Skip to contentCan I be honest? I’m naturally sceptical of “miracle” anything. The diet industry is awash with quick-fixes claiming to make this whole fitness thing a walk in the park. So I have to admit, the promise of a “dream body” by doing LESS exercise, set a few alarm bells ringing.
After all, we’re taught that the harder you work in life, the better the results.
But the big idea with Mindvalley’s “10x Fitness” is that rather than work harder, you work smarter. So smart in fact that you only have to do two 15-minute workouts per week.
But can it really be that easy? Read my honest review of 10x Fitness to find out what I really thought about it.
My verdict in a nutshell
Is Mindvalley’s 10X Fitness worth it?
This program brings together science-based fitness theory and practice in a holistic, comprehensive and digestible program.
If you’re keen to improve your fitness and are willing to stick to the program, I’d say that 10x Fitness is worth it.
What is 10x Fitness?
10x Fitness is a 12-week health program with trainers Ronan Oliveira and Lorenzo Delano on Mindvalley.
The promise: Transform your body into the best version that it can be in 10% of the time —cutting out 90% of your usual exercise.
It’s a pretty bold claim. One that they say is backed up by cutting edge science.
During the 10x Fitness program you:
- Go to the gym or work out at home twice a week for 15 minutes each time.
- Learn ‘hyper-optimized work-outs’ which promise that for every minute you spend working out you’re getting 10 times the results (hence the name 10x Fitness).
- Build on your workouts each week as you grow stronger during the 12-week program.
- Combine your training with eating and sleep habits to support your recovery and increase your results over time.
- Learn different variations of each exercise depending on where you exercise and the equipment you have available.
- Are taught the science of working out optimally: stimulating muscle, improving strength, increasing longevity.
This isn’t just pitched as another run-of-the-mill workout program. It’s more than that. It’s about arming you with the knowledge that they claim will turn you into a fitness expert.
I guess it’s like the old proverb, “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”.
You’re not just being fed an optimal workout routine, you’re taught the “why” behind the methods so that you can apply them yourself.
It also goes past just physical training and includes nutrition and sleep too.
What is Mindvalley?
Before delving deeper into the 10x Fitness program, I think it’s probably worth explaining more about who Mindvalley are—the creators of this program.
Mindvalley is an online education platform. The courses—which are called “quests”— all focus on personal development.
It’s really taken off in recent years and their website says they now have over 10 million students around the globe.
The company was founded in 2002 by former silicon valley techie Vishen Lakhiani. Suffering from stress and burnout he went on his own quest of self-improvement.
After taking up advanced meditation and learning effective techniques for a happier, healthier life, he created Mindvalley to take on the mainstream education system.
Mindvalley is everything you didn’t learn in school—but when you think about it you probably should have—about how to live a better life.
The quests cover all areas of life including mind, body, performance, relationships, soul, work, parenting and even things like entrepreneurship.
Topics are varied and you’ll find everything from mastering authentic networking, to Chakra healing and understanding your money EQ (your money emotional state).
There’s a distinct spiritual overtone to Mindvalley content, but the teachings are all science-based too.
Courses —or quests—are led by instructors who are world experts in their field with plenty of well-known names like hypnotherapist Marisa Peer, the author of the New York Times bestseller ‘Limitless’ Jim Kwik and motivational speaker Lisa Nichols.
There are currently over 30 programs available, which you can either buy individually or choose to sign up for an ‘All-Access Pass’ —which works out as better value if you plan to do more than one course. But I’ll talk more about that later.
Why I decided to try 10x Fitness
I was really excited about doing this program. I wouldn’t say I’m unfit but there’s definitely room for improvement.
I’ve never really been a big fan of gyms, but I’m a qualified yoga instructor, I surf and I try to move my body as much as possible.
But I don’t have a strict fitness regime and there are plenty of times when my good intentions over both exercise and diet completely go out of the window. I’m also 38 now and have noticed the older I get the harder it feels to keep weight off.
So the promise of improved health and a better body with so little workout time, who wouldn’t be intrigued.
I’m obviously not a scientist but what they taught did make sense. I can see how a shift of focus from quantity to quality of exercise makes all the difference.
I mean, you can study all day long in an ineffective way and end up learning far less than if you study for far shorter periods of time using proven memory techniques that improve learning. So, it seems logical that the same applies to the body as it does the brain.
I can see why 15 minutes of effective exercise is worth more than hours of ineffective exercise.
How does 10x Fitness work and why is it different?
The 10x Fitness program was developed over several years and uses the science behind the human body’s adaptive response mechanism to develop optimal exercise routines.
As far fetched as it may sound, Mindvalley looked at how our ancestors handled intense environments and activities when they were fleeing dangerous predators.
