As of 13 August 2026, AI can fit a training plan around looking after your children.

What to actually do

1. Use a tool built for this

   The route this page recommends

2. Do it yourself

   Second choice

   A chat interface, no skill needed, and roughly 30 minutes until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open a note and write down your main goal, current training experience, available childcare windows, likely interruptions, equipment, preferred activities and any known exercise restrictions.
   2. Paste the prompt into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and replace every bracketed slot with your own details, including whether you are pregnant, recently gave birth or have an injury or diagnosed condition.
   3. Ask the chatbot to revise the plan if any session does not fit a real childcare window, and require a shorter fallback that can be done at home.
   4. Put the final sessions into your calendar alongside school runs, feeds, work and bedtime, leaving the stated recovery days free.
   5. Check every exercise against the equipment you actually have and remove anything that causes pain or conflicts with advice from your GP, physiotherapist or other qualified professional.
   6. Try the first week at the lower end of the suggested effort, record what you completed and ask the chatbot to adjust the next week using those results rather than inventing progress.
   7. Stop and contact NHS 111 if you develop urgent or worrying symptoms; do not ask the chatbot to diagnose or work around them.

   Prompt

   Create a realistic weekly training plan around looking after my children. Use only the information I provide and ask up to five essential questions before planning.
   
   My details:
   - Main goal: [for example, improve general fitness, build strength or return to running]
   - Current fitness and training experience: [details]
   - Available days and time windows: [details]
   - Childcare constraints and likely interruptions: [details]
   - Equipment and location: [details]
   - Preferred activities and activities I dislike: [details]
   - Session length I can usually manage: [details]
   - Sleep and recovery: [details]
   - Injuries, pregnancy, recent birth, diagnosed conditions, medication or other exercise restrictions: [details, or say none known]
   
   Build a flexible plan with a main option and a shorter fallback for each session. Include warm-up, exercises, sets or time, rest, intensity guidance in plain language, and a simple progression rule. Make the plan work if one session is missed, and include at least one rest or recovery day. Do not diagnose me, claim that exercise is safe for a medical condition, or replace advice from a GP, physiotherapist or other qualified professional. If I mention urgent or worrying symptoms, tell me to stop and contact NHS 111 rather than designing around them. State which assumptions you made and which details I must check before starting.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.

3. Hand it to a person

   The distant third

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.