The Elephant in the Gym: My Value Prop in the AI Age
The “elephant in the room" comes from an 1814 fable by Ivan Krylov, The Inquisitive Man, in which a man visits a museum and notices all sorts of tiny details but somehow fails to notice an elephant. The image was later popularized in English by Mark Twain, who used it to describe something enormous and impossible to overlook.
The phrase became especially useful because it captures a particular kind of avoidance: everyone can see the problem, everyone knows it matters, and yet the conversation proceeds as though it isn't there.
That is precisely what's happening with AI in fitness.
You can ask ChatGPT or Claude to build you a workout program, calculate your macros, motivate you, or even upload a shirtless pic and see what you'd look like at 10% body fat.
In other words, the information is vast, fast, and free. So, is fitness coaching dead in the age of AI? Am I dead?
To quote the best scene from the last season of House of the Dragon:
If you only need information, you shouldn't hire me. Thankfully, coaching is not and has never been about the transfer of information.
And that got me thinking about financial advisors
You can learn the basics of long-term investing in a few weeks, buy low-cost index funds, automate your contributions, and accumulate generational wealth in 50 years.
Yet people still pay financial advisors.
Why?
It's not because they couldn't find out how to buy an index fund.
They're paying someone to make the decisions simpler, keep them on track, and help them navigate what to do when things change. They're paying for judgment, simplicity, accountability, personalization, and peace of mind.
Fitness coaching is exactly the same.
You can absolutely figure this stuff out yourself
The question is: do you want to?
You don't need to understand every nuance of nutrition to lose fat. You don't need to spend your evenings figuring out whether you should do 3 or 4 sets of an exercise, whether Urolithin-A is worth it, or whether you should start injecting BPC-157 into your butt cheek.
I'll figure that stuff out. And if you do want to learn, great. I'll teach you.
But wait, Billy Mays, there's more!
Knowing what to do and doing it consistently are two very different problems. A good coach helps you bridge the gap.
A good coach gives you five things:
Clarity: What should you do and why?
Execution: How do we turn that plan into something you consistently do?
Optimization: Are we leaving meaningful progress on the table, and what should we change?
Accountability: Is someone (ideally, a human) you respect paying attention and giving you the nudge when you need it?
Peace of mind: Can you stop wondering whether you're doing this right?
You can take the time to learn, hold yourself accountable, and try to make the right adjustments along the way. Or you can hire someone you trust to say:
"Here's what matters. Here's what we're doing. Here's what we're not going to worry about. And I'll tell you when we need to change course."
That's immensely valuable, if you ask me or any one of my 27 clients.
Not everyone needs a coach
If you enjoy figuring this stuff out yourself, are happy with your progress, and don't mind spending the time and energy doing it, you shouldn't hire me. Please don't, because in a few weeks it'll be awkward for both of us (I'm awkward enough as it is. I don't need you making it worse!)
But if you have a specific problem you want solved…
If you want someone you trust to handle the complexity…
If you want to get there with less wasted time and fewer mistakes…
Or if you just want me to stop using so many ellipses for the love of God…
That's where I come in.
One more time, for the people in the back
I'm not selling information. AI has made information vast, fast, and free.
I'm selling a simpler, human-led path to the result you want, with less guesswork and the peace of mind that comes from knowing you're on the right track.
You like that?
Apply for coaching below:
Best,
John
P.S. Here are just a few of the people who took this and ran with it, to the tune of 20+ pounds of fat lost this summer.
P.P.S. Serina has lost fifty (as in 5-0) in just 8 months. Let’s GO!!
P.P.P.S. The real reason you’re here.
3 Steps You Can Take
Apply for coaching - If you’re ready to start, you can fill out a coaching application here (it takes 90 seconds or less). Best case, you change your life. Worst case, I’ll help you draw up a road map to get closer to your goals.
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Keep learning - You can check out my other articles here. Nobody asked me to, but I’ve spent a ton of time researching everything from artificial sweeteners to saturated fat to testosterone and more, so you don’t have to.
