Inspire360

Beyond Muscles: Why Fascia and the Lymphatic System Deserve Your Attention (Especially During the Holidays)

Issue #34 - December 2025

Published On

12.02.2025

The Holiday Recovery Gap


In the end-of-year stretch from November to (roughly) January 1, clients can swing in one of two directions. Option A: overtraining to “earn” or “make up for” holiday indulgences. Option B: giving up entirely.


Obviously, neither are optimal for health and wellness… especially in a season of rich meals, travel, and stress, where inflammation tends to rise, and recovery routines often fall apart.


Inflammation naturally rises this time of year. Circulation slows. We get puffy, stiff, and drained. The fix isn’t intensity — it’s gentleness. It’s choosing activity that keeps things moving.


Let’s reframe this season for our clients, and encourage them to focus less on calorie burn and more on circulation and flow.


The body’s two most overlooked systems — fascia and lymph — can be the keys to staying energized, resilient, and balanced through a delightfully chaotic season.

Your Fascia and Lymph: Holiday Edition


Cold temps can lead to vasoconstriction and slower blood and lymphatic flow; cold temperature habits — like stagnation and reduced hydration — can also slow things down in terms of lymph drainage and mobility. Add on holiday stresses (fascial tension) and travel (sedentary periods that cause fluid retention), and you've got yourself a recipe for a tight, swollen, sluggish body.


This calls for trainer support and some special attention to how your clients are treating their bodies this time of year.


Holiday-Relevant Trainer Insights

Ultimately, the biggest goal this season is changing your clients’ point of view. This is about a mindset shift to get them into a healthy balance. Here’s what some of that messaging can look like:


1. Encourage gentle movement on off days


Long flights, train rides, sitting in uncomfortable positions in the car through hours of traffic, late nights, and plenty of sitting — the holidays are busy, but without the physical activity. And if you live in a colder climate, this can compound feelings of stagnation.


This is the ideal time to suggest circulation-friendly movement like five minutes of rebounding, an evenly-paced walk around the block, or a little dynamic stretching before bed. Nothing particularly intense, of course; just enough to keep the fascia hydrated, the lymph moving, and the body from slipping into that stiff, foggy holiday mode.


2. Reframe recovery as self-care, not slacking


For the clients who still feel guilty when they aren’t sweating through their workouts this time of year (the ones who are obsessed with the Turkey Burn challenges), remind them to slow down. Fascia and lymph respond beautifully to gentle touch and warmth; this is a teaching opportunity. Quick lesson: two minutes of light self-massage, breathwork, or rocking can reduce inflammation and genuinely boost energy. Recovery is not the backup plan, it is the plan.


3. Help “holiday break” clients maintain fascia + lymph flow


For the clients who go into hibernation mode the second daylight savings ends (think: no workouts, zero step count, maybe even a touch of seasonal affective disorder), the risk is less about ‘losing progress,’ but rather stagnation. Movement stops, fascia dehydrates and stiffens, and lymph flow slows dramatically (it has no pump without muscle motion).


Solution: you don’t need to be hitting the gym, just keep your body moving. Tiny, pressure-free habits can be woven into even the busiest days: a one-minute spinal wave, calf pumps while brushing teeth or a short walk after a meal. These micro-movements keep fascia hydrated and lymph moving — preventing that shutdown that makes January misery.


4. Start the “train smarter, not harder” conversation


This season is the easiest entry point for shifting client mindsets. Use the holidays to introduce the idea that smart training honors the body’s rhythms instead of fighting them. It becomes a natural conversation about longevity, nervous system regulation, and moving in ways that make the body feel supported — especially when life gets busy.


Practical Programming Ideas


Now let’s take some of these insights (and messaging) and weave them into your programming practice.


1. Add a “Holiday Flow Warm-Up” to December sessions

Think fluid, fascia-friendly movement: oscillations to wake up connective tissue, breathwork to downshift the nervous system, and diagonal patterns that create cross-body integration. It’s quick, grounding, and feels like giving the body a little holiday kindness before any workout begins.


2. Offer a “Post-Party Recovery Protocol”

Another practical, fun, and easy-to-implement tool? A tiny reset routine they can do the morning after a big dinner or event: two to three minutes of light rebounding, a tall glass of water with electrolytes, slow diaphragmatic breathing, and a bit of self-massage along the jaw, neck, and chest. It brings circulation back online and helps flush out that puffy, sluggish feeling.


3. Create a “Keep Your Flow Going” challenge or post

This can be so simple: one move, one minute. Shoulder rolls, calf pumps, spinal waves, or gentle bouncing. Low-effort, high-impact. It’s an excellent way to keep clients connected to their bodies amid the holiday rush (where many of us can be out of our bodies, stuck in our heads!), and it gives your studio (and its social channels) a cohesive theme for December.


The Big-Picture Trend


While wrapping up 2025 and heading into the new year, this is a crucial factor to keep in mind — a holistic lens (including this type of training and recovery) is what’s going to define elite coaching in 2026. When you’re helping clients stay hydrated, supple, mobile, and in flow, you’re positioning yourself as the kind of trainer who understands the body as a nuanced system, not a machine.


Fascia and lymph-focused training isn’t a trend; it’s part of a much larger shift happening across the industry. Trainers are moving away from the “push harder, sweat more” mentality and toward methods that read the body’s rhythms, honor its seasons, and program with the aforementioned nuance instead of force.


These are approaches that help clients feel good year-round, not just hit numbers. And during the holiday season (when stress, travel, cold weather, and inflammation combine), this philosophy becomes even more valuable.


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Industry Happenings:


Upcoming Events:

  1. The Fit Expo, January 10-11, 2026, Los Angeles, California
  2. Connected Health & Fitness Summit, February 18-20, 2026, Los Angeles, California
  3. Perform X - Live, February 25-26, 2026, Birmingham, UK
  4. DC MANIA®, February 26-March 1, 2026, Herndon, VA
  5. IWF China Fitness Convention, March 13-15, 2026, Shanghai, China

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Upcoming Workshops in December & January:


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Industry News:


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Thanks for Reading!


This newsletter was brought to you by Kathie Davis, Peter Davis, Ravi Sharma, Dominique Astorino, and the Inspire360 team.


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A Note from Peter & Kathie


The industry is changing rapidly and we are here to help you sift through all the noise and get to the good stuff. Every month, we'll bring you trending topics and the inside scoop that we believe is paramount for fitness professionals to know.


Keep Inspiring,


Peter & Kathie Davis


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