75 Day Hard Challenge

I have not heard of this challenge. Couple observations upon reading the overview:

It appears to be a very prescriptive challenge, so I would expect that the strict adherence and restart requirements would mean that overall completions would be relatively low. In fact, VERY low.

Though it is very prescriptive about what to do, it is very vague about how to do it. For example:

"Follow a diet" with no additional guidance.
"Do two 45 minute workouts, at least 3 hours apart" What kind of workouts: strength, cardio? one outdoors:why?

The second point is concerning, since two workouts a day for 75 days in a row with no rest days is risky IMO. I see a high chance of injury here due to lack of recovery.

Maybe I'm missing the point, but I can't visualize what "success" would look like here, and I don't believe that the behaviors this challenge is trying to instill will be sustained longer term by users. There is no defined goal and no obvious positive feedback loop that creates a long term habit.

I would certainly like to hear other points of view on this one....

AussieAdam21 wrote: »

Who can complete 2x workouts a day for 75 days straight?

Not many people I know. I'm currently doing 3 swims, 3 bikes, 3 runs and a strength session every week (in 6 days), so I wouldn't meet the standard.

To me, the more important question is WHY do this? There is no outline, with no periodization around the efforts, no recovery built in, etc.

It is not a plan, just a vague demand.

Each to their own - might be something to provide structure for those stuck in lockdown (currently half of Australia...).

There's a FB group (and likely others) for 75 day medium. It's a little bit...less. One workout per day, eat in a deficit, etc. Might be a better way to start

@Kevin_Hassenpflug I have not done 75 Hard Challenge, but I've watched a bunch of YouTube videos of those who have (and have not completed) the challenge. Definitely recommend searching up some videos for examples of people who have actually done the challenge.

I think there is a lot of misperceptions or assumptions about the challenge from the outset. As described above, it's more to gain self-discipline, and some grit, by adhering to these guidelines. It's not really meant to be a weight loss program as a lot people assume, but an all-transformation, habit creating challenge.

The two workouts don't have to be two super intense workouts. Most people seem to use one of their workouts to just take a 45min walk (since one of the workouts has to be outdoors). The diet guideline is purposely vague because the instruction is just to follow whatever diet you decide to do, whether you choose keto, or no sugar, or calorie deficit, do it for 75 days straight.

The reading is 10pages of any non-fiction and/or self-improvement book. And the other guidelines seem pretty self-explanatory (no alcohol, drink a gallon of water, progress pics, etc).

Some people are more motivated or focused when they participate in a challenge. And there are those who like harder challenges because they want to actually go through something and get through to the other side; I think it would feel like a great accomplishment! There are a lot of aspects of 75 Hard that I like (reading 10pages, having one of the workouts be outdoors), but ultimately, I haven't committed because I've already got a lot on my plate. But I can totally still do some of those things on my own as I think they would be beneficial.

@Kevin_Hassenpflug - Did you end up trying it out?

I'm on Day 2. I always need something super rigid to get me back on track, and then I can ease in to doing a mellower version. Once I tell myself "I've got this" I usually don't, LOL. It's not much different than when I was doing really good and on track... I'd usually lift or do yoga, and then go for a walk to finish hitting my 10K steps as I have a really sedentary job. I normally average about 96-100 oz of water a day anyway, even when I'm totally off the rails, so adding that extra water isn't an issue for me. My diet I've chosen is to eat at my macros and avoid sugary treats, I easily read 10 pages of SOMETHING everyday, so making it non-fiction / self improvement isn't exactly a stretch out of my normal behavior and while I'm not exactly a selfie Queen, taking a progress picture is really not that big of a deal either. I gave up booze for 90 days last year as part of a healthy run, so another 75 will be fine. I would usually take one or two days to laze around ... but I think walking and some restorative yoga might be the ticket on what would normally be a "rest" day for me. I'm doing this not just for the weight loss, but because I really do need to shut up my *kitten* voice that tells me that I can't do things, or I don't have time, or I'm too old, too weak, etc. I'm hoping this helps me with discipline, so in the interest of NOT hurting myself, I'm not going to go all balls to the walls with the training portion of it, and I'm not doing a particularly restrictive diet.

I think it's going to be challenging enough to just learn to be consistent... and really IS 75 days that hard? We shall soon learn, and I will be back in here eating crow. LOL. In all fairness, they say like 98% of people fail it in the first go round. So whatever, at least I'm trying SOMETHING again before I go back to my original weight and gain all of my lost weight back. If you want to add me as a friend, I'm going to attempt to blog about it all - so come follow me succeed or crash and burn - HA!