How a Workout App Changed my Life
How a workout app called Freeletics completely changed me and the 3 life-changing lessons I still use from it.
Okay, a mandatory disclaimer before we start: I am in no way affiliated to this app or am in any way sponsored by them. I’m just a loyal customer and I’m sharing my experiences.
Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve had a troubled relationship with food, and that's putting it mildly. Video games and junk food is what got me through high school and putting that together with a problematic self-image, and obesity running in my genes, it was already a bad combo. You can probably imagine where that led me when I got to college.
I was already lazy and not inclined to workout or be fit, add to that the pressures of law school in a highly competitive country, I got bigger in size and unhealthier in my self-image and desire to change. Sure, I’d tried working out before, but like so many of us, it had been part motivation and part desperation, expecting fast results and immediate change that would change my life for intense but limited effort. Nothing stuck, even after a while, and I was back to my old ways, and sometimes even worse.
Things didn’t change. I got a personal trainer and he was incredibly dedicated, and things really improved for a while. I thought I was finally changing and my life was going to be different from then but I got admitted to university in a different country, halfway across the world, and I had to move and start a new life there. Eating healthy and working out took a step back again, and soon was again lost in the “things I wanted to do pile.”
The problem, and the image I had of “just being a sedentary kind of person, more mental than physical” was so deeply ingrained, that when in 2018 I was diagnosed with high blood pressure as a young adult in my early 20s, I did nothing to change it. Sure, I took my pills and tried my best but despite the doctors warning me that the stress I was under (from finding a job to keep my visa) and my lifestyle would need to change or I was setting myself up for a tough life, did nothing to motivate me.
So what changed?
Fast forward to the end of 2019, none of us knew what was coming. That fateful December rolls around where we all heard of this new virus starting to make waves and before we knew it, it was March and Europe (where I was & am living) was already going into lockdown.
That’s when I came across an ad for Freeletics; this training app that promised a life-changing commitment to fitness, and incredible results, provided I put the effort in. “Nothing special or new,” I thought, “tons of app’s advertise exactly that”, but what caught my attention was that Freeletics promised to make working out as easy and motivating as possible, asking ME to put the effort in, while it made sure nothing stood in the way of that effort. Freeletics’ algorithmic personal trainer would take care of the rest.
I liked that approach, and I was increasingly getting concerned about my health seeing that was I overweight, had high blood pressure and had no semblance of even a remotely active lifestyle, paired with COVID on the rise, gave me the initial boost I needed to give this a shot. I wanted to do this for myself but just as much as that, I wanted to do it for my family, so that they wouldn’t have to worry about me being so far and getting really sick.
This was just about 2 years ago, and since then, things have never looked the same.
2 years later…
It's the 6th of February 2022 as I am writing this and I am still keeping my promise to myself of working out 3x a week at a minimum. I look radically different and feel immensely stronger than I ever did. My lifestyle is a lot more active despite a sedentary job. Almost all aspects of my fitness have improved and my blood pressure is almost entirely in control with very minimal medical intervention (i.e. pills).
I’ve never before felt the way I feel about myself now. My self-image has changed, my skin has improved, my stamina is higher, my body looks very different and I even get sick a lot less often than I did before. Yes, it was a tough journey getting here but the last thing I imagined was an app giving me that motivation and determination.
The ways Freeletics manages to do this is something that we can all learn and use for every goal we set, be it working out or not. The changes it introduces to both your physical effort and mental image compound into the progress that is consistent and motivating. Applying these lessons and putting in the effort into any goal you set, can be immensely powerful.
Here is what Freeletics does so right:
1. It utilizes the power of Words
“Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate, and to humble.”
- Yehuda Berg
From the day you start, Freeletic’s calls you an Athlete.
“Me? An Athlete?” I thought and smiled at how silly that was. I wasn’t even remotely fit, let alone “an Athlete.”
But little did I know what seeing these words every day would do to me.
Every workout I completed would be congratulated by the app with something along the lines of “Well done Athlete! Another workout crushed!” or “Great job today Athlete! You’re continuously improving!”
Sure, in the beginning, when you’re slowly chugging along, moaning and groaning in the pain and suffering of those first several weeks to months of workouts, this statement can feel a bit silly or off-putting.
“Who is the app kidding? I am no Athlete” was something I almost repeated every time I saw it in the app.
And yet, here I am 2 years later, more motivated than ever before as I continue to progress, slowly and steadily, those words resonate with me. They have CHANGED my self-image.
I don’t see myself simply as someone who has somehow just managed to build this habit with the situation (COVID). It is a big deal for me, and why shouldn’t it be? I struggled to get here.
I built my fitness habit without the gyms being open, just struggling and pushing myself 3–4x a week at home with a yoga mat.
Everyone I know who works out consistently and gets fitter struggles to get there. There are still days when I really don’t want to work out and find excuses like “I don’t have the time” or “I am under too much pressure.”
We all have days like that, but that’s when these words shine.
Now that you believe them by seeing them all the time you start to assign your behaviour and self-identity to those words.