Apparently it’s by tapping into that same built-in evolutionary response in the body that allows this program to uplevel your fitness tenfold.
The program combines building lean muscle mass, fat-burning, cardiovascular fitness, and anti-aging in one complete system.
Who is 10x Fitness for?
You could say that 10x Fitness is technically for anyone who wants to improve their health and appearance, without having to put in several hours at the gym every week. Although, who doesn’t want that?!
But I think this program will especially appeal to busy people.
I don’t have kids, I live a single life, I work for myself and set my own schedule, but I still often find that exercise quickly falls down my priority list.
So if finding time for working out is tricky for you, then reducing your workout time by 90% is going to be a total gamechanger.
There are plenty of people out there who would love to improve their health, but after waking up at 5 am with a toddler, driving to work for 9 hours, sitting in rush hour traffic and tackling a never-ending to-do list of chores—they don’t want to hear the reason they’re out of shape is that they haven’t “made time” for fitness.
As well as those living busy lives, I also think you’ll love this program if you are generally interested in learning about your body and the science behind working out effectively.
Even if you are already a bit of a fitness pro who’s simply curious about ways to increase your results, you’re going to get a lot out of this too.
Finally, if you want to cut out those grueling routines—perhaps you’re older and looking for a less intensive way to workout—you’ll find this program refreshing change from a lot of the sweaty routines out there.
Who won’t like 10x Fitness?
Even though your workout time will be greatly reduced, this program isn’t a quick-fix or a lazy option for getting healthy.
We all want to be in great shape and have good looking bodies, but not always enough to drag our ass out of bed an hour early every morning or make better diet choices.
This isn’t a miracle cure—which for me actually adds to its credibility because in reality there’s no such thing.
Yes, you still have to work to see results. Although you aren’t spending hours at the gym working out, you do have to watch short videos, take little tests and be open to learning new ways of taking care of your body.
It doesn’t take a lot of time, but you probably won’t like 10x fitness if you’re not prepared to put in some effort and commitment. This isn’t one of those programs that promise to abracadabra you to perfect health.
You also might find it frustrating if you have zero interest in learning about fitness techniques and the “why” behind your workout. A lot of this course relies on understanding how to get the most from your exercise. So it might not be for you if you just want to get straight down to working out and don’t really care about that.
Who are the 10x trainers?
Lorenzo Delano
The brains behind 10x Fitness is Lorenzo Delano. He’s an exercise physiologist and educational psychologist who helped design a lot of Mindvalley’s most successful programs.
The story goes that Mindvalley creator Vishen Lakhiani was so impressed by his buff colleague that he couldn’t believe it when he discovered he spent hardly any time working out.
Over several years all that Lorenzo Delano had learned about optimal fitness was developed into this program to share the “secret” of getting fit in just 30 minutes a week with the rest of the world.
Ronan Diego de Oliveira
If Lorenzo is the brains of 10x Fitness then Ronan is definitely the face of 10x Fitness. Head of Health & Fitness at Mindvalley he presents your training videos in the 12-week program.
How much does 10x Fitness cost?
You can only access 10x Fitness through the Mindvalley online platform. You have a couple of options.
If you buy the 10x Fitness program through this link, you can get it for $399 (at the time of writing). For that price, you get lifetime access to the entire program. But if you think you might be interested in taking some of Mindvalley’s other programs you should consider buying an All Access Pass instead.
It costs $499 a year and unlocks 30+ quests on the website. So for $100 more, you can do most of the other programs on the website too. It’s worth noting that some programs—like Lifebook Online, Wildfit, and Unlimited Abundance—aren’t included with the pass.
If you are going to buy 10x Fitness, it’s definitely worth browsing the other quests first to see if they interest you. As soon as you take a couple of the programs, it usually works out cheaper to go for the All Access Pass.
What’s included in 10x Fitness
You get a lot of bang for your buck. There’s a lot of content in the 12-week course as well extra support. Here’s everything you get:
- 12 weeks of varied video content/lessons from coaches Lorenzo Delano and Ronan Oliveira.
- In depth instructions for all of the core exercises you learn.
- Four live Group Coaching Calls with the Mindvalley Health & Fitness team.
- Lifetime access to the entire program and all bonuses
- Continued support from lifetime access to the 10x online Student Community.
- Access to the course material across all your devices—including desktop, tablet, and Apple TV.
- Access to the Mindvalley smartphone app which is handy if you’re away from home.
How is 10x Fitness structured? Here’s what to expect…
Running over 12 weeks there are four distinct parts to this course:
Part 1: Week one starts with an introduction to the core exercises and philosophies you’ll use throughout the program. You also take some tests to get a clear picture of where your fitness levels are currently at.
