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Five ways an AI workout companion makes working out alone more effective
If you exercise solo, an all-seeing AI companion can keep an eye out for you
Many of us exercise on our own. Busy lives and competing priorities mean we need to squeeze activity into the early hours and can’t match up workout schedules with a friend.
But working out with a friend can offer more than just a social element. An experienced training partner can act as a sounding board, helping you talk through your goals and plans.
They can also keep an eye on your form and spot where you might be going wrong before a poor movement pattern turns into an injury.
We can’t find extra time in your diary to meet with a friend to train, but we can suggest checking out BodyPark ATOM, an AI-powered camera with a built-in screen and speaker (and that all-important privacy shutter). Here’s how having the BodyPark ATOM in your corner can help you reach your goals.
1. It checks your exercise form in the moment
Nowadays, traditional fitness wearables are surprisingly good at tracking your workouts (how a smartwatch can reliably recognize a push-up we’ll never know—the wrist barely moves!) but the ATOM’s camera means it goes to the next level.
It can not only identify when you’re performing any of its more than 1,000 supported exercises, but by tracking 34 skeletal points on your body it can assess your form and provide live vocal feedback.
It could mean you hear the vital cue at the end of a tough set that keeps the work on the targeted muscle, rather than distributing the stress elsewhere as your form falters.
Or that it reminds you to lower into a squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor, so you get the maximum benefit from your time spent exercising, as well as helping you master your movements—one of the most satisfying parts of working out regularly.
Like all AI services, it’s essential that you use your own judgement and don’t take its advice as the gospel truth, but you should take that approach with any workout buddy.
2. It helps you review your form
There are plenty of runners on the Fit&Well team, and a key part of any training session for them is poring over their pace, heart rate and load stats afterwards. We’ve always felt a little shortchanged by the available stats after a strength workout—the calories used are often front and center, which can feel a little underwhelming when you know you’ve fought to lift the weight during those final few reps.
The ATOM provides much more. Once your workout is done, it creates a summary for you to review in the companion app, which includes clips of how you performed each exercise and areas to work on next, based on your training history and that session.
It also helps you to compare your performance with past workouts. In our experience, seeing how far you’ve come is one of the greatest motivators to keep exercising. Once you can see what you’ve achieved, your mind can’t help but wonder what else your body’s capable of.
3. It counts your reps
Once you gain some experience with strength training, you learn the importance of sticking to the right number of reps. It’s one of the key variables in progressive overload, ensuring you keep challenging your body so it responds by developing more muscle.
But it can be hard to keep track of while you’re still mastering the movements—we’ve certainly got lost somewhere between five and nine. When you’re following a plan, increasing your reps week by week, that matters.
4. It plans your workouts
Especially when you’re just starting to work out from home, it can be hard to choose the right set of workouts to follow. In fact, many people jump from workout to workout and never manage to develop the kind of strength over weeks and months that leads to the life-changing benefits of strength training that got them to pick up a dumbbell in the first place.
ATOM does that for you with AI workout-plan generation, taking into account your goals, how long you have and the equipment available.
5. It goes wherever you go
We’ve seen a form-checking camera before, but it was a set-top box, so you were tied to the TV it worked with.
ATOM’s palm-sized device combines a small screen and camera and is straightforward to set up at home or in a gym.
Its magnetic back makes it easy to stick onto a squat rack and its wide-angle lens allows it to capture movements even in smaller spaces, such as a hotel room.
It can be hard to find the time to exercise, so it’s essential that the equipment you buy to help you makes it as easy to exercise as possible. The ATOM’s versatility means your AI companion is ready and able whenever you are, wherever you are.
The BodyPark ATOM is available to buy now. Find out more at bodypark.fit.