YOU become what you believe.
The consistency and motivation start coming from your self-image and your beliefs instead of you having to struggle to find it every day, and this is absolutely life-changing.
For more on the power of words, here is an amazing article by Gustavo Razzetti:
2. It utilizes the power of Simplicity
“As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness.”
- Henry David Thoreau
One of the best ways to form habits is to simplify the activity that you are trying to turn into a habit. Reduce the barriers to that activity, and each time you have to do said activity, you will have fewer excuses. The app realises this and has made sure this philosophy shines through its features.
At first, you spend some time figuring things out, sure. But once you have the hang of it, the only thing stopping you from starting your next workout is the “start” button. One click and the app takes you, step-by-step, through your reps, your rests, your warmup and even cool-down.
Hell, the first year and a half, to make progress, all the app said I needed was a yoga mat and my will to be there! So all through lockdown, I just had to leave my study, put my yoga mat in the living room and get to it! There was nowhere to go, no excuses to make, just putting in the work.
And this works!
Simplifying the things you want to make habits, and simplifying things, in general, is a powerful thing. Don’t overcomplicate it, don’t build it up in your head. Just make it as simple as possible. Sometimes the easiest answer is just there, simple to do, but hard to do consistently.
Need to wake up early for that workout habit you are trying to build? Just wake up and start with a long walk.
Need to build that writing habit? Just sit down each day and write half a page of whatever comes to your head.
Need to build a photography habit to head toward that future as a pro photographer? Just start by setting a goal of taking 5 photos each day with your phone and stick to it!
You don’t need the gym to start those workouts, you don’t need an expensive laptop to start writing, you don’t need a Mirrorless camera to start that photography habit.
All you need is your desire to make a change and a simple activity to start your journey.
Here is an article on why simplicity is a timeless virtue by Brian McFadden that explains its importance very well:
3. It utilizes the power of Habits & Perspective
“First forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you’re inspired or not.”
- Octavia Butler
The main point that Freeletics tries to make you realise is that consistent workouts don’t just build fitness but consistent workouts build long-lasting habits. They straight up tell you that it won’t be fun in the beginning but that it gets easier slowly as you start showing up often enough.
Don’t get me wrong, you still have to do your part.
It’ll require consistency, patience and effort but once you’re there, it’s a whole different experience. For me, personally, the app changed from that “annoying app on my phone that keeps trying to put me to working out” to “Hell yes! Another week of progress, I’m already excited to see what I can do next week.”
They also reinforce a shift of perspective on what you get from these workouts. They don’t ask you to focus on the changes in your body but rather on how your body feels after these workouts. The app has these audio sessions that you’re supposed to listen to on your workout days and I’m not gonna lie and say that I listen to them all.
But when I’ve done it, it's been powerful.
These sessions sometimes focus on a short meditation post-workout where you’re made to relax and pay attention to how your body feels. Over my 2 years of use, I did that several times and now I really do see the difference.
Each time I go to workout, I’m excited to work out instead of having to force myself, because I know now, how good it feels physically and mentally and how much difference that workout can make to my day. The physical changes came too and that motivated me even more, but it still doesn’t beat my excitement when I know I have an intense workout session planned after a tough day.
The point here being — there is no bullshit in their philosophy and that philosophy itself is key to how successful the app has been for me. Habits and a shift of perspective can be magical in driving your success.
I know it’s not easy to build habits, trust me, I struggled in the beginning too. I still struggle at times. But each habit that I’ve purposefully built, where I had to struggle and push myself, is what is changing my life right now.
And similarly, each turning point in my mental and physical life, in their most basic forms, have been a shift of perspective — even the habits I’ve built. It’s all interconnected.
For instance, I’ve struggled with anxiety and still do, but, studies have found that anxiety and excitement are the same “aroused states” in the body, meaning they have the same physical effects, the difference is just if you are perceiving negative things or positive.
So just imagine how powerful building small habits and slowly shifting your perspective can be.
Building that workout habit (which I honestly thought I’d never be able to) and shifting my perspective to deriving enjoyment from my workout rather than results, has been life-changing for me.
It’s been the base I’ve built so many more things on. Don’t underestimate its power.
Here is an article by Louis Chew on Key-stone habits (how one small habit can build so many more) that gives some incredible insight:
And another incredible article by Louis Chew again on how to build new perspectives:
Now look again at the headings of the things Freeletics uses to be so successful and effective and read them. These are the exact things that if you realise the power off, could change your life too.
They’re not all disconnected from each other either, they're entirely interconnected and their true power comes when you use them together.
Use your own words to motivate yourself to perform a simple activity that you’ve been meaning to do regularly. Slowly build it into a habit by shifting your perspective on why you do it.
Do it for you and no one else.
See the changes that come. Feel how it feels to be doing something you’ve set your mind to.
It's exciting, it's difficult but it’s life-changing.
I’d love to hear from you all on what was the one thing you did that changed your life? What did you learn from it? Comment below!
