On the night of 24 to 25 October the clocks go back an hour. The following Monday you leave work and it’s already dark. It’s raining, the traffic is worse, and the sofa suddenly looks a lot more comfortable than the 19:30 class.
It’s a curve every gym knows. September fills the classes with back-to-routine energy, October holds up, and from November some people start missing one session a week, then two, until they stop coming. It isn’t a sudden drop like the summer one, with the holidays. It’s slower and quieter, and that makes it more treacherous.
This article is about reaching March without having to start over.
Why training is harder in winter
It’s worth understanding what changes, because most people blame a lack of willpower and that’s rarely the problem.
- Less light. With fewer hours of daylight, your body clock drifts and tiredness arrives earlier in the evening. Some people also feel their mood dip during these months. If it’s more than a passing low, talk to your doctor.
- The journey, not the workout. Nobody is afraid of the class. What’s hard is leaving the house in the cold, the rain and the dark. The obstacle sits before the gym door.
- The end of the year. Christmas dinners, work deadlines, school holidays, travel. December has fewer normal weeks than any other month.
- Colds. One week at home sick easily turns into three weeks without training.
The environment has changed. So the plan has to change too.
Decide before it gets dark
At 18:00 on a Tuesday in December, the decision to go training almost always loses. The fix is not to make it at that hour.
- Book the week’s classes on Sunday, in the app. A booked class is a commitment. A class “if I can” is an excuse waiting to happen.
- Pack your bag in the morning and take it with you. If you stop at home before training, the sofa wins.
- Go straight from work. The 20 minutes between leaving the office and reaching the gym are the most dangerous of the day.
- Arrange to train with someone. It’s much easier to skip a class than to let a friend down. In group classes, everyone notices when you’re missing, and that helps more than it seems.
Change the time, not the frequency
As in summer, winter is a good time to try slots you’ve never considered. The evening class is still there, but there are alternatives for anyone who doesn’t want to leave the house again once they’re home:
| Time of day | What’s available |
|---|---|
| Lunchtime | Cross-Training at 12:30 every weekday · Jiu-Jitsu Gi at 12:30 (Tuesday and Thursday) |
| Straight after work | Stretching at 18:00 (Tuesday and Thursday) · Cross-Training at 18:15 (Monday and Wednesday) and 18:30 (Friday) · Boxing at 18:20 (Monday and Wednesday) · Muay Thai at 18:30 (Friday) |
| Evening | Cross-Training at 19:00 (Tuesday and Thursday) and 19:30 (Monday and Wednesday) · Muay Thai at 19:15 (Tuesday and Thursday) · Jiu-Jitsu No Gi at 19:30 (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) |
| Weekend | Cross-Training at 10:30 and boxing at 12:00 on Saturday · Open Gym and Jiu-Jitsu Open Mat at 11:00 on Sunday |
Lunchtime is winter’s best-kept secret: you train in daylight, go back to work with a clearer head, and in the evening there’s nothing left to negotiate with yourself.
And if you’re a morning person, the 06:30 and 07:00 classes are still there. In December they start in the dark and finish as the day gets light, and there are few better ways to start a dark day.
See the full timetable on the schedule page.
Cold weather calls for a longer warm-up
In the cold, muscles and joints take longer to get ready. That’s not a reason to train less, it’s a reason to warm up better:
- Arrive five or ten minutes early and use them for hip, shoulder and ankle mobility.
- Train in layers. Keep your top on until you’re warm and take it off when your body asks.
- Don’t skip the warm-up before sprints, kicks or sparring. That’s where a cold muscle complains.
- Keep drinking water. You feel less thirsty in the cold, but you still sweat.
- After training, don’t head out into the rain soaked. Take a hot shower in the changing rooms and put on dry clothes before you go outside.
Got a cold: train or stay home?
We’re not doctors, but there’s a widely used rule of thumb that helps you decide, the neck rule:
- Symptoms only above the neck (blocked nose, sneezing, a slightly sore throat): a light session usually goes fine. Lower the intensity and stop if you feel worse.
- Symptoms below the neck (fever, chesty cough, body aches, an upset stomach): rest. Training like that only slows your recovery.
And there’s a third rule, which is about everyone else: if you’re sneezing and coughing, stay out of the contact disciplines. In Jiu-Jitsu, sparring and partner drills you’re literally on top of your training partners. Nobody will thank you for sharing your cold.
When you come back, come back gently: one or two lighter sessions before returning to your normal pace. If your symptoms drag on, talk to your doctor.
The minimum you can’t miss
If you take only one idea from this article, take this one: two sessions a week are enough to maintain. It isn’t progress, but it keeps your fitness, keeps your technique sharp and, above all, keeps the habit alive.
In normal weeks, train as usual. In the hard weeks (the Christmas dinner week, the work deadline week, the sick kid week), drop to two on purpose and make sure they happen. Two sessions that happen are worth more than four that stayed in the plan.
And if you’re away for the holidays, members have Cross-Training Live: recorded sessions adapted to do at home or anywhere with little equipment, always available via a private link on YouTube and in the Be Water app.
To see how to fit two, three or more sessions into your week, read how to build your training week.
Winter is the best time to get ahead
There’s a hidden advantage to these months: in January, everyone decides to start training. Whoever gets through November and December without stopping reaches January three months ahead, and reaches spring on another level.
And there’s a gain you notice even sooner: training regularly helps you sleep better and get through the short days with a lighter head. We wrote about this in martial arts and mental health.
Quick questions
Does training at 19:30 ruin your sleep? For most people, no. Research shows that evening training doesn’t make sleep worse, as long as you finish the hard part at least an hour before bed.
What’s the best time to train in winter? The one you can stick to every week. If evenings keep failing, try lunchtime or Saturday morning before you give up.
Is it bad to train in the cold? No, as long as you warm up properly and don’t stand around in wet clothes after training.
Next step
If you want to start before everyone else does in January, book your free trial class on WhatsApp (+351 933 869 791). Bring comfortable training clothes, a water bottle and a jacket for the way out.
Memberships start at €64.90/month, with no lock-in, and include every discipline: functional training, Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, Muay Thai and Stretching. See all the options on the pricing page.
Be Water Lisboa - Av. do Brasil 7, Campo Grande. Monday to Friday 06:30-14:00 and 16:00-21:00, Saturday 10:00-13:00, Sunday 11:00-12:00 (Open Gym + Open Mat).
— Bruno Salgueiro, Founder
