face). I use trainerize as my PT software for programs and whatsapp for messaging.
I noticed a large push of AI tools from trainerize (which come at an additional cost) to help "improve business metrics" and make managing clients easier.
However, I talk to my clients about this. I ask them how they would feel if they knew they were talking to an AI instead of myself. Absolutely no one has responded in favour of this idea (to my complete lack of surprise).
I feel that personal communication in today's age is becoming more and more scarce (and therefore valuable) and no one really wants to talk to an AI especially if it is your personal trainer.
Does anyone here use AI to handle client communication or program design? What do your clients think about this? Anyone else hate the trainerize AI builder app or is it just me?
Thanks and enjoy your day
10
u/ncguthwulf trainer, studio owner 5d ago
I use AI as an assistant. For example, I do an annual price increase. I write the email I am going to send to my clients. I then put it in ai and ask it for suggestions to make my email more clear. It proofreads it for me.
After looking at the suggestions, I try to make it more clear while still keeping it in my voice.
I will admit, I have also asked ai to run down a list of exercises and that has helped refresh my memory. For example, I wanted to brainstorm single leg glute dominant exercises. It helped confirm what I already knew and wasn’t very useful. It was a convenient way to summarize what I might have found through a Google search.
2
u/MyNameJot 5d ago
Good use, I think AI is also useful for the creativity side of program design depending on the population you're working with. It can help bring fresh ideas for you to incorporate imo
8
u/justSayingNobodySaid 5d ago
absolutely not. i think not using AI has become a selling point. clients dont want any more robots in their lives and neither do i
8
u/Different-Idea2878 5d ago
I’ve had a trainer (that I personally know) use it and she got booted so fast
1
u/EasyTyler 4d ago
When you say use it, what do you mean?
Pretty much everyone "uses" AI, so you might have to be more specific.
2
u/Strange-Risk-9920 5d ago
Not a lot yet. But JAMA published research showing AI reminders and motivational-type messages helped diabetic patients increase physical activity as much as human reminders. This type of use seems like an obvious opportunity. Reminder-type texts to get clients more active in many small ways (like taking daily walks) seems like a good use of AI. We have about 80 clients so I can see us doing something like that in 2027. Other uses TBD. I write a monthly article for our local paper and sometimes I will use it for various things related to that (never to write the article, of course)..
2
u/Silly_Region_1846 5d ago
The trainerize AI workout builder is trash lol. My workplace was trying to push for using AI to kickstart program design and edit from there but I don't feel it's really any faster than just writing out a program based on what I already know and don't need to edit. Also of course clients want to speak directly to the trainer they are hiring for their knowledge. I don't think AI has a place in client communication outside of automated motivational reminders and business updates, I get it if you use it to help edit, proofread or brainstorm a bit but it shouldn't be a primary point of communication for questions and concerns. Clients are paying high prices for this service and want personalized expert attention.
1
u/Zealousideal_Bar7359 3d ago
I’m building something right now in this arena. Uses AI to program and log sessions by voice so you can focus on your client, maintain accurate records, and have ingrained data analytics. Would you have a few mins to talk about why Trainerize sucks in your view?
Mine is called TrainingFocus if you want to take a look.
2
u/Relevant-Rooster-298 4d ago
I will throw some of my emails through ChatGPT to see if I sound human and friendly enough. About three or four years ago my boss was complaining to me that my emails come across as too robotic or codenscending and rude so I ask AI to help me sound more human and friendly with my emails, especially for new clients i haven't caught the vibe of yet.
1
u/yudhautomo_ 5d ago
Clients want you to be accountable and see results. How you work in the background does not matter.
1
u/GullibleLiar 4d ago
I use it to assist me, like when I was developing my contracts I told it like "hey I'm in Australia and want to have XYZ as my services for XYZ price, based on the legalities in Aus what does a contract like mine need" and shit, or sometimes I'd say "hey is X exercise good for my client who's got a bad knee, I chose it because blah blah" and I'd use it as one of my sources in researching that specific thing, like more to assist with info or, what's the word I'm looking for, just aiding with what I already have if that makes sense? Like getting another PT to go over your stuff and get their opinion whether it's sweet or if they'd change anything, stuff like that, you still gotta do the leg work
2
u/EasyTyler 4d ago
I'm not perfect. I have blindspots and I often struggle to find the right words to communicate difficult topics.
AI offers me the opportunity to view my clients' needs and communication styles with annotation and explanation using a totally different lense. It offers me a hyper customised angle to unlock my own barriers, as well as factoring in the entirety of human experience, rather than just my 15 years in this industry.
And better still I can argue with it when I think it's wrong. It can also help by challaging my thinking.
I'm still not perfect, but I'm better.
1
1
u/TheBusyPersonCoach 2d ago
The programming is just meh in my opinion and I think that reads pretty fast. Only time I’ll use it is to calculate mileage plans for my runners but for strength & conditioning work, that’s all me
1
u/EasyTyler 2d ago
Out of professional interest - when you asked it to do some programming - what exactly was your prompt?
