Hideaway With Us This Winter: Build Your Own Winter Arc ❄️
If you've spent any time on TikTok recently, you might have come across the Winter Arc.
The basic idea? Instead of waiting until January to start working towards your goals, you use the final few months of the year to focus on yourself, build better habits and head into the New Year already feeling stronger, healthier and more consistent.
And honestly, there is a lot I like about that.
What I don't think you need is a list of extreme rules that suddenly expects you to train every day, completely overhaul your diet, walk 10,000 steps, drink gallons of water, meditate, journal, read 50 pages of a book and somehow fit all of that around your actual life.
Your Winter Arc should work for YOU.
So this winter, why not hideaway with us, choose the habits that genuinely matter to you and see what you can build before Christmas?
You Have More Time Than You Think
As of the beginning of September, there are just over 16 weeks until Christmas Day.
Think about what you could achieve with 16 weeks of consistency.
If your goal was simply to train twice a week, that's potentially 32 workouts before Christmas.
Three workouts a week? That's potentially 48.
You don't have to make dramatic changes to make progress. A few realistic habits, repeated week after week, can add up to quite a lot by the end of the year.
And rather than arriving in January feeling like you need to "start again", you could arrive there with routines you've already been practising for months.
Rule Number One: Personalise Your Winter Arc
There isn't one correct way to do a Winter Arc.
Before choosing your rules, think about what you actually want to improve.
Do you want to get stronger?
Become more consistent with training?
Improve your nutrition?
Move more during the day?
Drink more water?
Spend less time scrolling?
Make more time for yourself?
Improve your sleep routine?
Feel less stressed?
Your Winter Arc can include fitness, nutrition and lifestyle habits — but you don't need to tackle everything at once.
In fact, I'd much rather see you choose three or four achievable habits and actually stick to them than give yourself ten rules that become impossible to maintain after the first week.
Choose Your Training Target
Your Winter Arc doesn't have to mean training five days a week.
For one person, two workouts every week might be a brilliant target. For somebody already training regularly, four or five sessions might be appropriate.
Choose something that challenges you without making consistency unrealistic.
And if you're a Her Fitness Hideaway member, you've already got something in your booking app that can help.
You can set the number of workouts you want to achieve each week, giving you a clear weekly target to work towards and a simple way to track your consistency.
Once you've chosen your target, try booking your sessions in advance.
Treat those bookings like appointments you've made with yourself. Having your training already in the diary removes some of the daily decision-making and gives you an extra bit of accountability when motivation isn't quite there.
And if you're still struggling with knowing what to do, progressing your workouts or keeping yourself accountable, Personal Training might be something to consider during your Winter Arc.
Sometimes having a session booked with somebody else is exactly the structure you need to get the ball rolling.
Your Movement Goal Doesn't Have to Be 10,000 Steps
Ten thousand steps gets talked about a lot, but it isn't the only way to set a movement goal.
You could choose:
10,000 steps every day
or
A 30-minute walk every day
or even
A 10–15 minute walk on your lunch break
Your starting point matters.
If you're currently averaging 3,000 steps a day, jumping straight to 10,000 might make your Winter Arc unnecessarily difficult.
Perhaps your first goal is 5,000 or 6,000.
You can always increase it later.
Remember, we're trying to create habits you can repeat — not make the first week as difficult as possible.
Think Beyond the Gym
One of the things I like about the Winter Arc idea is that it doesn't have to be purely about changing how your body looks.
Your goals could include things that support your mental wellbeing and give you a little time away from screens and everyday stresses.
That might be:
10 minutes of reading before bed
Journalling
Colouring
Meditation or breathing exercises
Spending time outside
A screen-free period each evening
Getting to bed at a more consistent time
Taking 10 minutes every day to do absolutely nothing productive!
It doesn't have to look impressive on TikTok to be good for you.
Set Nutrition Habits That Fit Your Goal
Again, this is where your Winter Arc can be completely personalised.
You might decide to focus on eating more minimally processed foods, adding more fruit and vegetables, increasing your protein intake, preparing lunches for work or simply drinking enough water.
If you have specific physique or weight goals and already understand your calorie and macro targets, you might choose to track your food.
But somebody else might benefit far more from simply committing to eating regular meals and making more nutritious choices.
You can also decide where things like alcohol, meals out and treats fit into your plan.
Instead of telling yourself you're "not allowed" to have them for the next four months, you might decide that alcohol is something you'll have on planned social occasions rather than automatically every weekend.
Your Winter Arc still has to include your life.
Use Habit Coaching to Build Your Arc
Habit Coaching programmes are also available at the Hideaway, with full access included for Personal Training clients.
Each programme lasts two weeks, allowing you to focus on one particular area at a time rather than trying to change everything overnight.
With just over 16 weeks until Christmas, you could potentially work through eight 2-week Habit Coaching programmes before Christmas.
But that doesn't mean you have to complete eight.
You could choose four that are particularly relevant to you and give yourself longer to practise each habit.
