AI & the fitness industry

This has been a topic on my brain for a hot second. 

AI has really taken over in a lot of ways. The smarter it gets the more it will affect you whether you know it or not and whether you like it or not! 

The fitness industry is no different. We as trainers and coaches are affected to. For some there is a fear in the fact that it is around and in my opinion it's not going anywhere either! 

I dive into 4 different areas that AI affects. The trainer themselves, the consumer, my opinion, and the ickiness of AI images and social media! 

ENJOY!! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hey, hey, welcome to another episode of Speaking Serenese. My name is Sarah Young, your host of this podcast. This podcast about a little bit of everything in the point of view of me, speaking Serenese. Um, it's just the way I view the world. It's my own language, it's my own thing. Uh in my professional life, or the papers on my wall says I'm a personal trainer. Um, but outside of the gym, I'm a mom, I'm a wife, um, a friend, I'm a sister. Uh, so I I I have a lot of roles. I do a lot of things. Um, but I get paid to be a personal trainer. So today we're gonna talk about a topic that is kind of just on the cusp of being um a little scary. There's a little bit of fear-mongering with it. There is a little bit of apprehension when it comes to the topic AI and like the uh chat GBT, and there's other ones as well. And by the time this one gets posted and it's up for a couple years, I'm sure there'll be a million other avenues to have AI help you in your life. There's three things or three uh ways that AI can affect personal training or the fitness industry, and um, well, let's go four. Um, because um, I don't like to take a lot of notes, but we're gonna um the ick. We're gonna call it the ick. The first uh part of AI, and just because I am a personal trainer, we're gonna talk about trainers. Trainers, um, there is a fear out there that personal training is gonna go away. It's gonna be replaced with some form of AI or in Chat GPT or other websites or other AI um systems, websites, links, things, um consumers can put in, hey, build me a program that looks like this. Um, build me a meal plan with these macros, with this in mind, with these allergies and things like that, the exact same things that you would ask a personal trainer. So, as a consumer, um, there's some things, there is also the way I view um AI and the future of personal training. And then, of course, the ick of AI and AI-generated images and the fakeness of it. We'll call it the ick of the AI. But first off, trainers are afraid that training is going to go away, that people are not going to want to have that personal one-on-one experience with them because it's easier to just write up chat GPT, right? Just it's so much easier to just ask it, uh, do this for me, as same as you would do with a personal trainer. Um, it's fearful because trainers are contemplating changing their prices. So it's a little bit cheaper, which to me cheapens your who you are. It cheapens your brand, it cheapens um everything. Because maybe you know or maybe you don't know, in the fitness industry, just like most other uh professions, we have to maintain a certain uh number of um extra credit or um continued education credit CECs to maintain a what do you want to call a legitimate uh training certificate. I don't think it matters what uh how or where you got yours, whether it's like NASA, I got mine through ISSA. Um, no matter where you go to get your certification, I think all across all boards that you have to um maintain that. So when you do have years and years, I almost have 20 years in the business. And so that's a lot of education that is just outside of just getting that certification. So I wrap up, not necessarily that I get paid exactly what I put out for that, but with every extra certification that I get, more education than I have, the uh more I charge because it's a little bit more specified. So just like if you're gonna go to a doctor, um, a more specialty uh doctor, I don't know if they necessarily charge more, but you know, I'm saying like there's a little bit more of a niche for you in the industry. So trainers are fearful that it's gonna replace them. So they're they're going into that um fear, um, maybe a little bit of desperation. Uh so they're cutting their prices, they're changing how they do their one-on-one sessions, they're changing how they do their online formats. Um, so there is a little bit of fear going on. And some trainers