Whether you like it or not, robots are coming.
And they’re coming fast.
And they’re going to be replacing a lot of life as we know it, including jobs.
Theoretically, including mine.
I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars and more than a decade learning about program design.
It usually takes me an hour or so to finesse out a month-long program for an athlete.
Now, with a few strokes on the keyboard, I can ask ChatGPT to write that same program for me in seconds.
Assuming you know what to ask it to do, it does a stunningly good job.
I can tell it to modify based on injuries, equipment, time, etc.
I can add tempo, I can add percentages, I can ask it to write around a menstrual cycles.
Same with meal plans.
Type in your goals, bodyweight, preferences and grocery store and you can have a full, customized meal plan (with shopping list) in seconds.
When I’ve shown this to some of my gym mentees, some of them have been scared.
What about their jobs as coaches? What about their secret program that promised abs in minutes? Why would anyone pay to come to their gyms anymore?
Well yeah, if people have been paying them for their stupid program, their macro wizardry, or their “secrets”, they’re screwed.
Because, it’s never been about the program.
It’s never been about the meal plan.
It’s never, ever been about anything that a robot can do.
What I have learned and come to understand more than anything in the world is that none of it is about the program itself.
It’s about the support, emotion, empathy and ability to elicit emotional and behavioral change in someone as you come to understand them as a person and how they react to whatever the plan is.
It’s about helping people modify around their specific challenges in life.
It’s about saying, “hey, I know how it feels to feel that way. I understand. It’s ok, I promise. Here’s what to do to feel better. and keep going.”
Simply, it’s about giving real hugs and real high fives.
And you can’t get that from a robot.
Yet.