Eric Leija - Primal Fitness 4+

5+ star content, delivery needs improvement

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.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for the review and for adding what needs improvement! I appreciate the feedback!

1. We have addressed a lot for the bugs I believe you're talking about. If you're still having issues you can email me at support@ericleija.com and the team will be happy to assist you!
2. There are only 2 types of workouts on the app, follow along workouts and the circuit workouts. You can easily tell the circuit workouts (like the daily workouts) as you'll see the download button with the workout descripton, list of tools, etc.
3.I will have the dev team look into this as it's a feature we unfortunately don't currenly offer.
4. Those workout times are for the average user to complete based on my coaching experience. Some might be a bit off depending on your fitness level but for most when you include the joint mobility and the decompression should be accurate. I apologize if it's a bit off for you.
5. I will work on being more active on the FB page and inform the team to do so as well.

Thanks again for your feedback and we'll work to get everything sorted to make your experience on the app as good as it can possibly be!

Quarantine Beast Mode

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!

Almost amazing

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.

Developer Response ,

Thanks for the reivew and for your feedback! While downloading the workout there is an overview of the workout and a description you can see of the entire workout. We have also removed all of the music that was previously on the videos so you can listen to whatever music you love to workout to. I will take the rest of your feedback to the dev team and see what we can get added for you.

I hope you're still enjoying the workouts and if you need anything else please feel free to reach out at support@ericleija.com.