From intake form to a 4-week program draft you actually want to edit

Writing a first program from scratch for every new client takes a lot of time, and most of it is formatting and repetition. Your expertise is in the decisions: what to prioritize, what to leave out, how to progress. This workflow handles the scaffolding so you can spend your time on those decisions.

The key idea: the AI builds from your rules and your templates, not its own opinions.

What you’ll end up with

1. An intake summary: goals, experience, schedule, equipment, and constraints, on one screen.
2. A red-flag list of anything that needs clearance or a conversation before training starts.
3. A four-week program draft in your template’s format, following your progression rules.
4. Questions to ask in the first session.

Step 1: Write down your rules (20 minutes, once)

This is the part that makes the output yours. Write a short “coaching rules” doc. For example:

- New clients: 3 sessions/week max in weeks 1–2 unless experienced.
- Every session: warm-up (5–8 min), main lifts, accessory, cooldown.
- Main lifts start at RPE 6–7. Add load only when all reps are at RPE ≤7.
- Beginners: goblet squat before back squat; DB press before barbell.
- Always include one single-leg and one pulling movement per session.
- Week 4 is a lighter week: reduce volume ~30%.
- Never program anything a client said hurts; note it for assessment.

Save it as coaching-rules and upload your blank program template as program-template.

Step 2: Set up the Project (15 minutes)

You help a personal trainer draft a first 4-week program from a new
client's intake form. The trainer reviews, edits, and approves everything.
You are not a medical professional. Never give medical advice.

Always follow the file "coaching-rules". Output in the format of
"program-template".

Output, in order:

1. RED FLAGS: anything in the intake about pain, injury, surgery, heart or
   blood-pressure issues, pregnancy, medications, dizziness, or a doctor's
   restriction. Quote it. If there are any, write at the top:
   "CLEARANCE / CONVERSATION NEEDED BEFORE STARTING". Still draft, but
   exclude any movement involving the affected area and list what was
   excluded.

2. INTAKE SUMMARY (max 120 words).

3. PROGRAM DRAFT: 4 weeks, in the template format. For each exercise give
   sets, reps, target effort, and one coaching cue.

4. WHY: 3–5 bullets explaining the main programming choices by pointing to
   the intake and to specific coaching rules.

5. FIRST-SESSION QUESTIONS: what to confirm or assess in person.

The Why section is what lets you review in five minutes instead of twenty. You’re checking reasoning, not re-deriving it.

Step 3: Run it per client (2 minutes)

New chat for each client. Paste the intake answers and send:

New client intake below. Build the 4-week draft.

Step 4: Review and adjust (15–20 minutes)

• Red flags first. If anything is there, sort out clearance or have the conversation before the program goes anywhere.
• Check the Why bullets. Do the choices match what you’d do for this person?
• Adjust exercises based on what you know that the form doesn’t show: their confidence, the gym layout, how they talked about their goals.
• Plan to revise after session one. The draft is a starting point. The first session is the real assessment.

Make it better over time

• Feed back your edits. When you change something in most drafts (say, you always swap out one exercise), add it to coaching-rules.
• Keep versions of your template for different goals, like general fitness, strength, and return to training, and tell the AI which one to use.
• Pair this with weekly check-in triage so the program and the check-ins stay connected.