After five days in paradise and having said farewell to the majority of our group, I thought I’d take a moment to sit down and make some notes about the learnings and experiences that we enjoyed together.

So without further ado, here are five takeaways from our time here in Boracay with Tim.

1. Your body is incredibly powerful and able. For me, this summarised the training. Tim taught us how to access our bodies, and to use our breath and our minds in order to create dramatic improvements in our output. 

2. The manual is just the beginning! I already knew this, and have been benefiting from Tim’s programming in my own training, but seeing his hinge, squat, and infinity progressions in person were fantastic. He shared it with us here, but I’m sure these progressions will find their way to the Original Strength YouTube channel so I won’t mess with them too much.

3. 21’s. So I had already been planning to start a new class at the gym, but this retreat has changed the nature of that class slightly. Tim introduced us to a concept called 21’s, and as far as I can tell, this could be a sequence that ripples through the industry. For those who are interested, our class program at 6am on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays will be following the 21 template. We are going to feel very great, and very strong!

4. The people make the event. We had a spectacularly great group of people. They participated really well, were great to spend time with, and all enjoyed both the activities and each other’s company. I really enjoyed spending time snorkelling, swimming, training, and eating with these guys. They’ve set a very high bar for future participants!

5. There’s something magical about time away, and it dovetailed perfectly with the training. This week has been all about restoration for the participants. Physical, mental, emotional, the whole deal. Seeing people creating space and then being empowered by the learning and the training was really cool. We aren't made to become old and brittle, and time spent resetting on every level is such a huge deal.

6. The Ati School. It was really special going to the Ati school and hanging out with the kids there. It was both humbling and inspiring at the same time. Inspiring to see the work that the team are doing there to take kids out of struggling communities and giving them an education that will help them to have hope and a better future. Humbling to realise how much we have and take for granted. $150 can feed their whole school for almost a month... Watch this space in the future. I’m hoping that we can do something as a community to help support the great work that they’re doing here.

7. Boracay is kind of nice. It’s been pretty incredible watching the sun set over the water each evening, and swimming at the beach each morning. Our host, Clod, has been amazing and has helped us to enjoy the environment and the local culture, but the whole place is just a bit spectacular. 

So that’s a bit of an overview of our week. It’s a little rambly, but hopefully it gives you some insight to the activities that we’ve gotten up to this week just past. I’ve already started to plan the next couple of these, so, hopefully you’ll be able to make it to the next one that we organise!