10X helped me make it through 3 months of complete lockdown and actually make the best use of what would have previously been my travel time to/from work. I leapt into this quest while I was still completing the Lifebook Quest because my health was my No.1 problem area and while I had been working on the healing and nutrition aspects, I hadn't been working on the fitness side of it much at all. Before this Quest my life was a constant struggle, working a stressful desk job, often with very long hours, while tackling chronic serious health issues, including advanced osteoporosis as naturally as I could. I needed to build physical strength and fitness and the timing was perfect!
During this Quest, while still working 5-6 days a week from home, I alternated between enthusiasm and disappointment (illness/pain-related) but I kept on because I could feel the benefits (even if only incremental) from the very first week. I started from a very low base with knee and back injuries and very little physical strength and could not manage a simple squat at all. By the end of the first week I could do partially supported squats (holding pole) and one full knee push up. From my starting point, that was a pretty good sign.
I learned a lot during this Quest, both from our wonderful guides and teachers, Ronan, Lorenzo and Monique, and occasionally from the tribe as they shared their progress and questions, but also from myself. I really understood, perhaps for the first time, the importance of protein and how to work with caloric intake for strength, fat loss or maintenance. Being a former remedial massage therapist, I know a fair bit about bodies and how they work but there were plenty of "light bulb moments" during this course as things started to really make sense. My thanks to Lorenzo and Ronan for providing so much detail. Great stuff!
I have come a long way during 10X. I still have a long way to go and some of my strength gains have been very modest. Others, however, have been profound. I can now do full squats and, more importantly, can now step up/climb onto things using my legs/torso without having to pull myself up with my arms. That is very real progress! Hurray!
My body taught me a lot (as it always does) during this Quest. I was surprised how easy some of the progress was... and how utterly difficult some other movements were. Most surprising of all though was just how much I really enjoyed and relied on the daily videos. I am a fairly introverted person who both needs and likes a lot of alone time. I can be disciplined at times and am used to being self-motivated. I have done years of training previously on my own without need for input so I really did not expect tuning in to this Quest each day to be so motivating. I really missed the daily input and encouragement in the final couple of weeks. I understand why the videos tapered off but damn, I really did miss you guys :)
My strength training/fitness quest continues... not least because I will be joining the very next class and doing it all over again (at a slightly higher level, of course). Thanks to everyone involved in this Quest. Extra thanks to Ronan, in particular, for being so damned enthusiastic and encouraging. More please! :)