I built a workout plan with ChatGPT's deep research

It’s been about 4 months since I stopped lifting weights. Today, I decided to get back into the gym. I thought it would be nice to switch up my typical routine, but designing a workout program takes a lot of time and effort.

Typically, I would spend a whole day building planning and organizing - which is perfect, because it would let me wait until tomorrow to start working out.

But there’s no guarantee that my motivation would be there tomorrow so, rather than waste a day planning, I decided to use ChatGPT’s deep research feature to build myself a custom workout program.

Choosing a split

Before I could start building my workout plan, I needed to choose a split. A split is a way of organizing your workouts over the week. You might do a full-body workout every day, or you might do a different muscle group each day.

There are infinite ways to break up your workouts, but you can't design a workout plan until you pick one. I asked ChatGPT to build me a 4-day training split that looks like this:

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4
Legs*	Push	Pull	Rest

I chose this split for a few reasons:

It’s simple: Finding the perfectly-optimized split is a waste of time. For the vast majority of people, working out consistently is significantly more important than the way they split up their workouts.
Fewer days off: I’m the type of person who needs consistency for a habit to stick. Too many days off leads to even more days skipped.
Spread out each muscle group: Train each muscle group roughly twice per week means I can get more good sets in for each muscle.

* I started with legs to take advantage of the fact that I'm motivated right now, so I'm less likely to skip.

Building the plan

Here’s the prompt template I used to build my plan, which breaks down my goals, preferences, and constraints:

I want your help crafting a workout plan.

I want each workout to be no longer than {MAX LENGTH} minutes.

I’d prefer a {LENGTH}-day split ({...LIST OF WORKOUTS}).

My long-term goals are:

- {GOALS}

I’d consider myself a {EXPERIENCE LEVEL}, and I like {TYPES OF WORKOUTS}.

I have access to the following equipment:

- {EQUIPMENT}

Before ChatGPT went off to build my plan, it asked me a few follow-up questions, such as preferences about supersets, current pain/limitations, and whether or not to include the warm-up in the 45-minute time window.

I answered the questions and then went for a walk while ChatGPT worked on my plan. About 10 minutes into my walk, my watch notified me that my plan was ready.

My plan

ChatGPT cooked up a pretty solid plan. They created a 12-week workout plan that includes the exercises, sets, and reps. Along with that, they told me that I should be aiming for a Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) of 8 for each set.

It created supersets to keep my workouts under 45 minutes, and it even included a few mobility exercises to help with my squat.

Day 1: Legs

On leg day, I’ll be working on my quads, hamstrings, and glutes. Here’s the breakdown ChatGPT gave me:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Squats	4	4-6
Romanian Deadlifts	3	6-8
Bulgarian Split Squat*	3	8-10
Calf Raises*	3	12-15
Goblet Squat**	3	10-12
Glute Bridges**	3	10-12

* Indicates first superset pair

** Indicates second superset pair

Day 2: Push

On push day, I’ll be working on my chest, shoulders, and triceps. Here’s the breakdown ChatGPT gave me:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Bench Press	4	6-8
Overhead Press	4	6-8
Incline Bench*	3	8-10
Banded Pull-Aparts*	3	12-15
Lateral Raises**	3	12-15
Skull Crushers**	3	8-10

* Indicates first superset pair

** Indicates second superset pair

Day 3: Pull

On pull day, I’ll be working on my back, biceps, and hamstrings. Here’s the breakdown ChatGPT gave me:

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Pull-ups	3	AMRAP
Barbell Rows	3	6-8
Face Pulls*	3	12-15
Hammer Curls*	3	10-12
Single-arm Dumbbell Rows**	3	8-10
Barbell Curls**	3	8-10

* Indicates first superset pair

** Indicates second superset pair