TikTok’s Best and Worst Winter Arc Rules for Building Better Habits Before January

There are a lot of terrible self-improvement trends on TikTok, but while everyone is making fun of the Winter Arc, I actually think it’s a good idea! In the Winter Arc, you promise yourself that you will stick to your fitness and self-care routines during and despite the chaos of the end of the year. The only caveat is to make sure you choose rules that actually improve your life.

What is the Winter Arch?

Think of “arc” here in the sense of “storyline”. The Winter Arc is a journey of self-improvement that unfolds in the last few months of the calendar year. According to #gymtok, it officially starts on October 1st and ends on January 1st, just like everyone less dedicated than you wakes up from their holiday food coma and vows to get in shape.

Of course, you can start the Winter Arc any time you’re ready for it. Is it the week before Halloween? It’s not too late to start. Will you find out about this in mid-November? Of course, get on board.

You can choose the conditions of the Winter Arch yourself. The general vibe is to pull yourself together, strive for your goals, and actually do what you always say you will do. TikToker @carlyupgraded says her mental image of someone nailing a winter arch looks like this: “Hood on, headphones on, getting ready to run in the rain at 5am.”

What’s great about the Winter Arc?

I’ve been around Winter-Arc-ing for years; I just didn’t know TikTok would come up with a name for it. Why save your gym sessions for New Year’s when you’ll have the space to yourself for the entire month of December? The winter arc is also a great continuation of the fall running program . We even have an extra hour in the morning to do something productive.

I really like the change of thinking here. Typically people are active in the summer (a great time for outdoor fun), may or may not be able to stick to their routines in the fall, and then things fall apart as the holidays approach. Who has time to go to the gym when you’re planning Thanksgiving, attending holiday parties, studying for finals, or whatever else the end of the year throws at you?

But this is precisely why this time of year is best for starting (or resuming) fitness or any other type of activity. If you wait until you have a blank slate, no obligations, then you will really get into your routine and give it your full attention. You will go on a crash diet or an unsustainable workout routine. Lord help us, 75Hard may seem attractive.

But when you start a routine during a busy time of year, you’ll have to make it sustainable . A gym routine you can stick to amidst the chaos won’t make you give up after a few months. You are already learning to overcome obstacles as they arise, which is a key component of self-efficacy . And when the chaos clears up on January 1st, you’ll find it easier to stick to your daily routine.

What’s wrong with the Winter Arc?

Of course, there are ways to lean too far. Choose unsustainable habits, give in to bad diet advice, mistake not masturbation for some kind of health trick. The usual suspects.

There is also the trap of focusing too much on the vibrations and too little on what you are actually going to do or how you will benefit. For example, there are many videos of a man yelling at the viewer, lines like “What the fuck did you expect? You don’t put in the work!” while motivational music plays in the background.

And then there’s the frame: you’ve been working on yourself all year, but you’re at risk of letting off the gas. But you’re going to commit to staying one step ahead of everyone else who’s taking this time to relax. I really don’t like it. Self-improvement is not a competition. There’s a difference between consistently working out and eating healthy (the good kind) and treating the pursuit of health and fitness as something where you’ll always have to work harder because you risk falling behind.

I also don’t like how gendered the Winter Arc TikToks are. When you search for Winter Arc content, the first few suggestions include “winter arc for women” and “winter arc for men.”

Women’s versions will likely involve restrictive dieting or focusing on how the arc of winter will finally (sigh) grab your waist. However, many women’s versions emphasize sustainability, and many include protein goals, which I generally approve of, so that’s nice.

The male versions tend to go off the rails in the other direction, with rules like “no girls” or “walk like a ghost.” No distractions! At the moment, Winter Arc’s content is a mix of heartfelt and sarcastic, so there are plenty of videos of men working out in the dark and advising their followers to divorce or break up with their partners. I’m sure most of them are satire. But this is only a slight exaggeration of advice from more serious videos. Come on guys! Social interaction is good for you!

What is the best Winter Arc ruleset?

If you’re going to create a Winter Arc (or are already doing one), be sure to set it up in a way that benefits you. Choosing 10 overly ambitious goals and setting yourself up for failure is not a healthy approach, okay?

It’s also helpful to think about your progression along this arc, rather than seeing it as a three-month (or two-month) challenge where you need to get everything right all the time. If you wake up at 8am now and want to wake up at 5am, you don’t need to set your alarm for 5am tomorrow. You can go to 7:30, make it a habit, then 7:00 and so on.

With that in mind, here are some ideas on how to use the Winter Arc to your advantage.

• We wake up earlier . Great, especially if you take advantage of the time change to make things easier for yourself.

• Go to bed on time . Never a bad idea. In general, developing good sleep habits is always a good idea .

• Exercise X times a week . Pick a number that suits you and get started with it. Be realistic about your goal and for best results , be consistent, even if it hurts at first .

• Eat healthy . This is a great goal, but with one caveat: there are many ways to eat healthy . You don’t have to give up sugar or pretend there’s anything evil about seed oils. Eat more protein and vegetables .

• Be more attentive to social networks . I’m not saying you should delete all your apps (“except TikTok” as TikTokers say). But it’s fair to consider whether you want to delete a few apps, turn off some notifications, or put your phone on Do Not Disturb mode for more hours a day.

• Keep a diary or read . Journaling can be helpful for working through your feelings or developing a creative habit. Reading can be fun or educational. Choose what you need most.

• Learn a new skill . I’ve mostly seen this on men’s TikTok and I love it. They often think of “skills” that will help with whatever entrepreneurial scam they’re going to sell you, but there are plenty of skills that will be useful in life or at least fun to learn. Practice your language, improve your cooking, practice art. As I’ve already noted, skills are a multi-level exercise for your brain . And someday they may come in handy.

Personally, my winter arc involves training for a weightlifting meet in December, maintaining a small amount of running so it won’t be too painful to start again in the spring, waking up early when the time changes, and setting aside time to watch movies and exercise. play games with your family. ( More social interaction, imagine!) However, I would do this with or without the Winter Arc label. You choose what works for you.

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