The aim isn't to collect as many completed programmes as possible.
It's to find the habits that actually make a difference to your life and keep them going.
What Could Your Winter Arc Look Like?
Here are two completely different examples.
❄️ A More Manageable Winter Arc
Perfect if you're getting back into fitness, you're a beginner or life is already pretty busy.
Training: 2 workouts per week
Movement: 30-minute walk each day
Hydration: 2 litres of water per day
Nutrition: Base the majority of meals around minimally processed, nutritious foods
Mindfulness: 10 minutes of reading, journalling, colouring or another relaxing activity each day
Alcohol: Keep alcohol to planned occasions rather than drinking out of habit
Habit Coaching: Complete one 2-week programme at a time, choosing the areas most relevant to you
Recovery: Aim for a consistent bedtime on most nights
That might not sound extreme.
That's exactly the point.
Imagine maintaining those habits for 16 weeks.
🔒 A More Challenging Winter Arc
Already have a good fitness base and want something that pushes you a little more?
Training: 5 workouts per week
Movement: 10,000 steps per day
Hydration: 3 litres of water per day
Nutrition: Follow your personalised calorie and macro targets and log your food consistently
Food quality: Include fruit and/or vegetables across your meals each day
Mindfulness: 30 minutes per day dedicated to reading, journalling, meditation or another screen-free activity
Alcohol: No alcohol for the duration of your Winter Arc
Habit Coaching: Work consecutively through selected 2-week programmes
Recovery: Set a consistent sleep and wake routine
Importantly, harder doesn't automatically mean better.
If the first version fits your lifestyle and you can maintain it until Christmas, while the second version lasts nine days before you give up, the "easier" Winter Arc was actually the more effective one.
You Can Scale Your Winter Arc Up or Down
Think of your Winter Arc as something you can progress in exactly the same way you would your training.
Start with two workouts.
Finding that easy to maintain? Add a third.
Start with a 20-minute daily walk.
That's becoming part of your routine? Try 30 minutes.
Start with 2 litres of water.
Once that's automatic, perhaps you don't need to think about it anymore and can focus your attention on another habit.
Your rules don't have to remain frozen until Christmas.
The goal is progression, not punishment.
And if life suddenly becomes particularly busy, you can scale things back too.
Two workouts during a difficult week are better than deciding you've "failed" because you couldn't manage four.
Don't Turn One Missed Day Into a Missed Week
This might be the most important rule of your Winter Arc.
You will probably miss something.
You'll have a day where you don't get your steps.
A workout might get cancelled.
You'll go out for dinner.
You might forget to journal.
Christmas parties will start appearing in the diary.
None of that means your Winter Arc is over.
One imperfect day amongst months of consistency makes virtually no difference.
Avoid the "I've ruined it, so I'll start again Monday" mentality.
Just return to your normal habits at the next opportunity.
Ready to Start Your Winter Arc?
You don't have to wait for January.
Choose your habits.
Set your weekly workout target.
Book your training sessions.
Pick your first Habit Coaching programme.
And start.
By Christmas, you might not have completed a dramatic social-media "transformation".
But you could be stronger.
You could be fitter.
You could have a completely different relationship with exercise.
You could have routines that finally feel normal rather than something you're constantly trying to restart.
And personally, I think that's a much better way to finish the year.
Hideaway with us this winter. ❄️🔒
Think of This as Your Warm-Up for What's Coming 👀
There's another reason I love the idea of using the Winter Arc to build some consistency now.
We've got more coming at the Hideaway in 2027.
From January through to March, I'll be running our 75-day Hideaway Soft Challenge — a realistic, sustainable challenge designed to encourage consistency across your training, nutrition, movement and everyday habits.
Then, from March into June, we'll be stepping things up with the 75-day Hideaway Hard Challenge for anyone who wants to push themselves further.
And your Winter Arc can lead perfectly into both.
Think of September to Christmas as your opportunity to start laying the foundations.
You can experiment with different habits, work out how many training sessions realistically fit into your week, improve your daily movement, get better at planning your workouts and start finding routines that actually work around your life.
Then when January arrives, you're not starting from zero.
Your journey could look something like:
September → Christmas: ❄️ Winter ArcBuild your foundations, choose your habits and work on consistency.
January → March: 💕 Hideaway Soft — 75 DaysTake those foundations and commit to a little more structure and accountability.
March → June: 🔥 Hideaway Hard — 75 DaysReady for more? Step things up and challenge yourself further.
You don't have to complete all three.
You don't have to choose the hardest option.
And there will never be an expectation that everybody at the Hideaway should be doing exactly the same thing.
But if you do decide to follow the journey from Winter Arc through to Hideaway Soft and then Hideaway Hard, imagine the difference that could make.
Instead of trying to completely change everything on January 1st, you'll have spent months gradually building on what you're already doing.
Start where you are this winter. Build the foundations. Then, if you're ready, we'll build on them together in 2027.
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