75 Hard Challenge Review: The Challenge That Transforms Your Body and Mind
Is the 75 Hard Challenge for you? If you want to create healthy habits and reach your personal goals yes this transformative mental toughness program is for you.
Many people think 75 Hard is a weight loss challenge but it’s not. It’s a mental toughness challenge. At the end of this 75-day program, you’ll have created many lifestyle changes.
Other nay-sayers will tell you that this challenge isn’t good for your health. But you decide what diet and fitness program to follow.
Start this challenge at your fitness level. Don’t start out running a marathon if you’ve never run a day in your life. First start with walking. Then work your way up to running. Or start with lifting light weights. Then progress as you get stronger.
Check out these 10 workout programs for beginners
What is the 75 Hard Challenge?
The 75 Hard Challenge was created by an influencer and entrepreneur named Andy Frisella. This is a transformative mental toughness program.
To complete the program for 75 consecutive days you must complete the 6 critical daily tasks. No deviation, no excuses.
If you don’t reach your daily goal of finishing these critical daily tasks, you fail and start back at day one.
What are the 75 Hard Challenge Rules?
The 75 Hard rules are simple.
- Two 45-minute workouts a day. One of the workouts must be outdoors.
- Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book
- Take a daily progress picture
- Follow a diet
- Drink a gallon of water every day
- No Cheat Meals, no alcohol
Follow this program to the letter and complete these critical tasks before you go to bed that day.
Two 45-Minute Workouts
Your daily workouts can be anything as long as it’s 45 minutes long and one of those workouts is outdoors.
But when I say anything mowing the lawn or shoveling snow doesn’t count as a workout.
For my first workout, I did 80 Day Obsession in the morning. This was my indoor workout.
Then in the afternoons for my second workout, I would go for a 45-minute walk outside.
On Sundays, I would do a mobility and stability workout from a Beachbody program called 645. But I still took a 45-minute walk in the afternoon.
You don’t get rest days in the 75 Hard program but that doesn’t mean you need to go all out every day of the program either. I still did two 45-minute workouts on Sunday but I considered Sundays an active rest day.
Read 10 Pages of a Non-Fiction Book
My books of choice were personal development books. The books I read were:
One of the main reasons why I wanted to do 75 Hard is to work on my personal development. I need to create habits and follow through. These books helped open my mind to believing more in myself.
Take a Daily Progress Picture
Taking the daily progress photos was easier to remember with the app. In the beginning, I hated taking a picture every day.
But once I got closer to the end I could start seeing the physical changes. I don’t think it matters how easy the task is but it’s the fact that repeating something builds a habit.
Follow a Diet
You choose the diet. You can follow any diet you want as long as you can stick to it for the next 75 days. For the first 45 days, I followed Whole30.
It’s 30 days of an elimination diet and 15 days of reintroduction.
When I completed Whole30 I still ate mostly the same foods but added greek yogurt and my workout supplements.
Though you can follow any diet you choose you should make it worth your time. I saw people showing pics of the frozen waffles with chocolate chips they had for breakfast.
For me, this program was about making healthier choices. I love chocolate chips but that’s one of the many reasons I’m overweight.
Drink a Gallon of Water Everyday
A gallon of water is A LOT to drink. I like water and that’s mostly what I drink anyway. Besides beer and coffee:). But a gallon is a lot. I tried to finish drinking my gallon of water by 6 pm.
Waiting until 10 pm to try and drink half a gallon of water didn’t sound like a good idea. I read experiences of people chugging their water before bed and it all coming back up.
For the first few weeks, I wrote down how many ounces I drank each time I poured water into my mason jar. Then I got smart and ordered this gallon-sized water bottle from Amazon.
No Cheat Meals or Alcohol
This is the hardest part when following a diet! After you have followed a diet for a while you might feel like you deserve a treat or a slice of pizza. This is where the mental toughness comes in.
It takes time to create a habit and it doesn’t happen after a few days, weeks, or months. It took me a long time to accept this. And this is one of the reasons why I committed to this program.
