Part 3. Making targeted adjustments using ChatGPT

We have our goal, our plan, and now we need to add detail and make adjustments to tailer the plan specifically to us.

As you may have noticed in the plan, only large muscle group exercises were defined (with some repeating in the same week) and a lack of core and smaller muscle group exercises. And then there’s the simple problem of ‘how much weight do I put on the bar?’

That’s better. We have a starting place and can clearly see how we progress each week based on our actual abilities.

Up until this point, we haven’t been told that the last week in a block should have a reduced training load. This is a core tenant of block periodization, so it is an unfortunate omission, but one we can easily fill. After adding the reduced load week, we added in the small muscle groups and core exercises to ensure well-rounded fitness.

We could always ask for more if this isn’t enough. After 6 months, you’ll likely get tired of the same 12 core exercises. Keeping some variety is key to keeping motivation up over a long training plan.

Since ChatGPT previously missed core, it got us thinking what else it may have missed. So we explicitly asked if anything was missed thus far.

At this point, ChatGPT has given us everything we need to put this into a spreadsheet and start training. We still had some other questions for our AI ‘physical trainer’ that we could just as well looked up on Google. But in the spirit of making this plan entirely with the support of AI, we asked the following:

• What about abductor and adductor muscle groups?
• What are bird dogs? Pallof presses?
• What are a few exercises that I can do to improve poor posture? (for those hunched over handlebars or a computer)

It goes without saying, but before performing any exercises or making changes to your diet, consult with a professional.

Continue to Part 4. Putting it all together in a Google Sheet (free download)