How much change can you really make in 1800 hours? Introduced as a ‘transformative mental toughness program’ by Andy Frisella in 2019, the 75 Hard Challenge is 75 days of regimen, 1800 hours of rules and 10-and-a-bit weeks of strict routine.
James Lawrence, an athlete known for completing 50 Ironman races in 50 days explained to Frisella in an interview that, in order to develop mental fortitude, you must stretch yourself out of your comfort zone. Thus, 75 Hard was born.
So, what is 75 Hard? What is required? Is it really that hard and is it worth the challenge? These are just a few questions that you may be asking, because I was asking them too after my TikTok feed was suddenly taken over by an epidemic of fitness influencers counting down days of the challenge.
The rules are simple:
- Complete two 45 minute workouts per day. One must be outside. No rest days.
- Drink one gallon of water daily.
- Read 10 pages of a non fiction or of a self help book every day.
- Stick to a diet with no cheat meals.
- Drink no alcohol.
- Take a progress picture every day.
“ZERO COMPROMISE, ZERO SUBSTITUTION.”
Stray from the rules, and you are back to day one. A lot, right? The program claims to build confidence and self esteem, whilst enforcing strength and grit. By the 75th day, you should be committed to routine and consistency.
Some experts, such as registered dietician Noah Quezada and Mindset coach Carrie Veatch, speak of the evident benefits of the challenge. Quezada believes that 75 Hard encourages people to pay closer attention to their nutrition and physical activity, preaching that “consistency is key.” Vetach, after completing the program herself, told Forbes that 75 Hard is a useful tool to eliminate negativity and instead, be able to appreciate what your mind and body are capable of.
I’m no expert, by any means, but I definitely see the appeal of 75 Hard. I’m a sucker for routine. That’s actually what I have found myself missing the most at university: the regimen that came with schooling, which I would have never anticipated.
From a psychological perspective, it is no surprise that 75 Hard has been as infectious as it is. Emily Cooke, a business psychologist, claims, “Human beings are creatures of habit, we find safety in routine and generally do not cope well with uncertainty.” Schedules and routines provide us with a sense of control. Perhaps, just making the decision to challenge yourself and make yourself uncomfortable, is empowering in itself.
Although the challenge does definitely encourage positive internal changes, there could also be an argument that 75 Hard is excessively demanding, and could lead to negative consequences.
Working out twice a day, with no time for active recovery, could be counter productive. Injury and overtraining are two of the biggest concerns according to Alexa Tucker for SELF. The CDC promotes 75 minutes of high intensity exercise a week, or 150 minutes of lower intensity activity. 75 Hard demands 630 minutes. Joel Seedman, an exercise physiologist, tells SELF that he recommends working out every other day for maximum possibility of recovery.
Frisella claims that the challenge is not weight loss oriented. Yet, participants are instructed to exercise in excess, follow a strict diet, and take progress pictures of their bodies daily. With the emphasis on weight loss in contemporary society, it is more than likely that many participants who undertake 75 Hard will have the goal of weight loss alone, regardless of the intentions of the creator of the challenge. This only makes it more problematic.
Countless studies have displayed the unrealistic nature of dieting for weight loss. A 2007 study found that people who do lose weight initially through dieting, will almost always regain the same weight back that they lost within a few years. Meanwhile, a 2020 study found that short term health benefits of dieting such as lower blood pressure and LDL cholesterol, backtracked after another 6 months, have concluded that in the long term, dieting is not a useful, nor a realistic method of weight loss.
Moreover, weight is not an indicator of health, and a physical progress picture cannot, and will not evidence the participants’ ‘mental fortitude’. Is 75 Hard then just another weight loss program, thinly veiled under the cover of the prospect of improving mental wellbeing?
For those of us who don’t resonate with the extremes of 75 Hard, another challenge exists. Introducing, 75 Soft! Created by the Pohhu Experience lifestyle site in 2019 and popularised by Stephen Gallagher, it incorporates four, kinder and more realistic, rules:
- Eat well and only drink on social occasions.
- Train for 45 minutes a day, but leave one day a week for active recovery.
- Drink 3 litres of waiter daily.
- Read 10 book pages, of any book, every day.
75 Soft encourages positive change, rather than enforcing it in excess. Fiona Ward for Glamour magazine writes that “The 75 Soft Challenge encourages participants to move their body everyday, it incorporates active rest and suggests limiting drinking alcohol rather than removing it completely.” The flexibility of the challenge allows for more people to be able to fully commit to the challenge and be less likely to give up. “The rule of ‘eating well’ is much more expansive, and Stephen’s own meals always include a variety of food groups, rather than anything restrictive”, she continues, and I have to agree that this may be much more advantageous.
I actually did a version of this myself last summer. For two months (so not quite 75 days), I drank 3 litres of water, exercised in some form, read, and tried to be more conscious of the nutrients I was eating everyday. To be honest, I felt amazing. I wasn’t constrained by the pressure of abiding to rules or a challenge, I just did it for myself. If I didn’t complete a task, I moved on and didn’t force myself to start again.
If extreme challenge and mental fortitude is your cup of tea, by all means give Frisella’s challenge a go. But, if you’re more like me, and just want to focus on gentle self-improvement, maybe younger sister 75 Soft could be for you too. Without the focus on progress pictures and a black-and-white attitude, 75 Soft becomes more accessible, doable and realistic.