Can ChatGPT Coach Me Through the Murph Challenge? My Fitness Experiment with AI

One of my fitness goals this year was to incorporate more high-intensity, heart-rate-focused activities into my routine. I stumbled upon the Murph Challenge after seeing Mark Zuckerberg’s impressive completion time 39:58.

Under 40 mins is considered elite athlete level, achievable by professional or highly competitive athletes. Finishing under an hour is typically viewed as a strong performance for those who train regularly, while under 90 mins serves as a challenging but attainable goal for beginners or those new to high-intensity workouts. I thought, if Zuckerberg can do it, surely it can’t be that tough, right? Right? 👀

The Murph Challenge is a demanding workout consisting of:

• A 1-mile run 🏃‍♂️
• 100 pull-ups 💪
• 200 push-ups 🤸‍♂️
• 300 squats 🧎‍♂️
• Another 1-mile run 🏃‍♂️
• And as if that wasn’t enough, you do it all wearing a 9kg (20 lbs) weighted vest. 🎽

I turned to my online coach ChatGPT for guidance, asking for a structured 3-month training plan tailored specifically to my current abilities and goals. I received a well thought out training plan, solid advice, and friendly encouragement. We iterated on the best way to partition the bodyweight exercises and I received a warning that the push-ups would prove the most difficult as they are often the first to fail. I was advised to attempt it unpartitioned (the traditional way) only if I was “a machine”. Spoiler: I’m not. I was also prudently advised to prioritize shoulder health, and I was provided with a training plan for this too.

Each week, I log my progress in my “Project” folder and get feedback – tracking the number of pull-ups, push-ups, squats, my running times, and the weight used in training.

Four weeks in, here’s where I’m at:

• Pull-ups: Surprisingly strong, currently able to manage 80 pull-ups per session without additional weight. This is hard.
• Squats: Already achieved the full volume (300 reps) comfortably, albeit with just a small additional weight so far (2.5kg). Not so difficult.
• Push-ups: Hit an early roadblock due to a shoulder injury, pausing my push-up training after the second week where I did 120 with no additional weight. As ChatGPT anticipated, this is proving to be the biggest challenge – even before the injury!
• Running: Despite it being my least favourite component, it’s progressing steadily, although I’m far from loving it. I’m running ~8 minute miles with 2.5kgs in the vest. 

Given my shoulder setback, it’s becoming clear this might take me longer than the originally planned three months. The Murph Challenge is undoubtedly tough, but facing and overcoming these challenges each week has already made it one of the most rewarding fitness journeys I’ve embarked upon.

My shoulder injury (diagnosed by ChatGPT) is inflammation of the AC joint, I had this condition before beginning the training, but it seems the intensity of the workouts aggravated it. I have a new training plan as I need to avoid push exercises for some time. It’s much better after a bad 10 days but not yet healed. 

I’ll continue sharing my updates, insights, and hopefully some victories along the way. Stay tuned!