Have you ever wished you had a little more discipline? Perhaps some fortitude, even grit? Well, the internet’s toughest fitness challenge might just be for you.
75 Hard has been called life-changing and transformative by its devotees and borderline ridiculous, possibly even dangerous, by its critics. Naturally, I had to give this brutal 11-week regime designed to develop your mental resilience a go.
The challenge was created by podcaster and CEO of supplement company Andy Frisella back in 2019 but it has soared in popularity in recent years. Participants post accounts of their attempts to complete the gruelling 75-day long ordeal on social media sites. On TikTok alone, the hashtag 75 Hard has been viewed over a billion times and Frisella claims that over a million people around the world have completed the challenge.
It’s not for the faint of heart. You must complete five daily tasks. These are: follow a nutrition plan of your choice with no cheat meals or alcohol allowed, complete two 45-minute workouts, drink a gallon of water, take a progress picture and read 10 pages of a non-fiction book each day. Oh, and if you fail to complete one of these tasks, you have to restart the challenge and go back to day one.
This 75-day fitness programme has been called life-changing and transformative by its devotees and borderline ridiculous, possibly even dangerous, by its critics
Just why would anyone put themselves through this, you may ask. Well, according to Frisella, the mix of diet, exercise and mental agility add up to a "mental toughness" programme that is like "an Ironman for your brain". On his website, he wrote: "I don't care how good looking you are, how much your mom [sic] loves you... at some point, life will kick your a**, and put you in a choke hold. Only mental toughness will save you. That's why I created 75 Hard, a free program [sic] that will build that mental strength and discipline within you."
I'm a sucker for any project or challenge that promises to deliver a better me. And 75 Hard promises to multiply my confidence, self-esteem, self-worth, fortitude and grittiness by 100 according to Frisella's website (it's not explained quite how the increases in these traits are measured). I have never considered myself a particularly disciplined person and I think a bit of grit could do me well. But let's get real: I want to get hot as well. All those before and after pictures online of flabby tummies turned into toned abdominal muscles are looking quite appealing after a festive period spent indulging in a few too many mince pies and Quality Street.
I embark on the challenge with buoyant confidence. I decided that my nutrition plan will be to steer clear of ultra processed snacks like crisps and chocolate bars. I watch YouTube videos of people who had successfully completed the challenge and absorb their tips: start drinking water as soon as you wake up, get those pages read pronto, meal prep to ensure you stay on track with your diet. One participant explains that everyone finds one of the rules particularly difficult and for me, that rule was the insane amount of water I had to guzzle daily.
Have you ever tried to sink 3.8 litres of water in a day? The only way to do it is to constantly sip away and, if you’re not sipping, you’re desperate for the toilet. I soon learnt every single public toilet in my area because every time I left the house, I had a sudden, urgent need to empty my bladder. I found myself constantly hurrying into pubs, restaurants and even libraries, begging staff to let me use their facilities.
I also just felt gross - waterlogged and heavy. I discovered that the water requirement is one of the most controversial aspects of 75 Hard. Critics point out that the plan is not tailored for the individual and obviously a 5ft 3in woman like myself is not going to require the same amount of water daily as a 6ft 2in man, for instance. Alarmingly, a Canadian TikToker actually ended up in hospital after drinking too much water for the challenge and giving herself a severe sodium deficiency.
That was enough to convince me to scale back the water requirement. I looked up a "hydration calculator" online, put in my height, weight, age, sex and activity level, and was told that 2.5 litres a day was the optimum amount of water for me and that's what I stuck to.
I had no problem following the reading rule and happily read my ten pages of non-fiction - admittedly not the kind of self-help tome Frisella suggested, instead I read an historical true crime book - and most surprisingly, I really enjoyed the two workouts a day.
Two 45-minute workouts daily does indeed sound like a bonkers amount of exercise but one of them - or indeed both - could be walking, making it much more manageable. I rotated between running, swimming, yoga classes, gym sessions, an appropriately challenging (for 75 Hard) glutes and back high intensity workout class at Enmei Studios in South Kensington that made my thighs tremble, and lots of long walks. (I should point out that I am freelance and work from home which made it much easier to slot the two workouts into my day.) I found that the more I moved my body, the more I wanted to move my body. Before long, my body desired daily movement and if there was a blue sky, I was desperate to go on a run. If it got to the late afternoon and I hadn't got one of my workouts in yet, I could feel a restlessness in my limbs to get moving.
There were some downsides. I didn't want to wash my sweaty hair constantly and so I scraped it back and as a result looked rough while doing the challenge. I was constantly washing my workout clothes. My muscles always felt tired. On busy days when there really wasn't enough time to get both workouts in, I would have to go for an aimless walk at night, in the cold and the dark, just to be able to tick the task off. That was miserable.
And on the topic of misery, let's get to the diet portion of the challenge which is where I really stumbled. According to people who successfully completed 75 Hard, I was too ambitious. They recommend choosing a very manageable diet. I just couldn't resist my favourite Kinder Bueno. Or when my friend made me a hot chocolate and topped it with marshmallows. Or when my mum served me chilli con carne with perfectly salty tortilla chips. Attempting to remove the naughty but delicious ultra-processed snacks was a bridge too far. It wasn't enough that I was working out twice a day, drinking so much water that I was constantly in need of a bathroom, and reading instead of scrolling - the denial of a sugary treat in a grim month made the whole thing feel like an exercise in self-flagellation.
But that is the premise of 75 Hard. And maybe I'm one of the wimps that Frisella mentions on his website who are "not cut out for 75 Hard". The most I got was a streak of seven days of following his programme before I forgot to take a progress picture or succumbed to the delights of a packet of salt and vinegar crisps. I’d try again but with a little less desire each restart.
So what were my results? Did I gain the fortitude, the grittiness, the mental resilience that Frisella promised? No, but that is most likely down to my inability to actually do the programme.
Did I lose weight? Yes, I shed six pounds doing his regime on and off for a month. I can see muscles forming on my tummy that were not there before. I can fit into jeans that have long been too tight on the hips. My sleep improved. The best result has been that the challenge has instilled in me a desire for daily movement. I workout every day now and, sometimes, happily squeeze in a second workout. Frisella would surely be proud.
There’s plenty of criticism out there for his programme - that it’s too extreme, doesn’t teach consistency, is unsustainable - and any plan that involves progress pictures is certainly a bad idea for anyone with body image issues. But I’m glad I gave it a go. Sometimes you need a ludicrously difficult challenge to jolt you back on track and 75 Hard is certainly that.
