Why October Is the Best Time to Drop Weight and Get Strong
Most athletes wait until January to fix their body composition. By then, the season is 12 weeks from starting and every decision is a compromise.
Right now, your race season is done or nearly done. Nothing is on the line. That makes this the best window of the year to get leaner and stronger, and it won't last.
Why now beats January
Your training load is flexible. In-season, a fat loss phase fights your key sessions. You can't cut hard and also hit threshold work, long bricks and race simulations. In October, you can lower the training load and run a proper deficit without sacrificing performance, because there's no performance to protect yet.
Strength takes months, not weeks. Real strength gains come from progressive overload over a long runway. Start now and you arrive in January with a stronger base. Start in January and you're trying to build strength while the volume ramps up, and the strength work is the first thing to get cut.
Weight and strength work against each other if you try both at once. Done properly, they don't have to. A moderate deficit with heavy lifting and high protein lets you lose fat while holding or building muscle. That's what we're aiming for: lighter, and stronger for it.
What a good off-season block looks like
1. A controlled deficit, not a crash diet.
Aim for roughly 0.5 to 1% of bodyweight per week. Faster than that and you start losing muscle, sleep and training quality. Protein stays high, around 1.8 to 2.2g per kg, spread across the day.
2. Strength as the priority.
Two to three lifting sessions a week, built around the movements that carry over to your sport: squat and hinge patterns, single-leg work, pulling and pressing strength, and trunk stability. For Hyrox athletes, this is also where your sled, carry and lunge capacity gets built. Heavy enough to matter, and progressed week to week.
3. Aerobic work that supports it, not competes with it.
Easy volume stays in. It keeps your engine ticking over and helps the deficit. Hard sessions get cut back to what you can recover from while cutting.
4. Recovery treated as training.
Sleep, fuelling around sessions, and managing stress. A deficit exposes every weakness in your recovery. If your sleep is poor, the cut will be miserable and the results will be poor.
The mistakes I see every year
Dieting hard and training hard. Something gives, usually your health.
Dropping strength work because "it's the off-season." That's backwards. It's the only time you can build it properly.
Waiting for the "right time" to start. There isn't one. By the time the new year arrives, you've lost the best 10 to 12 weeks.
Chasing a number on the scale. Body weight is one data point. Performance, strength and how you look and feel matter just as much.
What you walk into January with
Done well, a 10 to 12 week block gives you:
A lower body fat percentage and a lighter race weight
Measurable strength gains in your key lifts
A base that makes your build phase more productive, not just longer
Confidence that your body is ready for the season, rather than catching up to it
You start your build phase from a position of strength, not from behind.
Start now
The athletes who have their best seasons are the ones who made their changes in October, not January.
My coaching is application-only, because I work with a limited number of performance-focused triathletes and Hyrox athletes at a time. If you want a structured plan for the next 12 weeks, covering your nutrition, strength and training load, apply at kylewildingcoach.co.uk.
Spaces for the off-season block are limited. Apply now so you're started before the clocks go back.