{"id":197999,"date":"2025-10-02T20:53:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T20:53:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/197999\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T20:53:24","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T20:53:24","slug":"theres-a-dark-side-of-ai-fitness-apps-personal-trainers-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/197999\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s a Dark Side of AI Fitness Apps, Personal Trainers Warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

As artificial intelligence-powered fitness tools boom, a troubling pattern has emerged: motivation for some, obsession for others. ATN spoke with personal trainers to find out what they\u2019re seeing<\/p>\n

AI fitness tools promise smarter workouts, but a new survey shows they may also be fueling harmful behaviors. Nearly half (46%) of personal trainers report seeing more clients skip meals, overtrain and struggle with anxiety tied to digital tracking.<\/p>\n

The survey, conducted by Levity, a digital health company, polled 900 fitness enthusiasts and 100 trainers on how calorie-tracking apps, wearables and AI-driven goal-setting programs are affecting mental health. <\/p>\n

The picture isn\u2019t all bad \u2014 some users say the tools keep them motivated and on track. But for others, the same apps fuel anxiety and unhealthy habits.<\/p>\n

The deeper AI embeds itself in fitness, wellness and nutrition platforms, the more urgent the question becomes: do we need to rethink how these tools are designed, marketed and monitored?<\/p>\n

But first, the findings:<\/p>\n

Thirty percent of users said they often prioritize an app\u2019s goals over their body\u2019s needs. Nearly half (45%) admitted to skipping meals or overtraining to stay within app limits. Sixty-one percent reported feeling anxious after missing a day of tracking, and 13% said it made them feel like they had failed. More than a quarter (27%) stopped using an app because it hurt their mental health.<\/p>\n

Levity\u2019s findings also show a generational split. Sixty-six percent of Millennials and 61% of Gen Z respondents reported anxiety when they missed tracking, compared to 37% of Gen X and Baby Boomers. Gen Z, a group highly attuned to health and wellness<\/a>, was also the most likely to view calorie tracking itself as unhealthy, with 17% expressing concern.<\/p>\n

Trainers are noticing the fallout. According to Levity<\/a>, 46% percent of fitness professionals said AI tools are contributing to unhealthy or disordered behavior among clients, and 20% said these tools make it harder for people to trust their own bodies. Perhaps the most startling stat? 79% reported having to re-educate clients after they followed harmful or inaccurate AI advice.<\/p>\n

Brandon Grant, a certified personal trainer and owner of\u00a0Notorious Fitness\u00a0<\/a>in Las Vegas, says he sees this problem with his own clients.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver-dependence on AI fitness tools and technology causes issues because people may stop listening to their body and just push through to do whatever the AI recommends,\u201d Grant says. \u201cI\u2019ve heard from clients that \u2018calories don\u2019t matter\u2019 and that you can \u2018out train a bad diet.\u2019 The research shows that this isn\u2019t the case, and to reach their fitness goals,\u00a0it requires a balance of nutrition and fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"womancredit: Photo by\u00a0Annie Spratt\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/p>\n

Grant adds that while AI can provide\u00a0useful\u00a0information, it has to be applied in the right way to help people succeed. <\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with a personal trainer will always give people the accountability aspect that helps them stay motivated and focused on their goals,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Are People Becoming Too Reliant on Digital Fitness Guidance?<\/p>\n

Some trainers said they feel professionally undermined, with 53% reporting that clients trust apps more than their input. Yet 32% acknowledged that clients often achieve better outcomes when AI tools are paired with professional guidance. The motivations driving users are familiar, Levity found, as 66% turn to apps to stay motivated, 47% to control weight or body fat and 43% to improve performance or recovery.<\/p>\n

Marshall Weber, a certified personal trainer and owner of\u00a0Jack City Fitness<\/a>, says AI apps often create more problems than they solve.\u00a0With a background in exercise science and psychology, Weber warns that generic AI-driven programs\u00a0often miss\u00a0the\u00a0nuance needed\u00a0for safe training.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can definitely see how people can pick up bad habits and even unrealistic training goals from AI-driven apps,\u201d Weber says. \u201cThese apps are often more cookie-cutter than a bespoke workout experience.\u00a0This\u00a0can lead to overtraining or worse, injury.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"fitnesscredit: Dalibor Jane\u010dek\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/p>\n

His biggest concern, though, is with nutrition-focused platforms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBe aware of apps pushing extreme calorie cuts or fad-style diets that just are not sustainable,\u201d he warns. \u201cThat stuff confuses people more than it helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Weber \u2014 like Grant \u2014 acknowledges that the technology can have an upside. \u201cApps can really motivate some clients because they make workouts feel accessible,\u201d he says. \u201cSometimes just getting your foot in the door is the hardest part, and being excited about an app can bridge that gap for some. I believe that at the end of the day, tech should support fitness, not replace your trainer or dietician.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why the Human Touch Can\u2019t Be (Fully) Replaced<\/p>\n

Jenny Liebl, a senior product developer and master trainer at the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA<\/a>), says the issue with AI fitness tools is less about overtly harmful advice and more about gaps that leave people confused.<\/p>\n

See Also<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can get all this information, and it can distill it down to something you can actually use, but AI doesn\u2019t help you stay motivated,\u201d Liebl says. \u201cAI doesn\u2019t help you figure out where to exercise, how to use a machine or what an exercise even is. There are a lot of missing pieces in some of these tools, and that becomes the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the advent of AI has employees in nearly every sector wondering what will be left of their careers in a few years, Liebl makes a compelling case that in fitness and wellness, a human touch won\u2019t just be necessary but also welcomed for oversight and, above all, for genuine motivation.<\/p>\n

She recalls meeting a woman who had generated a months-long workout plan with an AI tool but never started it. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe had created it several weeks before, but hadn\u2019t done a single workout,\u201d Liebl says. \u201cThat\u2019s the problem. AI can give you a program, but it can\u2019t make you stick with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"personalcredit: Vitaly Gariev\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/p>\n

Liebl said the most common misinformation she sees clients bring in is simply \u201cworrying about things they don\u2019t need to be worried about.\u201d With so much information available, clients often assume every piece of advice applies to them when, in reality, only a small fraction may be relevant.<\/p>\n

She believes the best path forward is one that is balanced and pairs AI with human oversight.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe there\u2019s a way where a program can be generated by AI, but then a fitness professional reviews it before it\u2019s handed off to a client,\u201d Liebl says. She compared it to Hudl, a video platform that uses AI to track sports stats but always has a human review the results before sending them back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really comes down to prompting,\u201d she adds. \u201cWe have to prompt AI appropriately to get the right information, and then have the right guardrails in place to make sure people are using it safely.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of this unfolds against a backdrop where AI isn\u2019t going anywhere. The global AI in mobile apps market, valued at $27.7 billion in 2025, is projected to reach $322 billion by 2034, growing at a rate of more than 31% annually, according to Research and Markets. Health and wellness apps<\/a> are expected to be the fastest-growing segment, driven by rising demand for personalized health monitoring<\/a>, predictive analytics and AI-powered virtual coaching.<\/p>\n

The question now may be whether the industry can deliver that growth without fueling more anxiety along the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As artificial intelligence-powered fitness tools boom, a troubling pattern has emerged: motivation for some, obsession for others. ATN…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[4514,49362,2788,337,97,114340,28398,12825],"class_list":{"0":"post-197999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","9":"tag-atn-pro","10":"tag-data","11":"tag-fitness","12":"tag-health","13":"tag-issa","14":"tag-personal-training","15":"tag-zzz-a"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}