It’s that time of year again when the internet does what it does best — gets a bit carried away with a trend.

Introducing: The Great Lock‑In 2025. It’s all over the socials like TikTok and Instagram. The idea? From September to December, you lock yourself in (figuratively, not 2020 style) and commit to 90+ days of daily movement, habits, mindset, journaling, and lifestyle routines to finish the year on a high.

Sounds good in theory. Dodgy name. Good vibes. But also… a bit, well, how can we put it, full on. Let’s be honest — some of us are already clinging to the final third of the year by a thread. Do we need a 47-point morning ritual, ice baths, and 4 a.m. journaling? In the immortal words of Don from Sexy Beast, No. No, No, No No, No.

So, here’s the breakdown of what’s good, what’s bollocks, and how to Foxify it so it actually works for real people with actual jobs, actual families, and no desire to live like a Buddhist monk with a protein shake.

The Good Bits of the “Lock-In” Trend

1. Structure helps.
   If you’ve been coasting a bit, having a loose challenge gives you direction. Even something as simple as moving every day and drinking water is better than the daily doom scroll.
2. Small wins stack up.
   Doing something little each day builds momentum. Scientifically, that’s habit formation. Keep it in context, keep it consistent, and it starts to feel automatic. (That’s called the cue–routine–reward loop — and no, it doesn’t require a vision board made from moon crystals and the time of the day you were born.)
3. People want to finish strong.
   After a summer of BBQs, beer gardens, and “I’ll start again Monday,” September feels like the adult version of back-to-school. Everyone wants a bit of a reset. This trend taps into that.

The Stuff That Makes It Rubbish

1. It quickly becomes a performance.
   Before you know it, you’re doing two workouts a day, reading 10 pages of a book you hate, eating protein oats (great rebranding for cold porridge) at 5:30 a.m., and crying in your ice bath, wondering why you’re not feeling “wellnessy” yet.
2. It breeds the “all or nothing” mindset.
   You miss one day, and suddenly the whole thing feels like a failure. So, you pack it in, feel crap, and then beat yourself up about not finishing the thing that was supposed to make you feel good in the first place. Classic fitness trend fuckery.
3. It gets toxic, fast.
   Not everything needs to be tracked, shared, or Instagrammed. If your self-worth is tied to completing a TikTok challenge, then maybe have a look at the rest of your life, because I’m sure there you have bigger fish to fry. Also, the last time someone said “lock-in”, we all ended up drinking gin at 11 am and stress-baking banana bread.

Do It the Fox Den Way: Finish Strong Without Burning Out

At the Den, we don’t care if you’ve got abs or if your smoothie bowl is photogenic. What we care about is showing up, doing the work, and not losing your marbles in the process.

So, here is the Fox Den Finish Strong approach — built for actual humans, not so-called influencers who live off collagen and discount codes.

Here’s Your Foxified (Is that even a word? Well, it is now) Finish Strong Plan:

• 20–30 mins of movement (class, walk, weights, whatever floats your sweaty boat)
• 1 healthy habit per day (drink more water, prep a meal, get to bed before midnight)
• 1 mindset tick (“3 wins of the day” or just not screaming into a pillow counts)
• 1 future-you thing (batch cook, book an appointment, actually charge your Garmin, because we know if it doesn’t appear on Strava, it didn’t happen.)

It’s not about being perfect. It’s about doing something. Every win counts.

Why This Works (and Doesn’t Make You Want to Cry in the Shower)

• Flexible: Miss a day? Cool. Try again tomorrow. It’s not a Netflix contract.
• Doable: No 4 a.m. alarms unless your baby wakes you. Then it’s just survival mode.
• Community-powered: Doing it with people helps. Whether it’s in the gym or online, this isn’t a solo mission.

We’re not here for “grind culture” or “suffer porn.” This is about progress over perfection, and not hating your life while trying to “better” it.

Bonus Tip: Ditch the Name

Seriously, can we just address the name for a second?

“The Great Lock-In”?
Seriously, the last time we had a lock-in, half of us ended up crying into a bag of Doritos, drinking too much, staring at banana bread like it held the meaning of life, and absolutely frying our nervous systems. The mental health fallout from the real-life Lock-Ins is still lingering.

So, respectfully — let’s bin the name.

We’ll call it something else. Like Fox Den Finish Strong, because that’s what we’re about — lifting each other up, not spiralling down some sad hashtag hole.