What you’ll learn: The 6 core exercises of the 10x methodology, the right way to work out to maximise results and how to do a body assessment.
Part 2: During weeks 2-4 is when the transformation stage begins and when you start using exercise routines to trigger your body’s adaptive response in 15 minutes workout sessions, twice a week.
What you’ll learn: How to use the core exercise routines in a way that best works for you, how to eat for fitness, the differences between optimal training for men and women and how to increase weights the right way.
Part 3: Weeks 5-9 are dedicated to sculpting the body. During this time you go deeper into more advanced concepts including; specific muscle groups, daily rituals and workout intensity.
What you’ll learn: 9 additional optimized exercises that cover all your muscle groups, advanced intensity techniques for 10x-ing your strength, how to burn fat & gain muscle at the same time and why the common approach to ‘tone’ your muscles doesn’t work and what to do instead.
Part 4: The final stages from weeks 10-12 are about incorporating all you have learned into a 10x lifestyle that you can maintain, so that it comes naturally rather than feeling like a struggle.
What you’ll learn: Personalizing your perfect 10x workout—including a nutrition plan— that is customized to your fitness goals and lifestyle and how to optimize your recovery window with sleep.
The pros and cons of 10x Fitness
The Pros:
- You don’t just learn what to do to improve your fitness, you learn why you’re doing it.
- It’s a holistic fitness program that factors in nutrition and sleep as well as exercise. We humans love to compartmentalise things, but life isn’t like that. Surely it’s no use pumping iron for 3 hours a day but eating burgers every night for dinner.
- It takes a personal approach. I really don’t like the “one-size fits nobody” template that many online learning programs seem to take. We are all different; genetically, in personality and in lifestyle. The program takes this into account and offers variations to suit the individual.
- You’re more likely to commit to getting fit if you sign up to the program rather than trying to go it alone. One of the challenging things about creating a workout regime is finding the self-discipline to actually do it. It’s a fact that anything we pay for, we’re more likely to show up for.
- You’re given quite a lot of information but it’s delivered in small and digestible tasks and videos that fit around regular life. Mindvalley says that their programs are designed that way based on scientific evidence of how we most effectively learn—which could be the reason the platform has a 333% better completion rate than industry average.
- You can track your progress with spreadsheets and workbooks that are provided to help keep you organised.
The Cons:
- You need to buy some basic equipment before you get started. There’s nothing complicated on the list; dumbbells, resistance bands and a pull up-bar. So it does require a bit of effort before you even get started. You could quite easily argue that if you aren’t prepared to make that effort in the beginning, it doesn’t bode well for your overall commitment to the program.
- The program says it’s designed for working out either in the gym or at home, but personally I felt like it might work better at a gym where there’s more equipment available.
- You do have to dedicate more time to the program than the 30 minutes per week of exercise. There are short lessons, videos, tasks and tests to complete. But saying that learning will take some time and effort isn’t really the biggest shock revelation.
Other Mindvalley programs that you might like
If you’re interested in improving your fitness, then you might also like these other body-related programs on Mindvalley:
Total Transformation Training is a 28-day program with celebrity fitness expert Christine Bullock that promises to transform your body in 7 minutes a day. Split into seven sections, you’ll learn foundation, cardio, bodyweight, power, static, mountaineer and core workouts.
Advanced Home Workouts is a great choice if you don’t have access to, or simply don’t like the gym. It’s a shorter 7-day program that says it will dramatically increase your strength, endurance and mobility.
The Longevity Blueprint is a 7-week training that focuses on up-levelling your health and longevity. Rather than gruelling workouts, it promotes 5-20 minutes a day to recondition the body and improve your overall wellness.
Does 10x Fitness work?
A quick glance at the Mindvalley website and you will find plenty of 10x Fitness testimonials —complete with those jaw-dropping transformation pictures that leave you wondering if that could be you, or if it’s too good to be true.
The honest truth is that whether it works is ultimately up to you.
The program may claim to use science to help you get the most out of your workout, but at the end of the day, it’s still down to you to learn how and then actually do it.
The verdict: What I really thought of 10x Fitness, Is it worth it?
If you’re keen to improve your fitness and are willing to stick to the program, I’d say that 10x Fitness is worth it.
Obviously, if you already know that you won’t do the work, then it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it isn’t going to do a lot.
You’re given a lot of quality information, content and resource materials that makes it good value for money.
Whilst I didn’t feel like I heard anything totally groundbreaking during 10x Fitness, it introduced me to new concepts, ideas and ways of doing things.
This program brings together science-based fitness theory and practice in a holistic, comprehensive and digestible program.