As part of physical therapy, I was given a list of exercises to do at home a few times a week that will help me with my treatment goals. I noticed that it was challenging for me to remember how many exercises I was supposed to do in a given set, and I often would pause between sets to check the document with exercises listed on it to figure out what was next. To help streamline my workouts and physical therapy exercises, I used Alexa Skill Blueprints to create a no-code Amazon Alexa skill that I can play on my Echo Dot, which guides me through assigned exercises and even has a built-in timer. Here are my tips for creating custom workouts with Amazon Alexa, and how Amazon Alexa can help you exercise.
What is Alexa Skill Blueprints?
Alexa Skill Blueprints are a free official Amazon tool that allow users to create their own custom Amazon Alexa skills. There is no coding required and the finished skills are linked to the user’s Amazon account for use across all of their devices. Custom skills can be created by filling in text boxes or selecting options from a drop-down menu based on prompts, empowering users to personalize skills within a matter of minutes; information shared with the skill stays private and is not added to the public Amazon Alexa Skill website. Alexa Skill Blueprints require users to have an Amazon Echo device, but does not require Amazon Prime or any other subscriptions— I have an Echo Dot and love it!
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ABOUT THE PERSONAL TRAINER SKILL
The Personal Trainer skill lets users create their own structured workout routines that they can use throughout the week, setting workouts to play on specific days. Users can create several different workouts and edit them from the Alexa Skill Blueprint website by changing the exercises used, their duration, and the amount of sets for a single workout. The default command for the Personal Trainer skill is “Alexa, start my workout.”
To create a new Personal Trainer skill, log into the Alexa Skill Blueprints website with the Amazon account connected to the Alexa device. From there, select the Personal Trainer skill and then select the “Make Your Own” link to create the custom skill.
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Step 1: Setup/Choose Exercises
After clicking on the “Make Your Own” button, users are taken to a page where they can begin customizing their skill, starting with a list of exercises they would like to have available to choose from when putting together a workout. Users can add as many exercises as they want by selecting the “Add Exercise” button, and edit the names of exercises as needed. Alexa will say the name of the exercise out loud in workouts where it is included.
Default exercises that are listed in the Alexa Personal Trainer skill include:
- Burpees
- Crunches
- High Knees
- Jog in Place
- Jump Squats
- Jumping Jacks
- Leg Lifts
- Lunges
- Plank
- Recovery
- Sit-ups
- Squats
- Twists
- Wall Sits
Users can add additional exercises or edit the names of existing exercises to better align with their goals. I recommend avoiding emoji as these may not display correctly.
Step 2: Assign workouts
After creating a bank of exercises, users can then create and schedule their own workouts by following these instructions:
- Type in a name for the workout (e.g. Cardio)
- Choose what day(s) of the week to play the workout. Users will need to launch the skill themselves, but their workout will automatically play on days where it is enabled.
- Choose an exercise from the left drop-down menu, along with the duration from the right drop-down menu. Users can choose to do one exercise for 15-75 seconds, and will need to repeat this for each additional exercise in the set
- Select the “Add Exercise” link at the bottom of the screen to add additional exercises to a set
- Choose the number of sets, or repetitions, for each workout, up to 5
Users can add as many exercises to a workout as they want, and can also set up multiple different workouts a day, which will play in order. Additionally, users can create an unlimited amount of workouts in the Alexa Personal Trainer skill.
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Step 3: Customize the experience
Users can personalize different sounds and phrases for their workout, including:
- Introduction: Alexa will choose one of these messages at random when the user opens the skill
- Sounds to start/end exercises: Users can assign a sound to start/end exercises listed in Step 1. There are several categories of sounds ranging from ambient to sci-fi.. Users can also select if they want to hear a ticking noise for the timer or not.
- Start workout phrases: Alexa will choose one of these messages at random when starting a new workout
- Encouragement phrases: Alexa will choose one of these messages at random to say during a workout
- Workout complete phrases: Alexa will choose one of these messages at random when the user finishes with their workout
- Progress report: Alexa will choose one of these messages at random when the user asks for a progress report update, which will tell them how many workouts they have done this week
- Background image: For compatible Echo Show devices, a custom visual theme will be shown during the workout.
Users can add an unlimited number of random introductions, start workout phrases, encouragement phrases, and workout complete phrases. However, these cannot be assigned to specific workouts within the skill.
Step 4: Finishing Setup
For the last step of the Alexa Personal Trainer skill setup, users can customize the name of their skill so that it’s easier to remember or activate on their device. Users can create multiple different versions of the Personal Trainer skill with different names so that they can have different routines stored— for example, a physical therapy skill and a stretching skill.
More ideas for how to use the Personal Trainer skill and create custom workouts with Amazon Alexa
- For students enrolled in Adapted Physical Education (APE), the Personal Trainer skill can be used for guided exercises or routines in a home setting. I would have loved something like this as a student- read more about my physical education experiences in Gym Classes and Low Vision: My Personal Experiences
- Individuals with visual impairments can create custom workout playlists and audio workouts that can be accessed entirely without a screen. This is also great for physical therapy or independent workouts. I share more audio workout resources in Audio Workouts and Low Vision
- One of my friends often gets ideas for exercises to try on social media, and will import these workouts by copying text into the Personal Trainer skill so they can choose a workout without having to scroll through a list of screenshots. They get recommendations based on the strategies I share in How I Use Pinterest For Studying In College
- When I need a break from studying, I turn on another Personal Trainer skill to do a series of guided stretches and make sure I am resting my eyes. I share more ideas for using Alexa for school in How Amazon Alexa Can Help With Online Learning and How Amazon Alexa Can Help You Study For Exams
Published April 12, 2020. Updated November 2024