are just like, nah, I'm just gonna ride it out. Um, it's not gonna be like they said about the TV, where it's just gonna be a face. I'm pretty sure AI is here to stay. And it's either you, the little sneak peek into serenese, but it's either you get on the train or you miss the train completely. So it's all in how you use it. Now, as a consumer, I think it's fantastic in the uh, in the thought that it's more budget friendly. It is cheaper to go to ChatGPT and say, I have scoliosis, I need a training program for this, um, I have these, these, these. Uh, some of well, let's just say that AI can lie to you. Uh, if you ask GPT if you can lie, it can. It can make up things. So it isn't necessarily a hundred percent correct, but I think if you are very determined to start, but your budget is very low or very small, I would, I would just, I'd give it a go. Um, I would always work with a personal trainer first, get a good 30 days in with a really good reputable trainer, and then, you know, either work off of their program or whatever. But if you have some sort of limitation, surgeries, injuries, uh, things that you can and can't do, I would definitely talk to somebody first. Um, but if you are fine, you have no injuries, you're you just want to start moving again. Um, I would say somebody who is a little bit more seasoned when it comes to training. If you are beginning, beginning, beginning, definitely get with the trainer. Um, but if you've worked out before and you're just kind of like in a rut and you just kind of want to do something different, I think it's fantastic. Um now, like I said, you it can build things, and I think that it can give you a really good starting point if you already have some of that baseline stuff when like if you've trained before, or say you play basketball in like high school or something, and you know how to physically move, uh, then I think it'd be fine. Now, as far as it, in my opinion, which is why we all show up to get Sarah's opinion, to get Sarah's opinion on it. My opinion is is I actually don't care. It doesn't, it will never affect me. Cause here's how I see it. Here's the Serenies on this one. Um, people really love to have one-on-one interactions with people. They love the the inside jokes, they love the the um the personalness of it, they like being in the gym with you physically, they love seeing you. Um just they love the atmosphere. I don't think that it's ever going to take over personal training because there is majority of us that do train that love to be in a classroom with other people. I, if I am training with a coach and it is my first time or a trainer, I want to be in the gym with you. I want you to show me form. I want you to tell me what I'm doing right, tell me, tell me what I'm doing wrong. And I want to see your eyeballs when we do it. Um, which chat GBT cannot tell you form. It cannot fix your form, it can't tell you um just on from a website you need to fix how you're placing your feet or whatever. Uh, so I have no fear that it's going to replace personal training. I am not fearful. I am going to charge the exact same. And I know for my clients that come out and we have the in-group workouts that I do four days a week, five days a week, four days a week, four days a week. We don't work out Monday. Um, I don't train on Monday. Let's just clarify. They work out on Monday. I work out on Monday, but I don't train on Monday. So four days a week, they come out. They love the group atmosphere. They love being in the gym with their fellow workout buddies. They don't mind working out alone at home. If I travel or if, you know, I'm sick, or if their kiddo is sick or things are changing or they're out of routine, they will work out at home. Um, but for the most part, they don't want to listen to a computer when they work out. They'd rather come and see me, listen to the music I'm playing, be in the room, touching the iron and laughing with their uh workout buddies, things like that. Um yeah, I don't have that fear that a lot of trainers do. Just because I know enough people who like that human interaction. It is really hard to find good human interaction these days. Everything is done online. We talk to most of our friends, Facebook Messenger or Instagram, Snapchat, um, or we see their TikToks or whatever. Like there is very little, let's go grab coffee, let's go grab lunch and chat. There's very little, let's go out to the park and walk together. There's very little of that. And we as humans need to have that interaction with others. It just sometimes it takes