Shorter days, cold snaps and packed holiday calendars don’t exactly set the stage for feeling your best — physically or mentally. Between cozy cocktails, extra slices of pie, late nights and a never-ending to-do list, consistency tends to slip right along with daylight. That’s why January often arrives with a jolt of motivation: a collective reset sparked by habits that felt festive in the fall but start to feel less sustainable come winter. But what if that reset didn’t have to wait?
Enter Winter Arc — a viral fitness trend that seems to laugh in the face of winter’s darker, more sluggish months. Instead of pressing pause until January, it asks a different question: What if you put your mental and physical well-being first now? And what could that look like when everyone else is waiting for the new year to begin?
It would look a lot like the Winter Arc Challenge.
What is the Winter Arc Challenge?
So what exactly is the Winter Arc Challenge? Lindsey Bomgren, a certified personal trainer and founder of Nourish Move Love, an online publishing company that creates free home workouts for women, explains its origins. “The term winter arc comes from Gen Z slang on TikTok and plays off the idea of a ‘character arc’ [or] the growth or transformation a character experiences in a story.”
To take part in the challenge, you don’t need to follow any exact schedule or strict rules. “The Winter Arc is a season of focused, personal growth that runs through late fall and winter. Most people follow it for around 12 weeks from October 1st to December 31st, but you can start at any time.”
What’s most important is that you pick up at least one new healthy habit and stick to it. “It is designed to be customizable,” Ms. Bomgren affirms. “Although there are no set rules you must follow during the Winter Arc Challenge, most people choose new habits that prioritize training, recovery, nutrition, mindset and lifestyle goals.”
To stay focused and committed, you might want to reflect on what new fitness or wellness habit you’d like to adopt. “I view the Winter Arc as an opportunity to reset and realign my daily actions with my values and goals,” Bomgren explains. “To develop my own Winter Arc rules, I spent time reflecting and homing in on how I wanted to feel by January 1st of next year. Then, I defined what tangible steps I could take to get there, including writing a 12-week workout plan with achievable, effective workouts that matched my goals.”
How to Implement the Winter Arc Challenge in 4 Easy Steps
Choose your dates (typically 8-12 weeks)
Instead of slowing down, the point is to stay active and continue to make healthy choices despite the challenges of colder temperatures, rich foods related to holiday celebrations and reduced daylight hours.
Pick 3-5 habits to embrace.
The beauty of this challenge is that it’s meant to be tailored to you, your personal goals and your preferred lifestyle. Ask yourself how your self-care could improve. What healthy lifestyle choices are usually put aside during this time of year? Perhaps you could use a regular, daily exercise routine, or you need to sleep at least 8 hours every night and avoid too much screen use in bed. It could be that you need to increase your protein and vegetable portions with each meal, drink more water, meditate or finally begin going to those yoga classes. The choice is yours!
Set measurable goals.
This will keep you focused and accountable. Remember to make your goals attainable as it is more likely that you’ll actually keep up the new habits and continue them into the new year. Life is all about balance, so try to refrain from making your goals too prescriptive. You want to be inspired and empowered, not for this to become punitive or stressful. “Don’t ‘start over’ for a missed day – just resume the next day,” Ms. Bomgren affirms, “Consistency is more important than perfection!”
Track progress weekly.
This allows you to see how you’ve been developing and gives you an opportunity to tweak or change whatever you feel helps you stick to your goals. “My top tip to be successful in the Winter Arc Challenge is to start small and focus on habits you know you can stick with,” Bomgren recommends. “Think of them as quick ‘wins’ that help you build momentum.”
Find the Right Mindset
This challenge is not just about bodybuilding or incorporating better eating habits. True success that will leave you feeling and looking like a different person means that you must cultivate a mindset oriented towards discipline, resilience and patience. Without the right mental preparation, the various demands of this time of year will quickly lead to premature abandonment or demotivation that will impede your progress.
It is true that Winter Arc is more mentally demanding due to harsher, colder mornings and evenings, darker days, a plethora of parties and festivals that alter your schedule, and lots of tempting food and alcohol laden with sugar, salt or fat. To help you conquer these obstacles, consider viewing this time of year as one of strategic preparation and vigilant stress management where self-care takes a top priority – instead of seeing it as a time of stagnation, self-sacrifice or procrastination. If you can commit to a Winter Arc routine, you can easily continue these habits during less hurried and brighter times of year as well!
The Benefits of Winter Arc
Studies show that exercise and wellness challenges such as Winter Arc enhance motivation and adherence to healthier lifestyle choices. They can also significantly improve your stamina and muscle tone as well as boost your mood, reduce anxiety or depressive symptoms plus increase cognition by sharpening your memory and focus.
The timing of Winter Arc is also important. “It reframes the time of year that’s often associated with burnout, low energy and the ‘winter blues’ into a time for growth, self-care, discipline and self-improvement ‘glow up,’” Ms. Bomgren clarifies. “As a personal trainer, I prefer this over other workout challenges because it combines intentional structure with flexibility and adaptability.”
During one of the most stressful times of year, a discipline such as the Winter Arc can actually help reduce stress by boosting self-esteem and enhancing resiliency through neurochemical changes such as increasing the release of serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. Regular physical activities such as exercise and mindfulness practices provide healthier coping mechanisms and improve sleep patterns – helping to regulate stress hormones so that you can take on the challenges of the holiday season without fear of burnout or illness.
However, if you choose to adopt the Winter Arc Challenge, just remember to embrace the right mindset before beginning and pick goals that are realistic to you and the demands you already have on your schedule. “It’s meant to be a seasonal reset that you shape around what matters most to you,” Bomgren says. It emphasizes staying active and embracing healthy habits during a time of year when many people slow down or rationalize unhealthy habits. Don’t be one of those people this year! Let the Winter Arc Challenge inspire you to get up and lace up those tennis shoes!
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