My experience starting (and completing!) the 75 Hard Challenge! I cover what the challenge involves, why I started the challenge, 7 tips for starting it yourself, whether it was worth it, and 5 fun not-so-typical results.

On April 18, 2022 I started the 75 Hard Challenge.

75 gallons of water…

83 walks outside (and 1 run, lol)…

52 YouTube workout videos…

5 books…

Lots of healthy (and delicious!) meals…

and 75 progress photos later,

             I completed 75 Hard!

What is 75 Hard

75 Hard is a ‘transformative mental toughness program’, developed by Andy Frisella.

There are 5 simple tasks that you have to complete every day. In and of themselves, the tasks aren’t too challenging. The challenge comes in doing all of them consistently for 75 days straight. And a big motivation in completing them is that, if you don’t do any one of the tasks, you have to restart the whole challenge.

Yup. So, if you’re on day 72, and you miss one task, you’re back at Day 1. It’s pretty good motivation. The 5 tasks are:

1. Follow a healthy diet of your choice.

   • This needs to be a diet structured towards achieving your goals, no cheat meals allowed. Alcohol is also not allowed, but as I don’t drink this wasn’t an issue for me.
   • For me: I think I already eat a pretty healthy diet, so I just wanted to continue with that but make some more consistent healthier choices – i.e. cutting out more indulgences, like vegan fast food, sugary treats, etc.

2. 2 45-min workouts, one outside.

   • These don’t have to be intensive workouts, and one has to take place outside, rain or shine.
   • For me: My outdoor workout every day was a walk, usually in the morning. My second workout varied, depending on how I was feeling – I mainly did YouTube workouts, and plan to do another blog post with all of the videos and channels I discovered!

3. Drink 1 galloon of water.

   • This has to be straight up water – herbal teas and flavored water don’t count.
   • For me: I’m not going to lie, this was the task I was the most concerned about, and the most hopeful about making a difference. I never drank this much water in one day, and when I first saw how much 1 galloon of water is, I was not sure if my body could physically handle it. But it did!

4. Read 10 pages of a non-fiction physical book.

   • Audiobooks don’t count, and these need to be books that are educational and contributing to your personal development.
   • For me: I started with reading a few Christian books that have been in my TBR pile for ages. I then ventured into some more personal development/productivity books.

5. Take a progress photo.

   • The rational behind this one is that it ‘teaches you that EVERY detail matters, as small and insignificant as it may seem at the time … and you can’t forget about them, because that is what separates successful people from everybody else.’
   • For me: I took this with my post-it note showing the number of the day I was on, usually in the morning.

Why I Started 75 Hard

The past two years have been some of the most challenging in my life. I moved back to the US, after living in London for 7 years, in the midst of the global pandemic. While trying to finish up my PhD, my mum was diagnosed with breast cancer. I paused my studies to take care of her, and then eventually (finally) completed my PhD in the spring go 2022.

So there’s been quite a lot going on. And during it all, I didn’t feel like I had a lot of time or space to put into taking care of myself.

75 Hard felt like a step (or 5!) towards doing better.

I’m also an all-in kind of person. Baby steps are very helpful, and I think a very effective approach towards building sustainable healthy habits. But sometimes, making a big change overnight (like when I started eating plant-based) is what works best for me. I just have to make the decision to commit to something, and then I’m all in.

Should You Do 75 Hard?

It’s completely up to you! I don’t think 75 Hard is necessarily for everyone. As I said, I’m an all-in type of person, so a challenge like this can be very helpful to me in kickstarting healthier habits that I want to integrate into my life. I think it’s important to know what kind of person you are and whether this would be helpful or not.

I will say that I did really enjoy the challenge, and would recommend it! It wasn’t always easy. There were several midnight yoga sessions to squeeze in that second workout. But the sense of accomplishment and structure is so beneficial! I especially appreciated how even on bad days, I still felt like I got in 5 tasks that were really good for me – and that really helped change the way I felt about that day by the end of it.

7 Tips for Starting 75 Hard

If you *are* interested in trying out 75 Hard for yourself, here are some tips!

1. Have some books ready to go – either bought or borrowed from the library. Try to pick out some that you’ve been meaning to read for awhile but haven’t gotten around to it – this is the perfect opportunity to finally do it! And having books you’re excited to read is great motivation.
2. Buy a half-galloon sized water bottle – it really is the sweet spot in terms of size, in my opinion. A full galloon water bottle was too big and overwhelming for me, but having one bottle I just had to fill up and empty twice a day made tracking my water intake so much easier and manageable.
3. Front load your day  – it’s impossible to get all 5 tasks done in the first half of the day, because a couple of them can only be crossed off right at the end of the day. But getting a few of the easier tasks competed earlier in the day not only gets them out of the way, but also just feels really good!
4. Choose a diet that’s accessible for you – if you’ve been wanting to try a particular diet or way of eating, this could be a great opportunity to go for it! But I would recommend not choosing a diet that’s too restrictive or crazy.
5. Make one of your 2 daily workouts a walk outside – it’s the easiest way to get in an outdoor workout, I think, and is so good for you on so many levels. Two workouts a day can also be quite taxing on the body, so making one of them a walk can help give a bit of a break.
6. Stack your tasks/habits – I found that taking my progress photo right before I went on walk ensured that I didn’t forget to take it. And then I could check off two tasks from my list in a row. Speaking of…
7. Have a checklist – at least at the beginning, this really helps ensure you don’t miss out any of the tasks! Plus, who doesn’t like checking items off a list? So satisfying.

5 Not-So-Typical Results – and is it worth it?

Completing 75 Hard didn’t accomplish all of my health goals. It didn’t get me insanely in shape, or clear my skin perfectly, or anything like that. But I don’t think that’s the point of it. It’s a lot more about changing your mindset, and in that I think 75 Hard really did make a difference for me!

These were some of my…shall we say, less expected results? They may seem like small things, but to me they actually made quite a positive impact. 75 Hard helped me break out of a rut and get into a healthier routine, and I’m so grateful for that.

1. I wore something different everyday. (Please try not to judge! We have been in quarantine for 2+ years 🙈)
2. I did my hair differently almost everyday. This was mainly for the daily vlogs, but made for a nice change of routine!
3. Reading 10 pages a day is such a great way to read those books you’ve been meaning to for awhile. It’s a manageable chunk, and I gained so much from the books I read. It’s a habit I definitely want to continue.
4. I re-discovered how much I really love YouTube workouts, and found some amazing channels that I’m excited to keep following. I also found it mentally freeing to just get into the zone of completing a workout, whether it be a fun low impact HIIT video with catchy music, a meditative yoga flow, or a Pilates workout that required all of my attention and focus to do properly.
5. Drinking a galloon of water was not nearly as difficult as I had thought it would be, and actually changed my mindset around tackling things I didn’t think were possible. It may sound silly, but I was really nervous about drinking this much water, and it was the main sticking point that made me think, at first, that there was no way I could ever complete this challenge.

I would definitely say 75 Hard was worth it to me. I actually kept up pretty much all of the tasks for weeks after completing the challenge because I loved doing them! But lately I have been slacking, so…

Stay Tuned…

Did you know there are more phases of 75 Hard? Well, I’ll be starting Phase 1 on September 1st, 2022! If you have a 30-day health challenge you want to start, or a habit you want to get into, why not join me? I’ll be sharing about it on my Instagram stories, so check in there! (First and Last instagram posts about 75 Hard)