Reviewing the reviews - my clients top training learnings from 2025

I love doing end‑of‑year reviews with my clients, both those I work with on a 1:1 basis and those in my Membership.  

Not because of the numbers and PBs (although those achievements and challenges matter too), but because they create space to pause, reflect, and notice what often gets missed during the year.

Some clear themes come up again and again. Here are the most common issues and reflections that came up in my clients' training learnings from 2025:

1. Learning to rest without guilt

Rest and recovery came up in almost every review.

Many clients used to see rest as something they had to earn or justify, or something they didn’t really have time for. But now they have a very different perspective.

They talk about:

• sleeping more

• taking rest days without anxiety

• not panicking if a session gets missed because they know that rest is more important

  
  

This doesn’t mean motivation disappears. Instead, decisions tend to feel calmer and more rational.

Understanding that recovery is part of training, not a failure of it, is one of the biggest long-term wins I see.

2. The power of fuelling training

Another theme that comes up repeatedly is a changing relationship with fuelling.

Almost every woman I work with struggles, at least initially, with taking on energy for training.

Whether consciously or unconsciously, exercise is often linked to burning calories or trying to change body shape, influenced by years of society telling us what our bodies “should” look like.

Because of that, the idea of deliberately fuelling training can feel uncomfortable or even wrong.

But again and again, clients describe how things shift once they begin fuelling properly. Training feels easier, they have more energy - not just for sessions but for the rest of their day, injuries become less frequent, and in many cases body fat drops.

And for some it also changes their relationship with their body – from something they are constantly trying to change, to something that’s helped them achieve amazing things, leading to a newfound respect for it.

3. Training doesn't have to be hard to be effective

Another common realisation is that it’s not about the big, showy sessions, but the simple act of turning up and putting in the time each week.

Clients often notice that training doesn't have to be hard to be effective and that:

• short sessions done regularly added up

• starting small made it easier to build habits that lasted once and made it so much easier to get the training done, even as the distance went up

• easy pace training was far less taxing on their body (“I could still play with the kids after doing my long run whereas I used to collapse on the sofa most of the day”) while still delivering results.

  
  

There’s often surprise at how much progress came from doing less. And as progress grows, so too does confidence.

4. Consistency counts

Many clients initially felt they should have done more. They were disappointed that life had got in the way and training hadn't gone as planned.

But after zooming out and taking the time to reflect, they find that despite not doing “everything” (is that ever realistic anyway?), they have often:

• trained more consistently than in previous years

• avoided long injury or burnout cycles

• kept training through busy or stressful periods, often finding it has helped them get through it

They realise that progress doesn’t require perfection, and the most important thing is that they’ve kept training and really felt the benefits, in terms of both physical and mental health.

5. Building a calmer relationship with training

Trusting yourself and not worrying about what others are doing changes the training relationship

Another theme that I loved hearing come through was a changed relationship with training.

Clients often describe:

• feeling less anxious around training

• worrying less about what others are doing

• coping better when things don’t go to plan

• less emotional weight attached to any single workout

  
  

They felt they were more able to adapt, adjust, and trust themselves when life intervenes.

The aim isn’t to remove nerves or ambition – but to reduce the constant background stress that can make training feel overwhelming.

A final thought

End‑of‑year reviews are a reminder that progress isn’t just about the races and the numbers.

Often, the biggest changes are:

• feeling calmer, knowing that you’re focussing your precious time on what makes the biggest difference

• training in a way that fits your real life

• feeling better – both mentally and physically

  
  

And those are the changes that last and have an impact far beyond a finishing line.

Would you like your training to be about sustainable, lasting progress?

These are all themes that we return to regularly in my Membership, and so more people can benefit from this approach and get 2026 off to a great start, I’m inviting you to join us for one of our first sessions of the new year.

In the January Masterclass, we’ll be looking at simple principles to help you train smarter.

You’ll learn how to structure your training so it fits around real life, supports your body, and helps you get fitter and faster even when time is limited.

If you want 2026 to be about steady progress that lasts then register now for How to Train Smarter with Limited Time and Less Risk of Injury on Wednesday 7th January at 7pm.

>> Sign up here to join us: https://www.feelfitwithlucy.co.uk/event-info/train-smarter-with-limited-time-and-less-risk-of-injury