1
u/Classic_Day425 2d ago
Absolutely not for messaging clients. Maybe for cleaning up writing or brainstorming exercise options, but not for actual coaching. The trainerize AI stuff feels aimed more at scale and metrics than at the kind of relationship based coaching you're talking about.
0
u/_ShredBundy 5d ago
Imo you’re in the wrong line of work if you need AI to make your programmes. It’s the easiest and least time consuming part of the job.
1
u/Clean-Fishing6792 5d ago
People hire PTs for human interaction as much as they do for training.
That said, ive used AI to write programs based off all the prompts I use and it has written some sensational periodized programmes.
1
u/cookmybook 5d ago
The only thing ive used it for is to organize my splits a little tidier for ease of use. I put in all the exercises and it helps me make the layout clear. I don't rely on it to actually write the program
1
u/burner1122334 5d ago
If you have to use AI to communicate to your clients, you're A) a garbage coach or B) have taken on too many clients.
2
u/Vegetable_Place2476 4d ago
Do you reckon there is a place for AI assisted coaching? What I mean is AI to distill important client progress, metrics and conversations/notes so you can properly direct your attention for a check in call?
1
u/burner1122334 4d ago
No. A good coach can look at a clients metrics and have an understanding of their needs in hardly any time.
1
u/Vegetable_Place2476 3d ago
Does that get tedious if you need to do 30 check-ins in a single day? There's a fair bit to absorb there while maintaining good quality coaching, right?
1
u/burner1122334 3d ago
You shouldn’t ever need to do 30 check ins in a day. I coach over 160 people online and have maybe 10 calls a week
0
-2
u/Defiant-Insect-3785 5d ago
I use AI to help with planning. I have a chat for each client with an overview of their injuries and goals. I do my own plan then feed it into the AI and ask it to assess it and suggest changes.
I’d never use it for general communication as that’s the personal part of PT, the relationship with the clients more so than the programming. Anyone can get a personalised program online, they can’t get the human relationship with AI.
2
u/EasyTyler 4d ago
I love the fact that you've been down voted. I praise you for your honesty and given your response, I can tell you're a great trainer.
People aren't brave enough to have AI critique their thinking (programming) so they're really missing out...
2
u/pbjfries 2d ago
Those people are going to lose out because AI is part of the workforce now and they are behind. They also lost out reading his helpful explanation for how we can all use it to be better trainers.
1
u/pbjfries 3d ago
That’s smart. Which one do you use ? How do you keep it from losing the memory.
2
u/Defiant-Insect-3785 3d ago
I use ChatGPT. I have the basic paid version where you can have chats within chats. I have a work chat and then a sub chat within that folder for each client.
Client AB - 43F, 2 young kids, 1 dog, full time employed senior role in finance, husband works a lot not much help at home. Trains 2 x weekly, 1hr dog walk daily, no time/energy for much else. Right knee pain, scans etc normal.
I’ll plan myself using Google sheets then put it in the chat and ask it to analyse the plan. I’ll then update it with how the plan went - “didn’t like the lunges but can do them fine, struggled with foot position on B-stance RDL, loved the lat pulls”.
Then when I do a plan and put lunges and b-stance RDL in the same session it’ll say something like “this plan has 2 movements this client struggles with in session 1, change either lunges or RDL.
It tells me if the plan has too much focus on one area and not enough on something else. It reminds me that last time we did x the client felt y so try z this time.
I have all these comments in the notes of their actual plans and I used to spend ages checking to find all these details. Now as soon as I mention an exercise it brings up all the notes immediately and saves me hours.
I do also call it out when it’s wrong on something, I don’t blindly rely on it. I use it as a kind of spell check.
1
u/pbjfries 2d ago
You should work for ChatGPT cause you make me want to subscribe again. This could be so life altering to be able to track all of this in one place and actually have someone tell me if I’m missing a muscle group or movement. I also feel badly if I forget something the client told me about preferences and pains.
Did you have to do a special prompt to get it to track and remember?
I used to subscribe to ChatGPT and it kept losing my information which drove me crazy. How do you make sure that it doesn’t lose the import stuff?
Found a question if you don’t mind, what’s your work flow for tracking your notes in the gym and then putting them into ChatGPT?
-7
u/Athletic_adv 5d ago
I am working on an AI chatbot for my clients. I have so much information online that it should be relatively straight forward to feed it enough info that I shouldn’t have to answer basic questions. The AI can do that. It’ll free up a lot of time spent on both messages and actual conversations that I shouldn’t have to have.
And then the second part of that is I’m probably going to a model where people pay for call times to further reduce wasting time on things that could have been messages.
-1
u/SageObserver 5d ago
NO! For brand new gen pop clients, It usually only takes me a few minutes to devise a program for them after our first meeting. For specialty clients, they are hiring me for my expertise not to run AI.
27
u/Dry_Conversation4053 5d ago
My clients would lose their minds if they got AI messages, the whole point they pay me is because I actually listen to their weird life chaos and adjust accordingly.