I was 143 lbs at 6′0″. And I had stopped respecting myself.
This is how a few push-ups on the floor of my place turned into a body, a business, and a mission. And why GLADIUS exists.
A complicated period of my life. Very little self-respect.
I had lost weight without even trying. I didn't take care of my body, and honestly, I didn't feel I deserved to. The number on the scale said everything I didn't want to say out loud.
at 6′0″
I decided to take myself back in hand.
No big plan. No perfect program. Just a decision, and the start of keeping my word to myself again. Three fronts at the same time:
It started with push-ups.
Push-ups were the simplest thing I could do every single day. No gym, no excuse. And they did something I didn't expect: they made me disciplined.
Every rep was something I didn't feel like doing, done anyway. Day after day, doing the hard thing got easier. Every promise kept became proof. And that proof spilled into everything else: my work, my choices, the way I showed up. Which made me come back the next day.
Same man. Different standard.
33 pounds built one day at a time, on a 6′0″ frame. But the real change isn't on the photo. It's the trust I rebuilt in myself, rep after rep, every time I did what I said I would do.
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From a room full of boxes.
The same discipline went into work. I launched an e-commerce brand and packed the first orders myself, in a room like this one. Two years of work later:
It worked. I had the things success is supposed to bring. But it didn't have the meaning I wanted to give my life.
Money changed my options. It didn't answer the question I kept coming back to: what am I actually building, and for whom?
Cracking the brain to become a better version of yourself.
In parallel, I became obsessed with one question: why do we know what to do, and still don't do it? I dove into neuroscience, biohacking, habit formation. Everything about rewiring your brain to become someone you're proud of.
Not an app. A discipline ecosystem.
More than two years of thinking, testing and refining, side by side with the business. GLADIUS brings together what I learned on the floor, in business and in the research, and pushes it further, to create the biggest possible positive effect on people.
We start with push-ups. Because that's where it all started for me.
Alexis joins the project.
Alexis optimizes everything in his life that can be optimized: sleep, training, nutrition, health. He trains relentlessly and loves discipline for what it builds.
He studied computer science and built a SaaS on the side. Today we build GLADIUS together, as co-founders and partners, and he leads everything technical.
Two obsessions. One mission.
Every day. No exceptions.
Alexis trains every single day. He spent years boxing, and for years now he has been training MMA. That is where his discipline comes from.
Combat teaches you what GLADIUS is built on: you show up, you take the hits, and you come back tomorrow.
The loop never stopped. Now it's pull-ups.
Same rule as the first day: show up, do the reps, keep the promise. Push-ups opened the door. Pull-ups are the next level, and pull-up tracking is already being built into GLADIUS.
The push-up is the first rep. The vision is immense.
The app
Every push-up counted by the camera. One promise a day. Proof that you show up.
NowOur products
Tools and gear designed for discipline, built by us.
NextOur research
Our own scientific research on discipline, habits and self-trust.
NextEnvironments
Complete environments designed to make showing up the default.
NextEvents
Moments to meet, test yourself and push further together.
NextCommunity
People who keep their word, side by side. Armies led by creators.
NextAn identity
A standard you can recognise. FORGE YOURSELF.
AlwaysAnd more
Whatever helps people become who they want to be.
AheadForge yourself.
I'm not asking you to become someone else. I'm asking you to keep one promise today. Then another one tomorrow. That's how it started for me.
DorianCo-founder of GLADIUS