# Achim Loobes

> Personal website of Achim Loobes (born 1969), an independent iOS developer and UI/UX designer from Mönchengladbach, Germany, and the creator of VigiGym, a minimal workout app for iPhone and Apple Watch. The site is one long scrolling page written in the first person about how he thinks and works: reduction, discipline, and the Batman Effect. It is a personal portrait, not a commercial or agency site.

The site exists in two languages. English is the default and lives at the root. German lives under `/de/` and is the original the English was translated from. There is no blog, no shop, no contact form, and no newsletter. The whole site is one page per language, plus a German-only legal page.

Recurring ideas, in his own terms:

- **Foundation over Facade.** He takes things apart to understand what holds them up, and builds from the inside out.
- **The Batman Effect.** Self-distancing, the psychological technique of acting from the perspective of a competent other, documented by White, Kross, and Duckworth (2017). He uses it deliberately.
- **Earned, not bought.** Training and discipline as a daily decision rather than a matter of motivation.
- **Breskens.** A coastal town in the Netherlands on the North Sea, where he has returned for over fifty years. It functions as his fixed point, and roughly a third of the site is about it.

Biographical facts: born 1969 on the Lower Rhine, first code on a Commodore 64, later Atari ST, Amiga, then Mac. First HTML page in 1996. INTJ. He also goes by Vigilant. Taglines: "Independent | Intense | IntroNerd | INTJ" and "Form follows discipline".

## Pages

- [Achim Loobes (English)](https://www.achimloobes.com/): The complete one-page site. Everything below is a section of this page.
- [Achim Loobes (German)](https://www.achimloobes.com/de/): The same content in German.
- [Legal notice and privacy](https://www.achimloobes.com/de/impressum/): German only. There is no English version of the legal texts.

## Sections of the page

- [Between the lines](https://www.achimloobes.com/#person): Who he is. Born 1969, self-taught, works where structure meets silence.
- [Foundation over Facade](https://www.achimloobes.com/#SecondSection): Why he builds slowly and from the inside out. Principles over trends.
- [I decode myself](https://www.achimloobes.com/#PhilosophySection): Self-analysis, INTJ, why he understands computers, and what he calls his shadow.
- [Inside my head](https://www.achimloobes.com/#BrainSection): Six recurring worlds: code, body, shadow, sea, cosmos, mind.
- [Out of my head. Into the world](https://www.achimloobes.com/#CodingSection): His path through computing from the C64 to AI, and where VigiGym came from.
- [VigiGym](https://www.achimloobes.com/#VigiGymSection): The app he built and why. Reduction with intent.
- [It stays a decision](https://www.achimloobes.com/#GymSection): Training, will, and endurance. Why he does not believe in motivation.
- [The Batman Effect](https://www.achimloobes.com/#DiciplinSection): The research behind self-distancing, plus his three terms: will, discipline, consistency.
- [Becoming the man my younger self would be so proud of](https://www.achimloobes.com/#BatmanSection): The most personal passage on the site. Turning crisis into strength.
- [Where silence rages, I stand my ground](https://www.achimloobes.com/#LighthouseSection): Limits, and what they show him.
- [What remains when the storm has passed](https://www.achimloobes.com/#RainSection): Breskens as a place of restless peace.
- [About Breskens](https://www.achimloobes.com/#BreskensSection): Why the town is an anchor rather than a holiday spot.

## Projects

- [VigiGym](https://www.vigigym.com): A minimal workout tracker for iPhone and Apple Watch, designed and built by Achim Loobes. Sets, reps, weight, target muscles, no ads and no gamification.
- [VigiGym on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/app/6748325582): The app itself.

## Optional

- [GitHub](https://github.com/der-Vigilant): Code, under the handle der-Vigilant.
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/achim-loobes-38322b64)
- [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/achimloobes/)
- [X](https://x.com/AchimL)
- [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@achimloobes)
- [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/achimloobes/)
- [Pinterest](https://www.pinterest.de/achim)
- [Quora](https://de.quora.com/profile/Achim-Loobes)