ChatGPT workout plan: prompts that work, and how to follow the plan

What to tell ChatGPT

A plan is only as good as the brief. Give ChatGPT these seven things, or ask it to question you about them:

1. Your goal: build muscle, get stronger, lose fat, or get fit.
2. How many days a week you can train, and how long each session can be.
3. Where you train, and what equipment you have.
4. Your experience: new, under a year, or several years of lifting.
5. Anything that hurts, or that you want to avoid.
6. Muscles you want to bring up.
7. What you have done before, and what you enjoyed.

ChatGPT workout plan prompts you can copy

Paste one into ChatGPT and change the parts in brackets. Most ask for sets, reps and rest. The first has ChatGPT question you before it writes, which gives a better plan than a one-line request. Each prompt gets a Copy button.

I want a gym workout plan. Before you write it, ask me one question at a time about my goal, the days I can train, how long each session can be, my equipment, my experience and anything that hurts. Then write the plan as a table for each day with exercise, sets, reps and rest, and add a rule for when to increase the weight.

I am new to the gym and can train 3 days a week for about 45 minutes. Write me a full body plan with a few basic lifts I can learn well. Give sets, reps and rest for each exercise, tell me how heavy to start, and how to add weight from week to week.

Write me a 4 day upper lower plan to build muscle. I have about 60 minutes per session in a full gym and I have been lifting for [1 year]. Aim for 10 to 20 hard sets per muscle per week, put the big lifts first, and give a rep range and rest time for every exercise.

Build me a 6 day push pull legs plan for muscle gain. Each session should take under 75 minutes. Include sets, reps and rest, a progression rule, and an easier week every 6 to 8 weeks.

I train at home with [adjustable dumbbells up to 20 kg (44 lb)], a bench and a pull-up bar. Write me a 3 day plan, 30 to 40 minutes each, that trains my whole body. Only use exercises I can do with that kit.

I want to lose fat without losing muscle. I can lift 3 days a week and walk on the other days. Write a strength plan that keeps the weights heavy, with sets, reps and rest, and tell me how to track my progress while I eat less.

My [left shoulder] hurts when I press overhead. Write me a 4 day gym plan that avoids overhead pressing and anything else likely to aggravate it, and suggest swaps I can use if an exercise still hurts.

Here is my current plan: [paste your plan]. Check it like a coach would. How many hard sets does each muscle get per week? Is anything missing or overdone? Does each session fit in [60] minutes? Suggest specific changes and explain why.

Take this plan: [paste your plan]. Show me how to progress it over the next 8 weeks: when to add reps, when to add weight, and when to take an easier week.

Tip: add "in Gym Commitment" to any prompt. If you have connected the app, ChatGPT sends the finished plan to your phone (see below).

How to check the plan ChatGPT gives you

ChatGPT is good at structure, but it cannot see you train. Before you follow the plan, check six things:

• Weekly sets. For muscle growth, about 10 to 20 hard sets per muscle per week. Count them: plans often stack chest and arms and go light on the back of the body.
• Exercise order. The heaviest lifts come first in each session.
• Reps and rest. Every exercise has both. Heavy compound lifts need 2 to 3 minutes of rest; small exercises 60 to 90 seconds.
• A progression rule. What to do when you hit the top of the rep range. Without one, the plan doesn't take you anywhere.
• Your kit and your time. Every exercise exists in your gym, and each session fits your time, warm-up included.
• An easier week. A lighter week every 6 to 8 weeks, or when your lifts stall.

Not sure what weight to start with? The one rep max calculator turns any hard set into training weights for 1 to 12 reps.

Get the plan onto your phone

A plan in a chat is hard to follow at the gym. You scroll, you lose your place, and you can't see what you lifted last time. There are two ways to fix that.

Either way, once the plan is in the app, last time's numbers show up in every set, the rest timer starts when you tick a set, and every lift gets its own chart.

ChatGPT or a ready plan?

If you want a proven split, you don't need a chatbot. Our free workout plans come straight from the app, day by day, with sets and reps: Push Pull Legs, Upper Lower, Full Body and more. Use ChatGPT when your situation is unusual: odd equipment, something that hurts, a tight schedule, or a sport to train around.