Two Plates · Basics

Can you run a lifting program your AI wrote?

Yes, if it passes the checks you'd give any program someone hands you. Above all, it needs a rule for adding weight and a rule for when you stall. If it can't say what happens when you get every rep, or miss some, it isn't finished.

By Anthony Topalides, who lifts and makes Two Plates. Checked against the sources below on 26 October 2026.

Check it like a program a trainer gave you

The r/Fitness FAQ has a page on judging a program from a personal trainer, and its red flags fit one from ChatGPT or Claude just as well. These are its first three.

It also flags exercises that change every week, machines ahead of free weights, isolation work ahead of compound lifts, and circuits or cardio ahead of strength work.

Ask for the rules, not just the exercises

Exercises with sets and reps are half a program. Ask your AI two things. What happens to the weight when you get every rep, and on which lifts? And what happens when you miss, whether that's repeating the weight, changing the sets or dropping back?

If what comes back looks a lot like GZCLP or 5/3/1 for Beginners, think about running the original. Both are on r/Fitness's list of recommended routines, with their rules already written.

Then run it as written

A notebook or a spreadsheet works fine. Write every session down and follow the rules your AI gave you, so a stall means the same thing every time.

Next session

Ask your AI what happens to the weight when you get every rep, and when you miss.

About the app

I make Two Plates, so I'm biased. It writes the prompt for your AI chat, then reads back the program your AI writes and shows it to you to check before it runs, progression included. That's part of the one-time unlock. The programs.

Where this comes from

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