Artificial Intelligence and Strength Training – II

As we anticipate an AI stock market crash, let’s briefly examine how AI tools can enhance your strength training.

I have been working with AI since the 1980s and am not bamboozled by the daydreaming and hype that currently abounds in the business.

I do think that AI can be a super tool to do searchesbut only on problems where the real issue is knowledge.

IMHO over 90% of the time the real problem is strength training is NOT a knowledge problem.

Rather, the real problem is consistently executing a complex physical activity.

People doing strength training are trying to master a complex physical skill, not get the right answer on a written test.

Strength training has more in common with mastering playing the piano than it does with getting the right answer to a bunch of abstract questions.

 

What problem are you trying to solve?

Since Milo first began tossing stones around a few thousand years ago, every strength athlete has at some time pondered the question what is the best workout I can do?

Back in the powerlifting Stone Age (1980s) we all read the monthly magazine Powerlifting USA. Every month they would publish slightly different workout routines that different successful lifters had used.

However, the authors of the magazine routinely advised us that there is no perfect workout and the only thing that seems to be a hard and fast rule is that a lifter must change their routine every 4-8 weeks to keep making any headway.

None the less, many novices continued to search for the elusive workout solution to everything.

When thinking about making progress in strength training the most important thing to master is consistent execution of perfect technique.

As for the best workout.experienced lifters all know the variations on the 5 reps max programs. Basically, most combinations of the 5 reps or less will work if your technique is excellent!

Hiding in Plain Sight

Personal behavior, habits and persistence are the only elements that produce excellence in strength training.

The best thing you can do is mentally focus during your workouts to discover what methods are most effective for you.

That means doing the powerlifts with full concentration. Selecting assistance work that helps build up your deficiencies and enhance your strengths. You must develop mental skills to focus only on what you are doing when lifting a big weight.

Only you can use mental focus to sense what a perfect lift feels like. Doing this during practice builds the neural pathways you activate in every squat, bench press, or deadlift.

Unfortunately, many people simply tune out and flop and thrash through a movement. In essence they perfect their mistakes.

Practicing perfect execution is difficult. It is much easier to gawk in the mirror and listen to crappy music than it is to dial in all your attention and build the neuro template that you need to realize your potential.

 

Coda

Oh wellmaybe AI will tell me how to do a perfect lift? Good luck! I have tried and most of the answers I get are crap. There are a few good articles but they get mixed in with all the rubbish in a large language model.

One other tidbit that I noted this week. Apparently there are people who use AI to create completely fraudulent articles in different areas of medical research. The motivation to do this is unknown, but evidently some people try to make a name for themselves publishing AI generated articles in reliable journals that dispute commonly accepted diagnoses.

If someone creates bogus medical research, how easy will it be to create a bogus fitness program?

Lift Big!

Richard