{"title":"GPT- 4 as a virtual fitness coach: a case study assessing its effectiveness in providing weight loss and fitness guidance.","authors":"Guanchong Li, Hansen Li, Yuqin Su, Yun Li, Sijia Jiang, Guodong Zhang","doi":"10.1186/s12889-025-22739-8","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>As obesity presents a growing public health challenge, demand for personalized fitness solutions has increased. This study evaluates GPT-4's effectiveness as a virtual fitness coach for creating personalized plans.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A 24-year-old Chinese female's data was used by GPT-4 and three professional coaches to develop 16-week fitness plans. Experts evaluated these plans on personalization, effectiveness, comprehensiveness, and safety. Statistical analyses were performed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>GPT-4 excelled in personalization (M = 12.80, SD = 0.84) compared to coaches (M = 11.53, SD = 0.46), However, the difference wasn't big enough to be considered statistically significant (p > 0.05). In terms of effectiveness (GPT-4: M = 12.60, Coaches: M = 12.80), safety (GPT-4: M = 12.20, Coaches: M = 12.33), and comprehensiveness (GPT-4: M = 12.00, Coaches: M = 12.13), coaches slightly outperformed GPT-4, But again, these differences didn't reach statistical significance (p > 0.05).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>GPT-4 shows promise as a virtual fitness coach but cannot fully replace human coaches due to technological limitations. Future research should explore enhancing AI models' applicability in sports and their collaboration with coaches for optimal personalized fitness solutions.</p>","PeriodicalId":9039,"journal":{"name":"BMC Public Health","volume":"25 1","pages":"2466"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12261634/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"BMC Public Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-22739-8","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: As obesity presents a growing public health challenge, demand for personalized fitness solutions has increased. This study evaluates GPT-4's effectiveness as a virtual fitness coach for creating personalized plans.
Method: A 24-year-old Chinese female's data was used by GPT-4 and three professional coaches to develop 16-week fitness plans. Experts evaluated these plans on personalization, effectiveness, comprehensiveness, and safety. Statistical analyses were performed.
Results: GPT-4 excelled in personalization (M = 12.80, SD = 0.84) compared to coaches (M = 11.53, SD = 0.46), However, the difference wasn't big enough to be considered statistically significant (p > 0.05). In terms of effectiveness (GPT-4: M = 12.60, Coaches: M = 12.80), safety (GPT-4: M = 12.20, Coaches: M = 12.33), and comprehensiveness (GPT-4: M = 12.00, Coaches: M = 12.13), coaches slightly outperformed GPT-4, But again, these differences didn't reach statistical significance (p > 0.05).
Conclusions: GPT-4 shows promise as a virtual fitness coach but cannot fully replace human coaches due to technological limitations. Future research should explore enhancing AI models' applicability in sports and their collaboration with coaches for optimal personalized fitness solutions.
期刊介绍:
BMC Public Health is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that considers articles on the epidemiology of disease and the understanding of all aspects of public health. The journal has a special focus on the social determinants of health, the environmental, behavioral, and occupational correlates of health and disease, and the impact of health policies, practices and interventions on the community.