The 75 Hard Challenge + Live Hard by Andy Frisella (2020 version)

[Fox]

Here we go again!...

A group of us will be restarting the 75 hard challenge this Thursday the 27th of Feb.

If you want in post up and let's go!

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The rules...

***These rules are strict and ANY changes mean you are NOT doing the 75 hard challenge***

Typical rules changes that people try (and that void the challenge) are:
- not having one work out outside every day
- trying to suggest drinking less water than what the rules state
- not working out every day
- listening to audiobooks instead of reading
- trying to suggest stuff like cutting your grass is a workout

If this is going to be you then just go start your own thread and call it something else.

Don't bother posting about it being too much water or that you can't work out that much.
You don't have to do this challenge and the rules won't be changed to suit you.

So... NO RULE CHANGES OR "MODIFICATIONS" AT ALL.

The 75 Hard Challenge Rules:

1. Follow a diet with no cheat meals – It isn't specific > just choose one that fits your lifestyle
2. Workout 2x a day for at least 45 minutes – 1 of the workouts has to be outdoors
3. Drink a gallon of water a day
4. Read 10 pages of non-fiction entrepreneurship/personal development book per day
5. Take a progress pic daily
6. No alcohol consumption

If you do the above for 75 days in a row with no changes or days missed - you win.

To hear the rules and the idea behind it all you can listen to the podcast here with Andy Frisella:

75HARD: A 75-Day Tactical Guide to Winning the War With Yourself, with Andy Frisella - MFCEO290

What would it be worth to you if you could 100X traits in yourself like confidence, self-belief, discipline, & grittiness...& completely transform your life? These are not traits you are born with, but skills you develop. I've spent more than twenty years figuring out how to master mental...

andyfrisella.com

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Background for me doing this the second time:

During and since the summit a few dozen people have asked me about the 75 hard challenge and mentioned wanting to do it.
The last thread did really well with over 100k views and I would estimate around 30+ people finishing the challenge.

I think this time we can do even better and aim for 50 people to finish.

Last night in our mastermind call we had a few of us agree to get going on this...
@GoodluckChuck @Bradley R @GuitarManDan @JordanK @Water @Creed - put your hands up who is in.

On a personal level, I felt amazing when I finished the last time and have been keen to get back to that level once again.
---

If you are in for starting on this date post up and let us know.

There will never be "a good time" - the point of the challenge is to make time and do it anyway when it is difficult.


Goal: Let's see if we can get 50 people to finish this successfully.


Are you in..?

 

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[c_morris]

So , Thursday was my last day of #75hard. What I can say definitively, is that it's totally worth it. Both physically and mentally.

I chose to do this mainly because of my tendency to commit to something and then quit when the novelty wears off. In the past, if there was no structure in place to keep me accountable, I typically failed. I needed something with strict rules that could not be bent. I also needed to put it out into the world, so I posted up here that I was doing it and also on IG. That reinforced the personal accountability.

Obviously there are physical benefits that come with the program. You can't eat clean, drink a gallon of water and workout twice a day for 75 days (91 in my case) without seeing a physical improvement. This was a secondary motivation for me. I had been living a mostly sedentary lifestyle for a long time. Other than golf and slo-pitch, I didn't get much exercise. Anyone that says golf and slo-pitch don't qualify as exercise has a strong case, especially because they both usually involve beer drinking and less than healthy food options.

Disclaimer on the physical aspects of this: There are most definitely better and more efficient ways to get in shape. So if that's the only reason you're doing this, then I suggest you look elsewhere. This is promoted as a mental toughness program that happens to have physical benefits.

Alcohol consumption was also a problem for me. I wouldn't consider myself an alcoholic nor a heavy drinker, though there have been times when I would have bouts of heavy drinking. I am basically a lifelong drinker though. I'm from European descent, so I started young and it just continued right up to now. It doesn't seem that out of the ordinary. Most of my friends are more or less in the same boat. What I really considered a problem was that I couldn't quit for any length of time. I tried more times than I can count. I've been done for 2 days now and I still haven't had a drink. I don't think that I will quit for good, but now I know that I can stop when I want to and if I can't, I know I have this program to reset.

My commitment to myself moving forward is to read everyday, drink more water (not necessarily 1 gal), exercise once per day (weights or cardio). These are the daily habits that the program has solidified for me.

My biggest take away is that now I know I can start something and follow it through to the end. I just have to put a structure in place to keep myself accountable.

 

[Wouter]

Yesterday I finally finished 75 Hard. Starting in February, failing after 11 days because I didn't take my progress picture, I got it done on my second attempt. I'll briefly detail my experience below.

