About the author

I'm 35 years old and a father of two. I enjoy sport, but between professional & personal life, it became difficult to attend training at a fixed schedule. My training time slowly melted away.

Then I stumbled upon Freeletics. On paper it seemed to be the perfect solution. Short training sessions, most of them can be performed indoor so my training could take place almost anytime and anywhere. And the icing on the cake: like all fitness products, Freeletics promised miraculous body transformation.

I started my training in October 2013. But I'm a rational guy, so I wanted to methodically measure my progress and see if the program lives up to its claims. I started this blog as my journal. Recording week after week my results and my mental & physical state. I completed my "official" training program in Feb 2014, but I'm still working out using the method. I will continue to write about my experience with the program. As training becomes more of a routine, I will probably only post monthly instead of weekly. I plan to continue to do body stats updates from time to time, to see if the results last in time. Since I have been getting lots of questions in the comments section of the blog, I will make a few post to address common inquiries.
I am completely independent and do not receive a single cent from Freeletics. If you also train using the Freeletics app, you can find me under the name: Decimus iunius iuvenalis

14 comments:

  1. Hey are you from Romania?

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  2. hi Decimus,

    thank you very much for all information. i really appreciate and respect to your effort to provide us this information. I have a question about your weekly workouts: Are they official workouts generated by Freeletics Coaching System or generated by your own experience?

    Thanks again for this wonderful blog.

    P.S. just started following you in the app.. the user name is "burak veyis".

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    1. Hi Burak,

      The 5 first weeks were the free trials. Unless it changed recently, everyone gets to do the same workouts for the trial.
      Then the 15 weeks after that were generated by the Freeletics coaching system. This part is variable (i.e. everyone gets different workouts, so don't be astonished if you see different people posting different training schedules).

      Now I'm just choosing workouts based on my own experience. I haven't posted them yet, but will do so soon.

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  3. Hi, just started my freeletics program, I have one question atm im at week 4 but i dont now why my pictures taken on week 2 are better than my pictures on week 3 and 4, i look with less weight but last two weeks look like y have gained weight, also my trains are less than yours, the coach sends me less exercise why?

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    1. Hi,

      First of all, be patient.
      I know it would be great if we could trade fat for muscles in a couple weeks, but it doesn't work this way. It takes some time before your body adjust to your increased physical activity. Freeletics say that first results start to appear after 8 weeks. If you go back and look at my old posts, you'll see that I didn't lose much at first.
      If you're in week 4, you're not even at 1/3 of your training plan. So once again, be patient and do all your workouts.
      As a side note, of course be careful about what you eat. You may be training hard, but if you eat a lot of junk food it's not going to help. If your diet is fairly balanced, training will have an impact on your weight.


      Regarding difficulty. I also found that my first weeks were a bit soft. Difficulty increased around weeks 5-6. My guess is that the program is now designed to start smoothly. Probably they don't want to scare people away right from the start.
      If you're the sporty type, and think it's too easy you have several options:

      1. do more training sessions (let's say you do 4 per week, you can ask for 5 days of training)
      2. tell the coach it's "too easy", and difficulty will increase (may be more than what you like!)
      3. do some extra workouts. If the coach only gives you 3/5 Aphrodite to do and you feel you still have lots of energy left go run a few kilometers. Or do pushups. Or do another quick workout on top, like a Metis.

      Just keep in mind: be patient, be disciplined, never give-up and the results will follow.


      My 2 cents.

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    2. thanks mate!!! gonna keep training hard then!!! great blog by the way, gonna keep a close look at it!!

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  4. Hi Decimus,

    Great blog you have!!! I am a guy from the Netherlands, i am 37 year young, and i just discovered Freeletics and started yesterday

    Thank you for your great blog, so many information just great. First i will try the free workouts, week 1 Aphrodite, week 2 Ares, week 3 Dione, week 4 Metis and week 5 Zeus if i reach week 5 ;). I was wondering if i should do a mix of the workouts and how many workouts per week, what do you think i should do. If i like the program after 5 weeks i will buy the coach.

    Love to hear from you and i just started following you in the app.. the user name is "Jenneck van der Wolf"

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    1. Hi Jenneck,

      Thanks for your praises. I'm glad that you find it useful.
      You've got the right approach. You not fooling yourself into telling you that you're too old for this stuff. I'm only a year younger than you, and I'm in a much better shape than I was 5 or even 10 years ago.

      Regarding you should schedule 3 to 5 days of training per week. First week I'd say Aphrodite only, and then it's better to mix workouts. For example Ares is a really short workout, so doing only Ares in a given week would make it "too" easy. You could do Metis+Ares on the same day. Or do Metis or Ares + a few stand alone exercises (like 25 pushups, 50-100 abs, etc.). I'd say make your day worth while and train at least 25-30mn.