Not drinking alcohol is also hard. Especially when everyone else around me is. It would be so easy to give up and just have a beer. But I was determined to stick to the 75 days and not give in.
How to get started with the 75 Hard Program
Getting started with the 75 Hard Program is simple, commit and do it. You may want to take a minute and plan what workouts to do for the next 75 days. And what diet you’ll want to follow but it doesn’t take much to start.
Tips for Success with 75 Hard Challenge
- Don’t make it complicated
- Tell everyone you’re doing the 75 Hard Challenge
- Get the tasks done as early as you can
Don’t make it complicated
Choose workouts you know you can do. If you are not a runner but decided to run for 45 minutes for your outdoor workout it might be a better idea to start with walking. Then work your way up to running for a longer amount of time.
I chose one hard workout that I did in the morning and then took a walk in the afternoon for my outdoor workout. I didn’t want to overtrain and end up hurting myself and using that as an excuse to quit.
Also, choose a diet you know you can follow. You want something that can be sustainable and realistic. Because in reality, 75 days is a short amount of time. Especially if you have a lot of weight to lose. How many years did it take you to put on all those pounds you’re now trying to shed?
Tell Everyone You’re Doing 75 Hard
It’s easier to start and stick to something when everyone is on the same page. That way those closest to you won’t be trying to feed you pizza and beer when you’re visiting them.
It’s also a good idea to find a group on Facebook to join so you get support from people who are going through it too. Everyone also likes to give their opinions so if you have any questions it’s a good place to turn to.
Get the Tasks Done Early
Don’t wait until the last minute to do your tasks. Your day ends when you go to sleep. But you don’t want to be out in your backyard doing your outdoor workout at Midnight.
And you don’t want to try to chug half a gallon of water before you go to bed. If it doesn’t come back up you’ll get up 20 times during the night to use the bathroom.
Common Questions/FAQ About 75 Hard Challenge
Do you need to read the book for the 75 Hard Challenge?
No, you don’t need to read the book. When I started the program the book was sold out but I wasn’t going to wait for it to come back into stock before I started. The rules are simple and if you follow them you can do the program. Also, you can learn everything you need to know by listening to Andy’s podcast, Real AF episode 14.
Can you drink alcohol on 75 Hard?
Alcohol is not allowed on 75 Hard. It’s one of the rules and there are no cheat days. Sorry, you’ll have to wait until the day after you finish 75 Hard to celebrate with a drink 😉
Is there an easier version of 75 Hard?
The 75 Hard challenge only has one version. It’s the program created by Andy Frisella. So unless you follow all six rules for 75 days in a row it’s not 75 Hard. But if you google easier versions on 75 Hard you will find things like 75 Medium or 75 Soft challenge.
Andy said, “75 Hard requires absolutely no deviation, zero compromises. You can’t tweak the program to your liking”
What diet do you follow for the 75 Hard Program?
You can choose any diet to follow when doing the 75 Hard program. But choosing to eat McDonald’s as a diet for all of the 75 Days isn’t going to serve the purpose of the program.
I started out 75 Hard doing the Whole30. Once day 30 days was over and the 15 days for reintroduction were done I started following Portion Control. A nutrition program from Beachbody. Basically, I still ate the same foods as I did for Whole30 but I had some dairy such as plain Greek yogurt and cottage cheese. I also started taking my supplements again, Shakeology and Energize.
So I guess I could say I ate a clean diet. I didn’t have any processed foods, no sweets, or junk. I also didn’t have sugar in any form until I added my shake and pre-workout back into my diet.
Whole30 is a good diet to choose from because you’re eating clean. Whole30 is an elimination diet. You’ll eliminate dairy, sugar, alcohol, soy, whole grains, and non-gluten grains. I only didn’t do it for the 30 days plus the 15 for reintroduction. But you could do it for the entire 75 days if you wanted to.
Portion Fix is the diet I continued to follow when I was done with Whole30. Portion Fix is where you measure your foods in containers. You eat veggies, fruits, carbs, proteins, and healthy fats. It’s an easier version of counting your Macros.
