“What is 75 Hard???” you may ask. It is a “mental toughness” challenge, while also having a fitness component. There are a set of rules you need to follow for 75 consecutive days and if you miss a day you are supposed to start over!
The challenge was created by Andy Frisella and is defined by him as,
“75 HARD is the only program that can permanently change your life … from your way of thinking, to the level of discipline you approach every single task in front of you with.This is about mental toughness.”
https://andyfrisella.com/pages/75hard-info
The rules for 75 Hard include:
- Drinking a gallon of water per day
- Taking a daily progress picture
- Two, 45-minute workouts a day. One of those has to be outside
- Read 10 pages of a non-fiction/self-help book a day
- Stick to a clean eating program (I chose Paleo)
- And the last item…. no alcohol for the entire program!
I am fortunate enough to be able to work from home during this strange period of life in 2020. Quarantine has not been kind to some, but I have really been trying to make the most of the past few months since I could see this becoming the new normal.
Right before quarantine started I hurt my hamstring doing a cartwheel so the first part of quarantine was trying to rehab that and just relax for a bit. I had been getting into a pretty regular workout routine before the incident so to have to take a break was fun, but difficult.
After several months of being a bum, I knew that this could not continue especially since going to the gym in a traditional sense was not going to be an option for quite awhile. I had seen some girls I follow on Instagram start and complete this #75Hard challenge so I decided to do some more research.
I learned about the rules and decided, along with my sister and a friend, that we would begin this on June 1, 2020. The stars had aligned; it was a Monday, it was the first of the month, and the month had 30 days which made it easier to tell which day you were on!
It is now Friday, August 7th, and I have exactly one week left in the challenge! I love goal setting and achievement, but I will be honest when I say I didn’t see this going well.
I am honestly so impressed with myself and have to brag for a moment on how happy I am that I could stick with a workout routine of TWO, 45-minute workouts a day, one outside in a Texas summer, for 75 days….
Like…. what??? Me???
WILD.
I would post my daily progress picture on my IG stories for @SavvyLifts and I had a BUNCH of people reach out to me that they were starting the challenge after seeing my posts!
Four things that helped set me up for success with this challenge:
1. Doing my outside workout as a morning walk.
Texas summers are no joke and I started this June 1st…. right when it starts to get unbearable outside. The best way to circumvent the heat issue is to either workout in the morning or the evening when it’s not quite as hot. I knew that if I waited until night, I would not want to go walk. Alternatively, if I get a simple walk in before work in the morning I am now awake for work and feel more accomplished from doing a simple task.
2. Not having to get ready for work or commute.
75 hard items probably only take up 2-2.5 hours extra to your day so I actually have more time than if I had to go into the office. I also had to get over that I am just going to constantly be in workout clothes/messy hair. As someone who is usually in full makeup on the daily, quarantine in general has been a welcome reprieve for my skin + makeup budget. I also wear glasses so normally I would be wearing contacts for a workout so I had to get used to wearing my glasses for workouts too. Not super fun, but not unbearable!
If you do have to commute/go into an office this would be much more difficult so props to those people who make this work! You are a rockstar!
3. Not having social commitments.
If I had to attend birthday parties, work outings, actually go into an office, or even brunch plans this would have been crazy difficult. In my normal life I do try to eat a fairly clean diet due to my health issues, but obviously that is going to not happen 100% of the time. Cooking at home and meal planning are always the best options for making a healthy lifestyle change unless you have the money to blow on a meal prep service like HelloFresh, Snap Kitchen, BlueApron, etc…
I love cooking and did have my moments where I was a little burned out, but fortunately there are so many more restaurants with Paleo options than the last time I fully committed. Shoutout to Chipotle for being a budget friendly, healthy option for Paleo people, Whole30ers, Vegans, Gluten-free folk, and regular joes! (not sponsored)
Having recipes from The Defined Dish to use was incredibly helpful. I believe I’ve mentioned her on here before, but she is a Dallas food blogger who had a cookbook release late last year. I was lucky enough to go one of her first book signings with my friend Becca from PSouthernLovely so we’ve been Marco Polo-ing as we cook our way through her tasty, paleo-approved recipes from both the book and her blog!
4. Having my sister do this with me.
Several of my friends and my sister got the Marco Polo app when quarantine started and it has been a lifesaver! I have different chats going with different friends on different topics so we made one for #75Hard. We check in throughout the day with quick updates either about how we are doing with the items for the challenge or just about life in general!
Even if you’re not doing the challenge I highly recommend getting the app so its easier to stay in touch with people. They are little video messages that you can listen to at your leisure. I like to listen to them while I share my closet on Poshmark or cook dinner!
My sister is also really into working out and is a yoga instructor so she was used to having a plan when working out. Every two weeks she would make us a new schedule for each day using a mix of yoga, p90x videos, this glute series her friend was giving on Zoom, and other random youtube workouts. Having that structure was very beneficial. If you are terrible at planning your workouts (like I am) we suggest doing a pre-done series like p90x, Insanity, the Sweat app//BBG guide from Kayla Itsines or whatever else you want.
In conclusion, I am SO HAPPY that I chose to do this challenge, even though at times I was so sick of having to do all of the items every single day without a break. I do wish that some weeks I would have pushed myself harder on some of the workouts, but I’m also for the first time fully realizing that improving your fitness level is a lifelong journey and refuses to be 1. complete and 2. quick.
It was hard to look at other people’s before, during, and after pictures and compare myself to them. I have lost a significant amount of weight which is something that I am really proud of, but my body still does not look exactly how I want. I am still hoping to get a tummy tuck at some point so I feel like that impacts how I look at my progress photos. I am at a point though where I am happy with what I have done on my own. I still want to get the plastics done, but I can go into them knowing I’ve done my best.
I hope this inspires you to try some new things during this season of being at home! Whether that’s trying a new eating plan, workout routine, or whatever your goals may be!
I have ONE WEEK LEFT so I will make another post later with updated pics!
Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about the program, if you’ve tried it, or just want to say hi! 🙂
Happy Reading!
-Savvy