Mental findings
First and foremost, 75 Hard is a mental challenge. The first two weeks were tough as shit, especially the workouts and the diet. I got sick in the first two weeks. Doing two workouts a day with a fever and throbbing headache definitely isn't fun. After a while though, I hit my stride and I got all the tasks into my daily rhythm.

One of the most suprising things was that diet became easy. I've had zero temptation to cheat on my diet during the challenge, even though I ate the same shit every. single. day. Oatmeal, milk, chicken breast, rice, eggs, proteine powder, wraps, peanut butter, kiwi's and bell peppers pretty much made up my entire diet.

The best thing is that there are no excuses to not get it done every single day. I told myself when I started: 'If you fail, you're going to start at day 0 again, and again until you get to day 75. No matter how f*cking long it takes'. As I racked up more days, the pressure to get it done became higher and higher, but I believe it pushed me to get it done on my second attempt.

Physical findings
Even though 75 Hard is mostly a mental challenge, the physical changes have been a nice addition. My goal was to gain as much muscle as I could, so I followed a lean bulking diet throughout. During the 75 days I gained 5 pounds, going from 174 lbs (79KG) to 179 lbs (81.2KG) at 6'3 (190 cm).

Because of C0VlD-19 I had no access to a gym, since they closed here when I started the challenge. For my first workout I did body weight exercises, dumbbells (27 lbs/12KG each) and elastic bands. Second workout was a form of cardio: a walk, bike ride or run.

The results

Abs are flexed in both pictures, no pump. First pic 174lbs, second 179lbs

Spoiler: Before/After Picture (Shirtless)

What's next
Going to decide whether I'll start Phase 1 in the next few days. And I'll carry some of the tasks from 75 Hard over into my daily life.

Special thanks to all the guys in my mastermind @JordanK @GuitarManDan @Water @Bradley R @Fox @GoodluckChuck for the support during the challenge (and for making me do the challenge in the first place ha).

@Sheens for doing the challenge with me and being a kickass 75 Hard partner.

Appreciate all of you immensely.

 

[NateKruse]

I completed 75 Hard. This was not my first attempt. I tried at least once before after returning from the Summit. But this time I was completely committed to it. Admittedly, quarantining myself at home made it much simpler. I never dined out the entire time. For the majority of the time I was working from home so most temptations to go out to eat with coworkers were completely eliminated.

I have noticed a variety of changes. The most obvious is physical. On 27 February 2020 I weighed 265.2 pounds. This was actually down from my all-time high of 276.6 pounds on 03 January 2020.

Just 75 days later, I weighed in at 228.8 pounds this morning. That is a loss of 36.4 pounds throughout the program or an average of 0.485 pounds a day.

Another change has been an increase in confidence and self-esteem. I feel like I can accomplish more. I have been knocking little items off my to-do list that have been there for months. I am focusing better at the task at hand.

I completely stopped drinking coffee early on. I was used to having a travel mug's worth every morning and I just forgot to make it a couple mornings in a row and decided to give it up.

The actual tasks of 75 Hard were less daunting when I front-loaded them in the day.

I started off waking up at 0400, taking a cold shower, and heading out the door to walk the dog for 45 minutes rain or...darkness. It was too early for the sun to shine.

I discovered if I pushed my wake up time to 0330 I could pretty easily take the progress photo, walk the dog for 45 minutes, cook and eat breakfast, meditate, read the 10 pages, do my second 45 minute workout, and drink three 30 oz ramblers of water by 0800. From there on it was smooth sailing to just drink two more ramblers to bring my total to 150 fluid ounces, stick to the diet, and avoid alcohol to successfully finish the day's requirements.

Throughout the journey I started building and tracking new, smaller habits. I am currently on day 48 of doing a set of pushups every morning, 18 days of meditation in a row, 7 days of filling out a Fastlane Planner, 7 days of evening journaling, 6 days of cleaning up the kitchen counter before going to bed, and 31 days of flossing.

I feel great and plan to make the 75 Hard requirements daily habits. I will continue strictly following them until I reach my current goal weight of 195 pounds.

What diets are you all doing?

I'm doing the Dr. John McDougall Maximum Weight Loss Plan.

Here are the basic rules from his website

1. Start each meal with a soup and/or salad and/or fruit.
2. Follow the 50/50 plate method for your meals, filling half your plate (by visual volume) with non-starchy vegetables and 50% (by visual volume) with minimally processed starches. Choose fruit for dessert.
3. Greatly reduce or eliminate added sugars and added salts. This includes gourmet sugars and salts too. If either is troublesome for you, you can eliminate them.
4. Eliminate all animal foods (dairy, meat, eggs, fish, seafood).
5. Eliminate all higher fat plant foods (i.e., nuts, seeds, avocados, tofu, soy).
6. Eliminate any added oil.
7. Eliminate all higher calorie-dense foods including flour products (i.e. bread, bagels, muffins, crackers, dry cereals, cookies, cakes), puffed cereals, air-popped popcorn and dried fruit.
8. Don’t drink your calories (especially from juices & sugar-sweetened beverages).
9. Follow these principles, eating whenever you are hungry until you are comfortably full. Don’t starve yourself and don’t stuff yourself.
10. Avoid being sedentary and aim for at least 30 minutes or more of moderate exercise daily (i.e., brisk walking).