a village, you know? And we really need that camaraderie, we need that that personal interaction. So to me, AI is not going to replace me or any other trainer. Um, I think it actually will make trainers more creative. I think it'll make us think differently. I think we'll be able to have more fun with it because a computer cannot compete with a person in the gym watching you do a squat or watching you do a deadlift. There's nothing, I in my opinion, in Serenies, that that's ever going to be replaced. Not in a million years. Um, maybe someday we'll they'll have robot trainers. But for me, there is just something about a red-blooded human interacting with another red-blooded human. I think is going to be super, super desirable. And I don't think that people will be afraid to pay for it because they will be so overly consumed with technology that it'll be a really great break for them to actually get into the gym and talk to another human. I think that'll be so desirable. And in some cases, probably trainers can train, can uh charge more. So I don't think, I don't think it's gonna go away. I think it's a great tool. I think even as a trainer, it would be cool to be like, I'm in a rut. What's another, hey, chat GPT, what's some other great variations for a side lunge? Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Oh my gosh, yes, that's right. I forgot about that exercise. Things like that I think will be super crucial in uh to add to a trainer's toolbox. Now, I would not suggest going to a trainer that's using ChatGPT to build you programming um at all. I think you spend a lot of money to get that certification. I would not waste it just typing up in ChatGPT, but uh to each their own, to each their own. I would not train with somebody uh who gets their education and or uh programming from ChatGPT, but I do think it will be a great tool. We use a ton of different websites, a ton of different apps, a ton of different programming tools. So I don't think that this AI will be any different than that tool. The last part is the ick of it. There is a statistic out there, whether it's true or not, I tend to believe it is true, that 40% of everything on the internet is fake as fuck. If you look at videos, I'm sure the older generation has sent you a video of an AI something or other, and they're like, wow, this is so cool, and you're like, wow, that's so fucking fake. It's not real. Um, but if you look at fitness influencers, uh, people who are in the gym, people that are posing, and then you see the comments below, hashtag goalbody, hashtag body dream body, blah blah blah, and I just want to shake them and say it's fucking fake. It's fake. That person doesn't even exist, so you're stressing out over a body that isn't even real, isn't real, isn't at all real. And it just makes me so sad because we beat ourselves up. We have since forever when it comes to looking at magazines and looking at models or movies or TV screens, we see a body, oh my gosh, like hashtag dream body, and some of that is fake too, like let's be honest, like plastic surgery, um, things like that. But the amount of fakeness on social media, and then we're gonna try to compare ourselves to them. Oh, babe, stop doing that. Stop doing that, even if that person is real and they have a fantastic body, please stop comparing yourself to them because you're not them, and as close as you want to get to that body, I promise you, you'll never be exactly looking like that because they're different, we're all different. How about you just be the best version of you? Whatever that looks like. Okay, um, I think that's where AI goes wrong. Specifically in images on the internet. I I think it can that can do a lot of damage. We're grown ass women, we're grown ass men, we're grown ass humans. Um, so we can decipher. I mean, we still struggle, don't get me wrong, we'll we'll still struggle with that comparison game, but I can't imagine what that will do to the younger generation of girls who look at these images of fake ass humans, fake ass images, and torture themselves into thinking and bullying themselves into thinking that that's that's what they need to look like. Can you imagine where we're gonna be in like the next five to ten years with our mental health and young women and even men, young men struggle just as much, but that young women will look and go, that's what I want to look like, and you're like, no, babe, it's fake as fuck. Just be the healthiest version of UK. That healthy, hang on, rewind, try that again, Sarah, but this time use real words.

