The 2020 on 2025

As it’s the last day of the year, I usually like to take some time to reflect on the year that’s coming to an end. This year has been challenging, one of the most challenging I’ve faced in a long time, as I’ve written about in previous articles. While fitness is usually what helps keep me grounded, this year it wasn’t that simple.

The commitments I took on following the passing of my mother made everything more difficult. The loss drained me for many months, and injuries and fatigue meant that the time I did manage to spend in the gym felt very different to what I was used to. Normally, I train a set number of days each week based on the routine and programme I build for myself. This year, as things became harder, I did something I never thought I would need to do: I set a non-negotiable weekly minimum, a rule I only broke a handful of times.

I also had to shorten my workouts. This was already happening as my schedule became busier, but this year it was pushed even further. I had to change my system and figure out how to get meaningful training done in the limited time I had. That meant lower weights, higher intensity, and more supersets. Adapting is part of training. It’s also part of life. But the hardest part of adapting is learning to be okay with the adaptation itself.

All in all, it’s been a rough year, but some things did go right. Working on keeping the right mindset, even on days that felt off, allowed me to build on my strengths. I managed to maintain my fitness levels, even if my strength took a hit. I navigated both mental and physical fatigue, and I even made progress in certain areas of my personal and business life. There were things to mourn this year, but there were also things worth celebrating, and I made sure to show up for those moments too.

This is also the time of year when my gym sends out its annual training stats: total sessions, average days per week and month, and how long I spent per visit. Predictably, the numbers are lower than last year. One thing it definitely got wrong, funnily though, was my favourite day to train. My favourite day is, and has been for a long time, Sunday, aka leg day. The stats, however, say Tuesday. Clearly, it calculates this based on attendance rather than preference.

As this was the final week of the year, I decided to revisit some exercises and weights I hadn’t attempted for most of it. It felt good to try them again, a small but meaningful reminder of progress, resilience, and what’s still there beneath the surface.

As the year comes to an end, I look ahead with quiet optimism. I hope the new year brings more success and accomplishments for myself and for you, more moments worth celebrating, and the strength to meet the challenges that will no doubt arrive along the way. Here’s to 2026, bring it on.