Workout Readiness Check-In

Purpose

Help a user make a conservative same-day decision about a planned workout: keep it, scale it down, or recover. This skill is a daily adjustment layer for people who already have a routine or planned session. It does not create a full fitness program or a restart plan after inactivity.

This is general fitness education and habit support. It is not medical advice, physical therapy, diagnosis, injury rehabilitation, pregnancy-specific exercise guidance, post-surgery programming, or chronic-condition exercise programming.

Use This Skill When

Use this skill when the user says they planned to exercise today but is unsure because of:

• Low energy, poor sleep, stress, travel, or a hard workday.
• Normal soreness, heavy legs, low motivation, or uncertainty about intensity.
• Mild fatigue after recent training.
• Limited time and a need to choose between full workout, shorter workout, mobility, easy cardio, or rest.
• A desire to avoid all-or-nothing thinking while staying consistent.

Do not use it as a workout program designer, weight-loss plan, injury rehab plan, medical symptom triage system, or return-to-exercise plan after a long break.

Best Inputs

Ask for the minimum needed to produce a daily readiness card:

• Today's planned workout, expected duration, and intensity.
• Available time, equipment, and training location.
• Main goal for today's session: strength, cardio, skill, mobility, sport practice, or habit consistency.
• Sleep quality and duration, energy, mood or stress, soreness, hydration or food status, and motivation.
• Recent training load: last hard session, unusual volume, or rest days.
• Red-flag screen: pain, injury, fever, acute illness, chest pain, dizziness, fainting, unusual shortness of breath, pregnancy, recent surgery, uncontrolled symptoms, or medical restrictions.

If the user reports red flags, stop workout adjustment and recommend appropriate professional guidance or rest based on severity.

Readiness Scale

Use plain-language categories:

• Green: Train as planned. No red flags, energy is workable, soreness is mild, and the planned session feels repeatable without forcing it.
• Yellow: Modify. Fatigue, soreness, stress, poor sleep, limited time, or low motivation suggests a shorter, easier, or technique-focused version.
• Red: Recover or seek guidance. Pain, injury concern, fever, acute illness, dizziness, chest symptoms, fainting, unusual shortness of breath, severe fatigue, or medical restriction is present.

When uncertain between two categories, choose the more conservative option.

Workflow

1. Capture the plan. Summarize today's planned workout, available time, equipment, and the user's main goal for the session.
2. Check readiness signals. Rate or describe sleep, energy, soreness, stress, hydration or food, motivation, and recent training load.
3. Run the red-flag screen. Ask directly about pain, injury, fever, acute illness, chest symptoms, dizziness, fainting, unusual shortness of breath, pregnancy, recent surgery, uncontrolled symptoms, or professional restrictions.
4. Classify readiness. Assign green, yellow, or red with a one-sentence reason based on the signals.
5. If green, keep the workout. Preserve the planned session, add a warm-up, set an intensity cap, and include stop signals.
6. If yellow, convert the workout. Offer one shorter or lighter option using reduced sets, reduced load, lower pace, mobility, easy cardio, technique practice, or a minimum viable session.
7. If red, protect recovery. Recommend rest, gentle non-strenuous recovery if appropriate, symptom monitoring, and professional care for concerning symptoms.
8. Add the pattern note. Record today's result in a 7-day trend view so the user can notice repeated fatigue, soreness, stress, sleep debt, or overreaching.

Output Format

Return a one-page readiness card:

1. Today Snapshot

2. Readiness Signals

3. Decision

• Category: Green, Yellow, or Red.
• Recommendation: Train as planned, modify, or recover.
• Reason: One concise explanation.

4. Adjusted Session

For green or yellow, include warm-up, main work, intensity cap, cool-down, and stop signals. For red, replace this with recovery actions and a re-check plan.

5. Recovery Actions

List 2-5 actions such as sleep priority, hydration, easy walk, gentle mobility, meal timing, stress downshift, or scheduling the next check-in.

6. 7-Day Pattern Note

Adjustment Menu

Use these options for yellow days:

• Cut total time by 30-60 percent.
• Reduce load, pace, or sets.
• Keep technique practice but stop short of fatigue.
• Swap intense cardio for easy zone-style movement where the user can talk comfortably.
• Swap heavy strength work for mobility, easy core, bodyweight practice, or a walk.
• Use a 10-minute minimum viable session if consistency is the main goal.

Avoid punishment workouts, catch-up volume, maximal attempts, high-impact intervals, or forcing intensity to compensate for missed sessions.

Safety Boundary

• Do not diagnose symptoms, treat injuries, or prescribe rehab.
• Do not provide exercise programming for pregnancy, recent surgery, acute injury, unexplained pain, chronic illness, cardiac symptoms, uncontrolled symptoms, or medical restrictions.
• If the user reports chest pain, fainting, severe dizziness, severe shortness of breath, acute injury, fever, or symptoms that feel unsafe, recommend stopping exercise and seeking appropriate medical or emergency guidance.
• If the user reports pain during a movement, remove that movement and recommend professional guidance rather than working through pain.
• Do not guarantee performance, weight loss, recovery, injury prevention, or health outcomes.
• Do not ask for detailed medical records, credentials, passwords, payment data, or private account information.

Example Prompts

• "I slept badly but planned leg day. Should I work out today?"
• "I am sore from yesterday's run. Help me decide whether to train or recover."
• "I only have 20 minutes and feel stressed. Scale my workout down."
• "I planned a hard interval session but feel run down. What should I do instead?"
• "Help me make a daily green/yellow/red workout readiness card."