The only exception I am making is that I will eat the remaining servings of whole-wheat pasta that I batch cooked on Tuesday. The tomato sauce on that has some added oil.

I definitely attribute most of the weight loss to the Dr. McDougall Maximum Weight Loss Program. When I hit my goal weight I will continue to follow the basic McDougall program but will allow higher-fat plant foods and homemade baked goods that are McDougall Compliant.

Finally, here are the starting and ending progress photos.

Spoiler: Shirtless Progress Photos

For anybody on the fence about doing 75 Hard: Just commit to it! Start now. If you want to lose weight I, highly recommend the McDougall Program. I lost all that weight eating as much hash browns (oil-free), mashed potatoes (without milk or butter), and rice and beans as I wanted. I made really simple meals but didn't tire of them. Whenever I wanted to eat, I ate. It's a great program and it has wonderful health benefits besides weight loss.

I will update again when I reach my goal. I'm looking forward to seeing and hearing about your successes!

 

[Choate]

I love 2 a day workouts with one outside. A nice early morning session in the field across from my house which could include a myriad of calisthenics and high tempo stuff, like sprinting; followed by a gym session in the afternoon or evening.

The bulk of this challenge can simply be part of one's "Miracle Morning" - wake up, drink a glass of water, get your workout in, take a progress pic, and read 10 pages. You can do it in one hour (read: 4% of your day) with some hustle. The rest of it is just discipline - no cheat meals, no alcohol, and drink enough water. Easy stuff. Anyone here on this forum is capable so if Fox's post didn't inspire you enough already, seriously, just do it. Count me in.

 

[SDE]

Saw this on Andy's insta today.

 

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[c_morris]

I've done the adjusted version above yesterday and today. All I have to say is: Holy hell.

This is day 75 for me (91 straight for everything but the pic).
I will post more detail tomorrow once I'm officially done, but here's my take on the difficulty.

It starts very hard, particularly the water and exercise (I wasn't in very good shape when I started).
After about 2 weeks, the exercise got easier and I found a groove.
After 4 weeks, water became 2nd nature and I never came close to missing the target.
Somewhere around day 50, I was pretty much over it. ALL of it. I hit a wall. Even the things that became habitual were difficult to get motivated for. I pushed through though.
The last 2 weeks though were about as easy as I could have hoped for. I could see the finish line and knew failure at this point would have been major disappointment.

Bottom line is this: It will F with you. Mentally it's a roller coaster, so buckle up!

 

[Dogstar]

Well everyone, this is it. Day 75! I can't believe I've reached the end of the challenge; leaner, meaner, and mentally stronger. Victory feels so sweet...

Only- I failed the challenge.

On Day 64, after exhausting myself doing manual labor in the heat all day, I came home, showered, grabbed my book and laid down (big mistake). I crashed out before reading my 10 pages.

I woke up the next morning, and saw the book laying on the bed next to me. My heart sunk.

After wallowing for a moment, I got up, weighed myself, took my selfie, and went out for a run. I decided I would continue to see the challenge through to the finish, even though I had disqualified myself from finishing successfully. I failed, but sure as hell wasn't gonna quit.

75 Hard is a no-bullshit type of deal. I could have swept my one F*ck-up under the rug and proceeded like it never happened. No one else would have ever known. But I knew. I had failed.

Of all of the facets of the challenge, the 10-pages-a day-requirement was the one I was least worried about coming in to this thing. I already had a daily reading habit pretty well established. And yet, that was the one that sunk me. I got a little too cocky, I guess.

Yep. I failed 75 Hard. I'm gonna slam a few beers this weekend. Maybe I'll do the challenge again sometime soon. To all of you in this fight, stay strong, stay alert. Much love.

 

[Fox]

My dad just finished the challenge yesterday - 66 years old!

Super impressive and was cool to see him stick with.

 

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[TheFinisher]

I can't even begin to describe to you the overwhelming feeling of finishing this. Day 75/75 here, yes I still have to finish today to complete it, but man I was just completely overwhelmed with a feeling of accomplishment on the way to the office today.

