I ran my first marathon when I was 13 and later worked as a personal trainer to help pay my way through life as a college student in New York City. I’ve spent enough time exercising — and telling other people how to exercise — to recognize the difference between a thoughtfully designed workout and a random collection of moves.
That’s why Ray caught me off guard. It's an AI personal training app that not only coaches with audio but watches your form as you do the exercises.
I’ve been using the AI personal trainer for the past month, and it is one of the few fitness apps I’ve tried that genuinely feels like actual human coaching. Ray plans my workouts, talks me through each exercise, counts my reps and adjusts the session when I’m tired, sore or short on time.
It's AI, so it isn’t perfect. Some of its advice starts to sound repetitive after a while, and no app can completely recreate the judgment or personal connection of a great human trainer. But the actual workouts are legitimate. More importantly, Ray responds to what is happening in my life instead of expecting me to follow the same rigid program every week.
An AI personal trainer that sounds remarkably human
Ray offers four different voices. I chose one called Bold, which sounds confident without becoming overly aggressive or slipping into the motivational clichés common in fitness apps.
The voice is very realistic; I actually prefer it to ChatGPT Voice or Gemini Live. It tells me what exercise is next, counts my reps, manages rest periods and keeps the workout moving without requiring me to pick up my phone between sets.
That hands-free experience makes a bigger difference than I was expecting. With many workout apps, I spend half the session pausing a video, checking the next exercise or manually entering what I completed. Ray removes much of that friction. I can concentrate on my form and the weight in my hands rather than navigating an app.
It even works while I listen to music or a podcast. Ray lowers the other audio when it needs to give me an instruction, then lets me return to what I was listening to.
The workouts work for me
Generative AI can create a workout in seconds. That doesn’t mean it will create a good one. A legitimate training program should consider more than which muscles you want to exercise. The weight, volume, rest, exercise order and progression all need to work together. The plan should challenge you without increasing the difficulty so quickly that your form falls apart.
Ray has been surprisingly good at this. Over the course of the month, it progressed my weights intelligently instead of simply making every workout longer or harder. That's the difference between an LLM and and a specialized AI trained for a specific purpose. The sessions felt structured, and the exercise choices generally made sense together.
As a former trainer, I know that a workout can leave you sweaty and exhausted while still being poorly designed or actually cause injury. Fatigue isn’t proof that a program is effective. Ray seems to understand that progress comes from gradually asking the body to do more, then adjusting when life or recovery gets in the way.
Its focus is primarily strength training, although it can incorporate conditioning, cardio, mobility and stretching. You can use it at a gym, at home with dumbbells or with no equipment at all. It asks what equipment you have and designs workouts accordingly.
I can change the plan without starting over
Before and during a workout, I can talk to it much as I would talk to a trainer. I can say that I’m sore, tired or don’t have as much time as expected. Ray then modifies the session rather than making me abandon it and search for another workout.
That flexibility has made it much easier to fit strength training into a busy schedule. A 20-minute window no longer feels too short to bother. I was really putting off strength training until Ray. But, because I can tell Ray what time I have, it gives me something appropriate instead of treating a shortened workout as a failure.
It can adjust around soreness and fatigue, too. This doesn’t mean I would trust an app to diagnose pain or guide someone through a serious injury. That still belongs in the hands of a doctor, physical therapist or qualified trainer. But for ordinary workout fatigue, Ray has done a good job of changing the plan while keeping me active.
The app remembers those adjustments and uses my workout history and feedback when planning what comes next. That creates continuity between sessions, which is something many fitness apps promise but don’t deliver particularly well.
The camera actually counts reps
Ray’s most futuristic feature uses the iPhone camera to watch your movement and count repetitions automatically.
You position the phone so your body is visible and begin the exercise. Ray follows your movement and keeps count, saving you from trying to remember whether you’re on rep eight or nine while concentrating on your form.
I expected this feature to work like a Wii. But it was remarkably accurate during my workouts.
According to Ray, its computer-vision system processes the video on the device rather than uploading the footage. By the way, the camera is optional, so you can still use the app without allowing it to watch your workout.
A few glitches here and there remind you it's AI
After using Ray for a month, I have started to notice repetition in some of its advice and encouragement. That is where the illusion of a human trainer breaks down. A real coach can read your mood, recognize when a familiar cue isn’t working and find a completely different way to explain an exercise. Ray can adapt the workout, but its language doesn’t always show the same range.
Ray asks about injuries and physical limitations when creating a program, but an app cannot examine you or spot every subtle problem with your form. Anyone dealing with persistent pain, rehabilitation or a medical condition should speak to a qualified professional.
Final thoughts
When I was a personal trainer, my clients paid thousands of dollars for months-long training packages. Ray costs just $19.99 per month after a seven-day free trial and is currently available for iPhone and Apple Watch. It also connects with Apple Health, allowing it to consider activity completed outside the app when planning future workouts.
Sure, it's more expensive than a basic workout app, especially when countless free exercise videos are available online. But Ray isn’t really competing with a library of workout videos or diagrams. Its value comes from removing the planning, tracking and decision-making that can make exercise feel like another job.
A month into using it, I’m still impressed. Ray doesn’t replace everything a skilled personal trainer can offer, and its coaching language could use more variety. Nevertheless, its workouts are well structured, its progression makes sense and its ability to adapt has helped me stay consistent.
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