Are You Training On Christmas Day?

Dan Pfaff critiques the work mythology of training on holidays, emphasizing the undervalued role of rest in athletic progress.

🎄 As Christmas approaches, the noise ramps up. “Two workouts while you slept.” “Grinding while everyone else rests.” “Working on the holiday puts you ahead.” That story resurfaces on social media every year. It sticks because many of us were conditioned early to equate effort with progress. In this clip from this week’s Coaching Eye session, Dan addresses that pattern directly. Training on Christmas Day has become symbolic. It reflects a work mythology that consistently undervalues rest. The belief that more effort always leads to better outcomes. That training through fatigue signals commitment. That rest represents weakness. Thomas Merton named this pattern decades ago: “There is a pervasive form of contemporary violence to which the idealist most easily succumbs: activism and overwork.” In sport, the same pattern shows up when effort becomes a moral badge and rest is treated as a failure of will. Merton followed with something even more direct: “There are times when in order to keep ourselves alive, we have to sit down and do nothing.” In high-performance sport, attachment to the grind carries a cost. Adaptation emerges during recovery. Skill consolidates when the nervous system settles. Durability improves when load and rest are balanced. Training provides the stimulus. Rest allows the response. When rest is undervalued, we miss what the athlete is communicating. Fatigue shows up in posture, rhythm, coordination, and decision-making long before it becomes obvious. Learning to see that clearly is part of the job. At times, the most effective intervention is restraint. Great coaches know when to push. The best also know when to pull back. 👀 The Coaching Eye with Dan Pfaff develops the observational skill to recognise fatigue early, protect performance, and guide athletes forward with clarity. The next cohort begins January 10, and places are filling fast. Register here: loom.ly/NK783K8 🔽 Comment ZZ and we’ll send the program details.