‘Winter arcs’ are bringing summer body pressures to the colder months

As I write this, someone out there may be staring at themselves in the mirror, about to shave their head to mark a time period where they’ll turn “excuses into gains”. Someone else is waking up to a 5.30am alarm and headed to the gym, determined to “emerge a new person” by the new year. A few people may even be signing their name on a make-shift contract like the one created by The Successful Man Journal, designed to provide entry to an “exclusive movement of like-minded men”.

These people are participating in what’s being called a “winter arc”, a term previously used to describe a character development phase, usually in anime. While the “rules” vary depending on your goals – but typically involve “locking in” to lose weight and gain muscle from October to February – based on  TikTok comments, once you’ve started, you can’t stop. Only it’s a completely made-up phrase (with some people even using ChatGPT to make their “schedules”) that’s gained traction this year online, bringing summer body pressures into the icy chill of winter.

Faris Jedayeh, a 27-year-old fitness coach in Athens, shaved his head to mark the start of his winter arc (because hair equals distraction) after coming across the idea on TikTok. “While bulking in the winter isn’t a new concept for gym rats, the term adds a narrative element, making it sound more intense or transformative,” he says. “It ties into the concept of improving yourself in the winter, which aligns with my fitness goals for the season.” Since the start of this month, Jedayeh has been heavy lifting, increasing his calorie intake to fuel muscle growth, and sticking to “clean eating” habits. “By the end of my winter arc, I want to have gained solid muscle mass so that, when I cut back on the fat in the spring and summer, I’ll be in my best possible physical shape,” he says.

While most of the dialogue online surrounding participating in a “winter arc” conjures up seriously bleak imagery with military-like undertones – including unironically making collages of weights next to a Holy Bible and encouraging people to comment “I agree” to only watching YouTube for “educational purposes” – the content has been meme-ified as quickly as it rose to favour. After positioning winter as a time for complete discipline and a shift in mindset (mostly towards thinness and extreme productivity), it seems some people are tired of feeling like they need to “lock in for 90 days to shock them all” and practice extreme discipline in constant preparation for the season ahead. We have, after all, had years of “summer body” rhetoric preaching the exact same thing.

At its best, participating in a “winter arc” could encourage people to warm up to their New Year’s resolution and build a more gradual approach to building habits. “I like the idea of giving yourself the space to lead up to a big change because changing behaviour is difficult,” says Jeanette Bennett, Associate Professor, Department of Psychological Science. For Jessica, a 21-year-old influencer based in Toronto, embarking on a winter arc has felt like a “second chance” to reclaim the year before January. “Why wait until the new year to reset when I still have 90 days left in 2024?” she says. “It feels like a unique opportunity to get ahead, make real changes, and step into the new year already transformed.”

Why wait until the new year to reset when I still have 90 days left in 2024? It feels like a unique opportunity to get ahead, make real changes, and step into the new year already transformed.

Jessica started her arc on the first of October, focusing on four main areas: improving her sleep schedule, staying consistent with her gym routine, enhancing her school performance, and growing her social media presence. In contrast to the videos on Jessica’s For You page encouraging people to break up with their significant other because “the pain fuels growth”, she says her biggest takeaway is “locking in with leniency”. “It isn’t about an overnight transformation; it’s a gradual journey,” she adds.

At its worst, however, winter arc dialogue could be setting people up to take on stressful, mostly pointless, and unattainable goals. “The question is how do people feel about themselves if they can’t stick with these extreme goals,” Bennett says. “That may be a place that causes a lot of psychological harm because it creates a negative cycle, and you can’t always live in stress mode.” The French philosopher René Descartes deemed the human mind as separate from the body back in the 1500s, and Bennett thinks we may have been dealing with the after-effects ever since. “I think we’re still trying to recover from that split,” she says. “With winter arcs, you’re not giving your body time just to be whatever it wants because you’re already thinking about six months from now.” Unfortunately, it’s also only one example in a long history of us treating our bodies as separate things to be “optimised”.  

Beauty culture critic Jessica DeFino says the beauty industry has been about disciplining the female body to make it less like a body and more like an object for centuries. “It’s couched in this language of productivity or even girl bossery because you’re working, but do we ever pause and ask why the standard of beauty requires so much labour," she says. DeFino also has a theory that, amidst global warming, being “summer body” ready has become a year-long endeavour. “It’s October now, and I’m wearing a tank top,” she says. “I think seasonal-specific beauty standards may disappear as the seasons disappear.” The goalpost, however, has not changed; it’s just being perpetually moved forward (and re-worded).

Marquisele Mercedes, a writer and critical public health studies researcher, says she sees this year’s preoccupation with a “winter arc” as a natural extension of today's self-improvement culture in general. “When I was younger, there was a much clearer focus on the attractiveness piece and wanting to lose weight because you want to be pretty,” they say. “Now, the attractiveness piece is still there, but it’s wrapped in a larger narrative around fulfilment and productivity, with an aspect about taking winter to go into a cocoon to emerge as something perfect, alone,” says Mercedes. Only that’s almost the exact opposite of how other mammals treat winter. “In regards to nature, this is a time where animals are focused on rest and hibernation,” says cultural worker maya finoh. “So the winter arc is saying you can’t actually escape today’s body hyperfocus; you need to focus.” This, says finoh, doesn’t always feel optional to young people. “This call to lock in is almost a call to resign yourself to the fact that you’re not going to receive healthcare from the state,” they say. “It’s a way to say nobody’s gonna help you if you become disabled.”

Under winter arc ideology, the YouTube videos you love or friends you enjoy grabbing a drink with become painted as distractions from your ultimate goal: turning yourself and your body into a perfectly optimised computer. Some creators even say spending time masturbating will ruin your discipline. As people scramble to ensure their place at the top of the beauty standard, Mercedes says that some of these self-optimising tactics are just attempts at creating a coping mechanism to insulate people against social and economic precarity. “A winter arc is just one of the more coded ways people try to avoid being seen as disposable,” she says. Naturally, there are already sponsored videos pointing people to supplement brands and 90-day challenges to aid your endeavour. After all, that’s how the wellness industry works – continually providing paid solutions to manufactured insecurities. This year, it’s “locking in” starting in October, but next year, it may even be before the leaves begin to fall.