For someone who had never entered a gym, especially because of a preconceived notion that 'you need to be fit to be able to use a gym', busting that myth and recognizing that 'starting small and progressing to one's capacity' is the mantra was the biggest takeaway. Of course, to start at a home gym, to get the basics like the form and the grip right made it a comfortable learning experience. The home gym made it possible to stay focused and spend quality time in building the muscle memory.I especially liked the diversity of the program, exposing one to various exercise forms and what impact it can drive, while still following the Pareto principle. The diversity kept me intrigued each morning, and boosted my morale tiny little bit at the end of the day. 

 

The diet was great in terms of nutritional value. To set goals and daily calorie targets at the start of the course makes it easier to tell your body what to expect and when(IF). The tracker really helped to frequently review the impact of a certain meal, to workout meal combinations, decide on when to supplement with whey protein and analyze the bodily changes holistically - exercise and diet. The diversity of the menu was good and again, gave me insights into cooking according to one's diet plan.

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I believe the deepest impact of the course is on the mental strength. Without this aspect addressed, I consider it futile to attempt any of the aspects of the course, be it the cold and hot exposures, the dead lift or the hip thrust, and of course, the fasts. Every aspect of every activity was definitely hitting the mental strength, sometimes explicitly, otherwise subtle. Be it singing during ice immersion, doing a 45 minute meditation in sauna, progressing close to body weight dead lift or giving up on a junk food craving, everything was only possible because of the mental fortitude. The key driver to make all of these possible during the course was the lead by example aspect of enabling the client. When I see you do it, I believe I can do it. And to know that you know what you are suggesting, makes you believe that you are under safe supervision and it is absolutely okay to try, fail, and try again. I personally believe your mental strength rubbed off on me.

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The benefits of having attended the online course before the residential course was best felt in the theory classes. Along with a revision of the details from the online course, to go a level deeper, be it on exercise science, nutrition or lifestyle cemented the understanding of the recommendations from the belief system that Somarasa lives by. The residential course advantage was that discussions and clarifications were not limited to the class schedule and any such follow-up discussions busted few more myths and opened up more aspects for discussions. I am grateful that all my questions were answered without any assumptions around what may be obvious. I thoroughly enjoyed these discussions. 

 

The biggest gain from the course would definitely be the mindset change, of challenging the accepted normal with research based evidence. .  

 

In the 30 day duration, I was able to see measurable changes and that is a significant milestone to be able to look forward from. 

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