During 75 Hard I was doing the 80 Day Obsession workout from Beachbody and it had its own food list for portion control. So that’s what I used. It was really clean food. Similar to the foods I ate on whole30 except I was able to add in some dairy and my supplements.
My shake and pre0workout have sugar but it equaled under 10 grams a day. Also, I didn’t always take Energize I like drinking on cardio days only.
What do you do after 75 Hard?
After the 75 Hard Challenge is the Live Hard Challenge. The Live Hard Challenge has three phases and must be completed before your anniversary of starting 75 Hard. Each Phase is 30 days long. You’ll still be doing the five critical tasks from 75 Hard but in Phases one and three you’ll have to add a few more tasks.
For the first phase, you’ll have to take a 5-minute cold shower every day. Also, visualize for 10 minutes every day. Then you will have to add on 3 of your own critical tasks that you must complete each day. These three critical tasks should be something that will help you succeed in your life. The tasks could be personal or for business.
For the second phase, you have to wait at least 30 days after completing phase 1 to start it. The second phase is the same as 75 Hard. You don’t have to add tasks, like visualizing or taking cold showers.
Phase 3 must be completed 30 days before your year anniversary of starting 75 Hard. In phase 3 you have to do all the tasks from phase 1 plus you will have to do 1 random act of kindness each day. This can include having a conversation with a stranger or buying a stranger a cup of coffee.
What is the 75 Hard App?
The 75 Hard app is 5 bucks and worth purchasing! It’s a checklist with all the critical tasks you must complete for 75 consecutive days. The app allows you to keep all your progress pictures in the app. So you can scroll through and see how much you have changed during those 75 days.
You can also set reminders in the apps to get your tasks done. The app is not required to do the 75 Hard Challenge but SO worth having. Before going to bed at night I would always make sure I had all my tasks checked off.
Once all the tasks are checked off you’ll be able to take a screenshot saying that the days are complete. I liked sharing those once in a while in my stories. To let others know I was holding myself accountable.
75 Hard Challenge Results
I didn’t have a 6-pack at the end of this mental challenge but I still got some pretty awesome results! I lost 15 pounds and stuck through with it until the end. Just completing the challenge was my biggest win! My body felt stronger and healthier. I’m happy with what I accomplished.
In these 75 Days I
- Read 6 Books
- Drank 75 gallons of water
- Worked out for 6,750 minutes
- Lost 15 pounds
- Lost 14 inches
The biggest thing I learned was I can do hard things. I did this program all by myself. My husband, family members, and friends didn’t join in. But they let me do my thing and didn’t try to convenience me that I was crazy. My kids would even remind me to take my walk in the afternoon. They’d say “ Mommy you haven’t taken your walk yet.”
When I started the program I didn’t even think about what the weather would be like. I didn’t think about walking in the snow or freezing temperatures. One freezing afternoon my phone shut off because it was too cold outside!
I was also worried about walking in the dark. I live in a safe neighborhood but didn’t want to walk alone in the dark. So I’d probably wait until daylight savings next time! So if I decide to do the 75 Hard Challenge again I might wait until the Spring months.
The Last Thing You Need to Know about the 75 Hard Challenge
The 75 Hard Challenge is a transformative mental toughness challenge. This type of program is not about losing weight, getting buff, or depriving yourself.
This program is about achieving personal goals, creating a daily routine, and living a healthy lifestyle.
Other potential benefits are creating good habits, developing a fitness routine, getting more physical activity, and improving mental health.
Following these strict rules for 75 consecutive days, you’ll be creating a lifestyle change.
The critical daily tasks are simple and easy to follow. You decide what diet to follow and what exercises to do.
Tough days are ahead in this 75-day program but that’s when you grow the most. Improving your mind and body is challenging. But it’s worth it.
So the bottom line is that this mental challenge is worth the effort.
Anyone can do this challenge and everyone should! So tell me, when are you going to start 75 Hard?