unknown 17:23

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

I cannot imagine. And now I don't even remember what I said. Oh, Lord Jesus, help me. Um, welcome to another roller coaster of the words that I try to say that don't end up being words really just a whole bunch of gibber jabber. So at the conclusion, I do want to wrap it up. We try to stay within 15 minutes and I'm over just a little bit. But take AI as a tool, not the gospel truth, but use it as a tool. I think it's great. If you're working through a shoulder injury and you're not working personally with a trainer, um ask ChatGBT, hey, what are some exercises I can do that don't include my shoulder on my right side? That's it. I mean, a lot of legs. A lot of legs. Um, but things like that. What's another option for a squat? What's another option for this? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm getting tired of running on the treadmill. What's another alternative to running on the treadmill for a hit exercise? Okay, boom, boom, boom, boom. I think it's a great tool to use in a pinch if you're at the gym and you're like, oh shoot, someone's on my lap pull-down machine. What's another one that I can use? Quick, quick, quick, quick. Chat GPT. What's another way that I can use my lap muscles? And the only thing is sitting around is a dumbbell. Go. Probably gonna be a pullover. But things like that, I think it's fantastic. If someone's on the treadmill at the gym, shoot, the only thing that's open is an elliptical. What's another way that I can get the same intensity? Right up that workout for me or that cardio on an elliptical go. I think it's great for stuff like that. I do not think that it's going to replace personal training. I don't think it's gonna replace the fitness industry as a whole. I think we're just us trainers, we're just way too good to be replaced by a computer. I really do. I think the good trainers are gonna stick it out. Um, the scared ones are probably going to lose money. They're not gonna have the clientele that they want. Um, because there will be a lot of that fear. That fear, that, that scarcity, the fear. Um, people can can sense that when you're building programming, when you're um promoting your business and your brand. People can feel that. Um so I I I I think they will struggle. But I I really, if you're a personal trainer and you're listening to this, please do not fear it. Lean into it. It's just like any other technology that's come around. That you you you I promise you you'll work through it. See it as a challenge and um find ways to use it to benefit you. As a consumer, I would always suggest that you go to somebody who's living and breathing first. Go with a trainer, go with a coach, um, find somebody in your local area, find somebody online, um, do your research, ask for referrals, um, and see if they will work with you. Um, as far as budgeting goes, I know a lot of trainers, they're just really dope like that. Like we really our goal is to help you achieve your fitness goals. So we will actually work around for the most part. I can't speak for every trainer out there, but for the most part, we will stretch out a session. If they're hour-long sessions and you only have time for 30 minutes, some of us will move that around. We'll um break the price in half. Like just talk to your trainers and just have honest conversations with them to say, I want to um fit you into my budget. Can we work this out? Um, there I don't think that there's a single trainer out there to be like, nope, I'm not working with you unless you come up with the blahzy blahzy blah. Um, and if they're that into the money, I wouldn't train with them either. So I'd find somebody who's willing to work with me. Because I promise you, for the most part, they're out there. Um, I I am one of those trainers where I understand that budget wins when you're raising a family and you're not the only one working and you're just trying to get things figured out. I I understand that. So we'll work things out. If we have to split sessions in half, we have to move them around. Um, when I first um had my first couple trainers, uh, my very first one was expensive. Oh my gosh, she's so expensive! Expensive, but I told her I can't afford you. I want to. How can we make it work? And she made it work. She made it budget friendly. Was it at the top end of my budget? Uh yep. But I had so I had to cut out some things and I had to make it a priority. But she worked with me and I was able to like get amazing results. And she's actually the inspiration to me being a trainer today as we speak. Um, so that just go with somebody in person first. And then as you progress, and I would say anybody who's intermediate to advanced um training, so I'm talking two, three, four plus years in a gym of constant training. Um, I would say that you would pretty be pretty safe with throwing in um a spiced up workout from Chat GPT or some AI. Um I I don't think that that would be terrible because you will know your body by then, what you can and can't do and what's actually gonna work or not. So you can tell from jump if Chat GPT is lying to you and just like bullshitting you, or if, oh, okay, that'll sound cool. I'll I'll try that for you know a couple weeks. Um, but always work, I would always work with a trainer first. It's just one of those investments that is always going to pay off. Cause listen, can we just be like for real, for real, for real, for real? Either way, you're gonna pay for it. You either pay for a personal trainer and you pay for the healthy food at the grocery store, the trainer, the nutritionist, whatever, you pay for that, the equipment, the gym membership, you pay for it now. Or you pay for it in the back end, doctors' visits, hospital visits, co-pays, prescriptions, all the things. So either way, babe, babe, you're gonna pay for it. So invest in the front end, and then all you have to do is maintain for the rest of your life. Or you do nothing and then you pay for it in the back end. Either way, it's not coming out of my bank account. So you do what you want to do, but I'm telling you, it's gonna be so much easier to pay for it on the front end. So as a trainer, train it a trainer, don't freak out. As a consumer, use it as a tool second trainer first. And then, in my opinion, I don't think it's going to change how personal trainers uh are. I don't think it'll replace personal training because I really do believe that people will love and thrive and desire to have that one-on-one personal interaction. And then when it comes to the internet, last and finally, do not believe everything you see. I want you to look in the mirror and I want you to love who you are and train to make you the best version, not an AI image of somebody who doesn't even exist to be your hashtag, hashtag go body. Cool, cool. All right, babe. Until next time, we'll catch you on the flip side. Bye.