      To get some inspiration, have a look at some of my first posts (in 2013), you'll see what I did during my free trial. I only did 3 days per week (as I counted my boxing training as my 4th training day), but now I think it was probably too light.
      On week 5, just for fun you could give a shot the the Hell Week. It's an interesting experience.

      Remember, the first weeks are hard. So if you find it difficult, it's normal. Even with decent physical condition, everyone need to get used to training this way. Good luck & good training!

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  5. Hello Decimus,

    I read several parts of your blog and found it to be very thorough.
    I served in the army for several years and after my service started to neglect my body. I am looking for a method to pick up the pieces again and Freeletics sounds very promising. One thing though I don't understand- what happens after one finishes 15 weeks of training.

    Lets say I paid for the cardio+strength coach. I followed the 15 weeks and my subscription is now over and I do not want to renew it- what happens then?
    I am asking you because on their website it states:
    "....unless you cancel your Paid Subscription through your subscription page before the end of the current subscription period. The cancellation will take effect the day after the last day of the current subscription period, and you will be downgraded to the Free Service of Freeletics"

    What does this downgrade actually mean? You loose all the exercises or just the coach?
    Sorry for the long post but I couldn't seem to find an answer and was hoping you could shed some light on this topic.
    cordialement et chapeau,
    ZZ

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    1. Hello ZZ,

      I'm glad if my blog has been helpful to you.

      The question that you are asking, is something that I had on my mind for a while. I think that I know the answer, but I'm still trying to confirm it. Let me explain what I mean.

      When you download the app (before signing-up), there is a limited number of workouts that are available to you: Aphrodite, and a couple others.
      As soon as you subscribe, the coach starts but at the same time the full range of workouts (Hera, Kentauros, etc) also becomes available. Most people just follow what the coach tells them but let's say you'd want to do an extra workout on top (or instead) of your Coach's program you could pick & choose any workout that you want from the list.
      Apparently, as soon as the subscription ends, you got back to the light version of the app (only Aphrodite and the couple other sample workouts).

      The reason that I'm using conditional sentences, is because I cannot verify this by myself (if you read my blog, you know that I like to see things with my own eyes). When I started, I bought the "Freeletics Pro" app. This premium app is not available for sale anymore, but all the Pro app users have retained an unlimited access to all workouts, regardless if they have a subscription active or not.
      Hence I have to rely on what others tell me.

      Nonetheless I'm 99% sure that my answer above is correct. I got it from a regular reader of my blog who had asked the question directly to the Freeletics support team.

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  6. Hi Decimus,

    Writing to update you on my 10-day pushup challenge which I finished more than a week ago now. Unfortunately it didn't really help me significantly increase my max. However, I was doing standard pushups and not HR pushups. I've noticed that it's definitely my shoulders which are the weakest link. Anyway, I switched to HR pushups and man are they hard. My shoulders really take a beating!

    Never mind, meanwhile I reached another target, which was to do 20 pullups in 1 set. Tomorrow I'll begin using freeletics. I've signed up for 3 months. Wish me luck! I'll be using your PBs as a target :-)

    GF

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  7. Bonsoir Juvenal,
    Merci pour ce super blog plein d'infos supers. As tu un programme abdos aussi ? De plus je me demandais si tu savais comment lalgo assigne les workouts ? J'en suis a week 8 avec toujours les meme exo: Venus / Ares / Hades / Aphrodite / Kentauros ... je commence a me lasser, mais j'ai un peu peur du "Far too easy" ahah ! A tres bientot et merci !

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    1. Bonjour Guillaume,

      Désolé je suis complètement passé à côté de ton commentaire.
      Cela faisait un moment que je voulais poster sur les leg levers, du coup ta question au sujet des abdos m'a motivé pour me poser et l'écrire. Cela devrait te donner des pistes.

      Pour ce qui est de l'algorithme, rien n'est certain. Beaucoup pensent qu'il y a un système de palier. Par exemple tant que tu ne fait pas Aphrodite, disons en-dessous de 45mn, le coach ne propose pas/peu de nouveautés et surtout des workouts partiels.
      Bien entendu si on choisit de se concentrer sur la force, Hades/Venus/Kronos reviennent plus souvent. Si c'est ton cas, tu peux essayer Cardio-Force pendant quelques semaines. Ou rajouter d'autres choses à côté (des séries de climbers ou de la course à pieds).
      Sinon il reste l'option "Far too easy"... :-)

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