Eric Leija - Primal Fitness

I’ve been using this app for daily workouts for about 4 months now. In my review I distinguish between the workout content and the technical delivery. The content is the best I’ve found. Exceeds 5 stars. Eric’s workouts are challenging, diverse, flexible, educational, etc. Any superlative you can think of - the workouts have it. I especially like the mobility/recovery workouts and how there is a (different) workout for 6/7 days of the week. There were KB moves I was afraid to try but Eric has educational videos that breakdown the moves. I’m happy I got the yearly subscription. The excellent content is handicapped by the app delivery. I see lots of room for improvement there: 1) Thus far, the monthly release updates have had various bugs - I don’t think there’s sufficient regression testing. 2) It should be easy to identify if a workout is a full follow-along or not. 3) The workout real-time displays should report progress with more granularity - e.g. workout 2/3 complete, rounds 1/4 complete. 4) full workout times should be accurate - they always say 60mins but many times it’s more like 45mins, sometimes even 30mins. 5) option to silence the app’s music, so it doesn’t compete with one’s personal playlist choices. 6) Last point for this review, more engagement from the admins and Eric on the FB page.

I’m almost in love with this app. Leija makes some of the most amazing workouts i’ve ever done. I am speaking specifically to the 8 Week simple savage course i’ve purchased. i love the workouts, but have paused the program for myself because i don’t like using the app for it. i wish there was an easier way to check out the whole workout without having to go through all the videos. I hate that i can’t use my own music and have to listen to tribal drums or whatever sound was chosen for each video accompaniment clip. The music choice isn’t awful but it’s repetitive. Realistically, i imagine a large percentage of people following along are doing so from their phones and it’s just not that optimized for the phone. i’d love 2 options- one where you watch every video, and one where you just have a timer built in and exercise/rep counts i can read and do myself. Click on the movements for tutorial clips if i need. Some of the sets go for 5-10 rounds, which is totally fine but having to keep the app open (can’t put it in my pocket and keep my spot/timing in the workout) the whole time and listen to the music and the “let’s go!” before each round really makes me not want to do the workout. I say all this because I REALLY want to run these Leija programs and use the app, but as it stands now i’d rather just read through the workouts, write em down and do it myself.

First off, I want to say how grateful I am for the insane amount of free content Eric puts out. I started doing some of his workouts during the three and a half months I was stuck at home with a few kettle bells and dumbbells. His emphasis on form and the active recoveries are above and beyond anything I’ve done. After using free content for a couple of weeks I gladly purchased the 8 week single kettle Bell program and couldn’t be happier. I will say it was a little clunky on the website but the app has GREATLY streamlined everything. I see a lot of people complaining about two things: Eric not doing the entire workout on video. And having to go in and out of videos during the workout. I couldn’t disagree more. I personally would NEVER want to watch a video for my entire workout. I workout outside a lot and switch things up. The modularity offered by breaking the workouts up into different work sets is awesome in my opinion. After I learn the different work sets I have been putting together my own workouts and have incredible freedom in doing so. I always decide what I’m going to do ahead of time and keep a journal/log. Eric is teaching you HOW to work out. If you’re looking to copy someone for 45 minutes there are hundreds of other (lesser) videos out there. The usability of the app and the ridiculous amount of content and the constant stream of new stuff coupled with the quality easily warrants 5 stars. Just download it already!