AI prompt for making a workout plan

Written for Claude. Compiled as a planning / strategy task — turning a goal into an ordered, actionable sequence of steps.

<role>
You are an experienced strategist who plans backwards from the outcome.
</role>

<context>
Current fitness: {{current}}. Days per week available: {{days}}. Equipment: {{equipment}}. Injuries or limitations: {{limitations}}. Timeframe: {{timeframe}}.
</context>

<task>
Make a training plan for {{goal}}.
</task>

<approach>
Work through the problem step by step before giving your answer. Show the reasoning that actually drives your conclusion rather than a tidy summary written after the fact.
</approach>

<constraints>
- Progress load or volume week to week. Do not repeat the same week.
- Use only the equipment listed.
- Work around every stated limitation. Do not program through pain.
- Include rest days and say why they are there.
- This is general information, not medical advice. Say so, and say when to see a professional.
- Register: plain, direct business English. No filler openers, no exclamation marks, no hedging phrases such as "it is important to note".
- Order steps by dependency, not by importance. A step must never require the output of a later step.
- For each step, state the concrete output it produces and how someone would know it is finished.
- Name the assumptions the plan rests on, and what would have to change for the plan to fail.
</constraints>

<output_format>
Respond in Markdown. Use descriptive headings, and keep paragraphs to three sentences or fewer.
</output_format>

Now, make a training plan for {{goal}}.

Open this in the prompt builder to add your own context and see what would improve it most.

What makes making a workout plan hard to prompt for

Generated training plans tend to prescribe an intermediate volume regardless of stated fitness, and to ignore equipment constraints. The important failure is programming around an injury the plan was told about.

Why this prompt works

Background comes before the instruction

The model reads the situation before it learns what to do with it, which stops the instruction being diluted by everything that follows. The task is then restated as the final line, where models weight it most heavily.

Rules a planning / strategy task assumes but nobody writes down

Order steps by dependency, not by importance. A step must never require the output of a later step. For each step, state the concrete output it produces and how someone would know it is finished. These are added automatically because leaving them implicit is the most common reason this kind of output disappoints.

Uncheckable words replaced with checkable ones

"professional" reads like a requirement but cannot be verified by the model. The prompt swaps it for a property that can be checked, which is the difference between a request and a specification.

What to replace

Check the output before you use it

• Check every exercise uses equipment you actually have.
• Confirm nothing conflicts with your stated limitations.
• Look for progression. A plan where every week is identical is not a plan.

The same prompt for other models

Identical content, packaged the way each model reads most reliably.

## Role

You are an experienced strategist who plans backwards from the outcome.

## Context

Current fitness: {{current}}. Days per week available: {{days}}. Equipment: {{equipment}}. Injuries or limitations: {{limitations}}. Timeframe: {{timeframe}}.

## Task

Make a training plan for {{goal}}.

## Approach

Work through the problem step by step before giving your answer. Show the reasoning that actually drives your conclusion rather than a tidy summary written after the fact.

## Constraints

- Progress load or volume week to week. Do not repeat the same week.
- Use only the equipment listed.
- Work around every stated limitation. Do not program through pain.
- Include rest days and say why they are there.
- This is general information, not medical advice. Say so, and say when to see a professional.
- Register: plain, direct business English. No filler openers, no exclamation marks, no hedging phrases such as "it is important to note".
- Order steps by dependency, not by importance. A step must never require the output of a later step.
- For each step, state the concrete output it produces and how someone would know it is finished.
- Name the assumptions the plan rests on, and what would have to change for the plan to fail.

## Output format

Respond in Markdown. Use descriptive headings, and keep paragraphs to three sentences or fewer.

Now, make a training plan for {{goal}}.

**Task**

Make a training plan for {{goal}}.

**Role**

You are an experienced strategist who plans backwards from the outcome.

**Context**

Current fitness: {{current}}. Days per week available: {{days}}. Equipment: {{equipment}}. Injuries or limitations: {{limitations}}. Timeframe: {{timeframe}}.

**Approach**

Work through the problem step by step before giving your answer. Show the reasoning that actually drives your conclusion rather than a tidy summary written after the fact.

**Constraints**

- Progress load or volume week to week. Do not repeat the same week.
- Use only the equipment listed.
- Work around every stated limitation. Do not program through pain.
- Include rest days and say why they are there.
- This is general information, not medical advice. Say so, and say when to see a professional.
- Register: plain, direct business English. No filler openers, no exclamation marks, no hedging phrases such as "it is important to note".
- Order steps by dependency, not by importance. A step must never require the output of a later step.
- For each step, state the concrete output it produces and how someone would know it is finished.
- Name the assumptions the plan rests on, and what would have to change for the plan to fail.

**Output format**

Respond in Markdown. Use descriptive headings, and keep paragraphs to three sentences or fewer.

Now, make a training plan for {{goal}}.