The 75 hard challenge is doing its annual trending rounds on TikTok as summer is here! However, is it worth it? And does it give you sustainable results? Fortunately for you and unfortunately for my unfit self, I will be taking on the challenge to find out.
Let's start with what the challenge is and who made it. The program was created in 2019 by Andy Frisella, stating on his website that “this is not a fitness challenge, 75 hard is a transformative mental toughness program”. It has since blown up on social media, especially on Tiktok, and the influx of before and after pictures has only catalysed its popularity due to their extreme contrasts.
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As an individual that has never really enjoyed physical fitness or entered into the revered gym girl era, I wanted to see if this challenge would do what it said it would: Improve my mental toughness. Now as much as I am looking forward to the “ironman for your brain”, I want to make sure I document the process thoroughly and not just do the classic before and after. Therefore, I will be doing 15-day check ins, monitoring my progress and how I’m feeling.
The all-important starting stats:
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- Weight: 77kg
- Energy: coach potato
- Favourite exercise: tbd
If you want to skip right to the end of the 75 days I don’t blame you, patience really isn't my virtue either (hence why I’m doing this challenge). The last article update should be out on the 4th of August. See you then!
Part 1, day 15
Stats:
- Weight: 75kg
- Energy: 10/10
- Favourite exercise: Dance ✨
So far, doing the 75 Hard challenge has been a mixture of feeling great and wanting to bang my head against the wall. If you're wondering why would she want to do that, it's only exercise and dieting? That is exactly my point, but let me give you more context.
The rules that the 75 Hard challenge lays out are the following:
- Follow a diet - No alcohol or cheat meals
- Drink a GALLON (Upper caps as this is way more than you think) of water
- Read ten pages of a non-fiction book
- Exercise twice a day, two 45-minute sessions and one must be outside
- Daily progress pics
- If you break any of these you start again (spoiler alert, rules have been broken)
So as stipulated, I’m currently in a calorie deficit, drinking as much water as my 5 foot 2 self can manage, reading 10 pages of a non-fiction book and taking weekly pics (as daily is too much work). Have I bent/broken the rules? Yes. Was it for the sake of my sanity? Absolutely. Will it affect my outcome? We’ll never know as I’m not restarting.
While I might not be starting over, as we’ve got deadlines to hit, I do want to really say how much of a mental challenge this is. I was sceptical in the beginning, but the lack of flexibility and having certain actions of my day already decided has been mentally tough. HAVING to work out and HAVING to stick to a calorie deficit means a lot of my day is taken up with a (not so) wonderful thing called ‘food noise’. Now this constant internal chatter is what we would call a red flag when it comes to dieting. If you find yourself experiencing this, maybe take a step back and reassess what you’re eating. As while a calorie deficit is going to be hard, you shouldn’t find it impossible to do. Switch up your intake of carbs, protein and fats till you find a ratio that works for you.
Is it worth it? So far, I would say yes. I have found that this challenge has been a great way to kick start my fitness journey. It’s allowed me to really branch out and try different exercises, moving away from ‘traditional’ sports like running or cycling to more fun activities like dance and pole fitness. Oh, and I’m happy to report that I have finally started my gym girl era. See you in part 2!