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827 points surgomat | 19 comments | | HN request time: 1.594s | source | bottom

I was the main contributor to workout.lol, an open-source fitness app to easily build a workout routine. The project had traction (1.4k GitHub stars, 95 forks, ~20K visits/month), but was eventually sold due to video licensing hurdles. The new owner stopped maintaining it, and the repo went abandoned.

Over the next 9 months, I sent 15 emails to try to save it : no replies. Feature requests & issues were ignored. The community was left with a "broken" tool let's say.

I couldn't just let it die So I built the new version from scratch with the same open-source spirit, but a better architecture long-term vision, more features and no license problems.

It's called : Workout.cool (https://workout.cool). What it offers: 100% open-source, MIT-licensed - 1200+ exercises (with videos, attributes, translations) - Progress tracking - Multilingual-ready - Self-hostable

I'm not doing this for money. I'm doing it because I believe in open fitness tools, and I’ve been passionate about strength training for 15+ years.

If this resonates with you, feel free to: - Star the repo - Share with fitness/tech friends - Suggest features - Contribute code/design/docs

Together, we can build the open-source fitness platform we all wanted to easily build a workout routine and get in shape

Website: https://workout.cool GitHub: https://github.com/Snouzy/workout-cool

1. Vincenius ◴[] No.44310697[source]
Oh funny to see it here. I'm the original author of workout.lol.

I sold the app to a guy who seemed to just abandoned it. I also texted him multiple times if he needs support, but he didn't answer anymore. It makes me really happy to see it being maintained again!

Great work on the UI improvements.

replies(3): >>44310981 #>>44311211 #>>44311281 #
2. surgomat ◴[] No.44310981[source]
Ohoh ! Vincenius !!

You have no idea how happy I was when I saw your name pop up ahahha

Yeah, no luck either. It really broke my heart to see the project stall like that.

That's what pushed me to rebuild everything, keeping the same open spirit you had from day one.

Thanks a lot for the kind words about the UI it means a lot coming from you.

And if you ever feel like jumping back in (I totally get that it might be tricky, especially since you sold the original project and this one is so close) but you’d always be welcome.

Your input, ideas, or even just your presence would mean a lot !

Cheers !

replies(1): >>44314949 #
3. repeekad ◴[] No.44311211[source]
So… someone in the industry bought it hoping to stop a free alternative from getting popular? Wonder what will happen to this one
replies(2): >>44311517 #>>44316172 #
4. gnarlouse ◴[] No.44311281[source]
This is SO COOL!!!

I’ve been working on an automated calendar scheduling api that integrates with Apple CalDAV (iCal) that lets you schedule your life around goals (it uses Google OrTools to solve a great big CP-SAT constraint model blazing fast, a year in under 5 seconds), along with meal planning around macro goals. I knew I wanted to integrate a workout/training plan system but had no idea what component I’d end up using.

Now I know! Thanks for building this project.

replies(2): >>44311394 #>>44365954 #
5. surgomat ◴[] No.44311394[source]
Thanks mate.

I'd love to hear more about your setup and if Workout.cool can fit as a "component" let's say? in your system, that's exactly the kind of use case I built it for. Open, hackable, and easy to plug into more powerful workflows. GG !

6. koakuma-chan ◴[] No.44311517[source]
From what I can see this is AI generated, and it doesn't work when you press continue.
replies(2): >>44311808 #>>44311996 #
7. xeromal ◴[] No.44311808{3}[source]
lmao
8. repeekad ◴[] No.44311996{3}[source]
I think the servers can’t handle the high traffic from HN, you can clone the repo and run your own
replies(2): >>44312074 #>>44312167 #
9. surgomat ◴[] No.44312074{4}[source]
Yeah, HN hit hard earlier lol, we are now on the 2nd place so things should start calming down now (or no, lol), btw the app is already back up and running normally again!

Sorry for that

10. koakuma-chan ◴[] No.44312167{4}[source]
> I think the servers can’t handle the high traffic from HN

It appears to be hosted on Vercel...

replies(1): >>44312895 #
11. surgomat ◴[] No.44312895{5}[source]
database*
12. higgins ◴[] No.44314949[source]
yo @dang, a section on HN for missed-tech-connections would be RAAAAAAAAAD
replies(1): >>44315243 #
13. dang ◴[] No.44315243{3}[source]
What do you have in mind?
replies(1): >>44315362 #
14. iKlsR ◴[] No.44315362{4}[source]
Could be a new tab "collab" or something to do with joint work maybe, one could post a site, repo or detail a past work experience and anyone who was around or passed thru could reconnect, discuss stuff and share anecdotes. Thinking long dead internal faang tools, stuff like op's post, abandoned repos, old shareware etc. Could also be a place to find cofounders or people interested in starting or working on stuff together.
replies(1): >>44317048 #
15. Vincenius ◴[] No.44316172[source]
I don't think that the guy who bought it was from the industry. In our talks, he really seemed interested in growing the project - but maybe I'm just naive.

If he really wanted to stop the project, he should've put the repository on private and put down the website, but he just left everything the same as it was.

replies(1): >>44320681 #
16. withinboredom ◴[] No.44317048{5}[source]
That would be interesting to see. Kinda like a tell-hn, but for old/abandoned projects? I've worked on a few of those internal projects (such as time-traveling vector db for ML tools back in '19), and stuff like that.

Dunno how useful it would actually be, but an interesting thought.

replies(1): >>44317300 #
17. benchly ◴[] No.44317300{6}[source]
I would be into this. I'm basically trying to teach myself development by doing things with abandoned projects I find interesting. While nothing I do is even remotely production-ready, it would be cool to pair with someone more experienced to gain better understanding and perspective since it seems remarkably hard to find a mentor.
18. nashashmi ◴[] No.44320681{3}[source]
The growing anxiety of faltering commitments! I know the feeling.
19. Equivocal0485 ◴[] No.44365954[source]
this sounds really cool! would love to hear more about it. I've been hacking something like this together by hand. Send me a message!