What Is “75 Hard”?

This is Andy Frisella. He’s not a doctor, scientist, nutritionist, personal trainer, or professional athlete, but he has kicked off a viral fitness challenge, so let’s take a look at it:

What it is

Firstly, Frisella asserts that it’s not a fitness challenge, but rather, he describes it as a “transformative mental toughness program”.

Here’s what it consists of:

• Follow a healthy diet plan with no deviations from it (i.e. no “cheat days”)
• Abstain from alcohol
• Exercise 2x per day, 45 minutes each
• One of the exercise sessions each day must be outside
• No rest days
• Drink 3.5 liters of water per day

And the duration? 75 days, hence the name of the fitness challenge transformative mental toughness program.

Why it is

Frisella’s rationale is:

• we must cultivate mental toughness by doing hard things
• allowing ourselves any deviation would be a sign of mental weakness
• if we allow ourselves to deviate, it becomes a habit

For this reason, he does not “allow” any substitutions, for example if somebody wants to do such-and-such a thing slightly differently instead. We put “allow” in quotation marks because of course, he’s not the boss of you, but per the rules of his challenge, at least.

These reasonings are in and of themselves somewhat sound, however, we at 10almonds would argue:

• before doing hard things, it is good to first consider “is it a good idea?” (amputating your leg using only a spork is a “hard thing”, and demonstrates incredible mental toughness, but that doesn’t make it a good idea)
• while being able to decide to do a thing and then do it is great characteristic to have, it’s good to first consider science; for example, restrictive diets with no flexibility simply do not work, and our bodies do require adequate rest, especially if being pushed through hard things, or problems will happen (injuries, illnesses, etc).
• while it’s true that allowing ourselves to deviate can become a habit, it’s good to first consider what habits we want to make, and make those habits, instead of potentially unsustainable or even simply unpleasant ones.

See also: What Flexible Dieting Really Means: When Flexibility Is The Dish Of The Day

And for that matter: How To Really Pick Up (And Keep!) Those Habits

Want a “75 Gentle” instead?

If you like the idea of making new habits, but are not sure if extreme (and perhaps arbitrary) standards are the ones you want to hold, check out:

Cori Lefkowith’s 25 Healthy Habits That Will Change Your Life

Take care!