Author: Jefferson Lin
Editors: Peggy Yang and Hwi-On Lee
Artists: Carys Chen
Why do people go to the gym? To improve their appearance? To feel self-confident? Whatever the reason may be, there is always one underlying reason to go to the gym: to improve your fitness. But what is fitness? Is it the ability to do common tasks? Is everyone at an optimal fitness level?
Fitness, in its broadest sense, is the body's ability to obtain optimal health by improving flexibility, cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular endurance, and body composition. From using hunting skills to improve endurance and cardiorespiratory fitness to practicing elaborate exercises and yoga techniques to engage every part of the body, fitness has changed drastically over the years. However, artificial intelligence has been making its way into our routines. From the subtle shift from using the outdoor environment to using machinery, is it reasonable to think that AI is the next step for improvements in fitness? In this article, we will take a deep dive into AI and its involvement in fitness. However, by no means should AI take away the difficulties in improving one's fitness. It takes time to achieve optimal fitness, and AI is simply just a new development that can be used to ease the passage.
Lets dive back into what fitness truly is. As mentioned before, the key components of fitness are the improvement of our bodies and the way our muscles are able to work together. But how does one improve on this? As many people may already know, following a few workout videos fails to help improve the body in the long run. Videos online fail to consider the differences in body composition from person to person. Nobody is genetically identical, which can prove to be challenging for some people to improve just by training on the same routines. Instead, what is being used today to improve an individual's personal fitness is communication with a human trainer. They can personally identify what areas you struggle with and give you the proper training procedures to follow in order to reach this “optimal” status.
However, as mentioned before, genetics comes into consideration when dealing with fitness. AI, however, can eliminate all these problems. Not only does AI have the knowledge of every exercise, but it also has the data of previous body compositions similar to your specific needs, proving itself to be statistically effective. In addition, because AI is also able to take genetics into account, these exercises can be modified even further to improve the fitness of the individual.
Outside of exercise, diet is also a main component of improving one's fitness. In fact, without a proper diet, it is practically impossible to improve your composition. But how do you know what you need to change? Human trainers and online videos again prove ineffective as they do not account for every individual. While one person may need to eat 3000 calories due to their metabolism, others may need as little as 1500. AI-based diet planning could be created to develop plans depending on the user's data and the trends of their weight loss. With the extensive data AI can gather, AI can use machine learning to create a comprehensive meal plan for every user based on their actual metabolic need.
All in all, the best way to improve your fitness is to have someone know who you truly are body composition-wise. Therefore, it is impossible to understand your body based off of videos online. The best method is to confer with your doctor and allow them to prescribe you the proper medicine to cure your problems if you have any. With the rapid improvement of technology over the years, human trainers are no longer the only resource available to help a person create a truly efficient personalized training routine. Now, AI can help with this instead.
Citations:
“How Will Artificial Intelligence Optimise Our Fitness and Wellness Jou.” Gym Aesthetics, 12 Aug.
2022, https://www.gymaesthetics.com/blogs/wellness-metaverse/how-will-artificial-intelligence-optimise-our-fitness-and-wellness-journey#:~:text=AI%2Dpowered%20Personal%20Trainer&text=AI%20powered%20personal%20trainer%20use,body%20areas%20that%20need%20attention.
Koetsier, John. “Ai-Driven Fitness: Making Gyms Obsolete?” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 16 June
2022, https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/08/04/ai-driven-fitness-making-gyms-obsolete/.
Sahu, Manisha. “How Is AI Revolutionizing the Fitness Industry?” Analytics Steps,
https://www.analyticssteps.com/blogs/how-ai-revolutionizing-fitness-industry
“What Is Fitness?: Fitness.” Sharecare, https://www.sharecare.com/health/fitness-exercise/what-is-fitness.
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