Grinding so hard for 75 days straight; never having a single off day, drinking 75 gallons of water, completing 150 workouts, not having a single bite of food that isn't good for you (for me personally that meant not having any artificial flavors, sweeteners, refined carbs, or added sugar), having a slideshow of 75 pictures of not just your body changing, but your face and mood changing as well, and reading over a 1000 pages (I overshot the reading pretty often).

It's an incredible feeling and I hope all of you who are still on the fence, have started but keep failing, or those who haven't started at all reconsider. Especially with all the crazy things happening in the world today, it's awesome to just keep your head down fighting towards something.

I'll shoot a final update post this weekend on everything I learned along the way when I'm officially done at the end of today.

Of course, if anybody has any specific questions for me, feel free to ask before my weekend post and I'll get to all of them.

 

[Jon L]

I'm now on day 8 and can see changes in my approach to life already. Yesterday was my birthday, and it was quite tempting to indulge. "Its only been 7 days. I can start over tomorrow." I ended up saying, 'no' to that. I also am realizing that planning is important. I didn't do my morning workout, so I had to do two in the evening, spaced out by a couple hours. With my birthday dinner in there too, that was inconvenient. As a result of pushing through all that, I feel more focused today at work.

This is cool.

 

[Sheens]

That is awesome progress and a great 75 Hard finish @NateKruse! Way to go!!

I completed it as well and pretty damn excited to change it up and develop the next program.

This is only the beginning.

@ZCP and I are still in our ab challenge. He called me out here as he enjoys competing and is just ornery like that... he's quite deserving of the results and thankful for him every day all day : )

Didn't have a clue this existed before @Fox posted about it last year... fast forward through now and not only does he inspire those he directly teaches, he inspires any ready for it. Thank you!!

@BizyDad you made a comment on page 1 about me completing this, you called it out before I did and it mattered. I thought of it random times late at night when it sucked finishing the tasks. Thank you!!

@Creed and @JordanK, I can't stop smiling. So awesome, funny, and crazy appreciative of you!!

Finished at 102.5 lbs./46,6 kg, building muscle and trimming down.

Next goal is 97 lbs, 44 kg and adaptable to < 20% body fat as evidently my height allows losing more weight than I had originally planned. Lol .. will do!

My diet was quite different than Nate's with high fat, moderate protein, moderate vegetables, and low grains, fruits. It wasn't full keto, likely to do that next with monitoring blood.

I highly recommend any of Andy Frisella's podcasts and he's clear on explaining this as a mental program. Becomes self evident when you've set yourself to it and complete it.

The mental clarity, resilience, and strength is astounding.

Do this.

Anybody reading, started before, maybe even finished and not moved through the phases. Do this and own it.

 

[GoodluckChuck]

Last time I did 75hard I could be found walking around the track with a book in my hand haha.

For those that are wanting to do this for the first time, one of the most common reasons people fail is because they try to track everything I'm their head. Get a notebook and write down your check list every day. Dont go to bed without ticking all the boxes!

Fox has a really cool app that is perfect for it. I'll be using a good old spread sheet.

I'm excited. Let's go! Definitely going to enjoy some beer for the next two days.

 

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[TheFinisher]

Day 66/75 for me, I'm just going to post in here so I don't bump the old thread.

2 major pieces of advice for those just starting out.

1) As others have said: TAKE YOUR PICTURE IN THE MORNING. I've almost screwed that up 3 times now, but fortunately remembered thanks to tip #2. I do read at night, but I've always done that so that's nothing new to me.
2) Do a mental or physical checklist every.single.night before you go to bed. Especially when you get to around day 40 and beyond, you absolutely will feel like you've got this routine now and you couldn't possibly screw up; that's when you will.

Bonus tip: Drink at least 110 of the 128 ounces of water before 8pm. Any less than that and you're going to be waking up in the middle of the night, and sleep is super important on this.

 

[Fox]

Started phase one today.

That first cold shower was brutal!

 

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[Mammoth]

Hey guys, been thinking about starting the challenge as well.

Was wondering, what kind of diet or meal plans do you use? And how do you combine that with let's say your partner or family? Thanks!

I'm interested in starting this as well.

Would a simple CICO (calories in calories out) at your TDEE or below be good enough for a diet do you think?

If you haven't listened to the podcast where Andy F. describes the rules for the program, you should go do that first.

But a quick answer is: make the diet something that you know will be challenging, but not impossible. I'd say calorie restriction is good....however counting calories every single day for every meal would make this program a lot harder.

What I did was essentially cut out all junk food. No pop, chips, cakes, cookies, pizza, snacks, etc. You might think that's relatively easy, but you'd be surprised how many times in 75 days you will be bombarded with garbage food from people who give you an odd look when you turn it down.

As far as making it fit with your partner or family: well, just another chance to make yourself harder! It'll be more difficult and they might try to make you give in a few times because they just don't understand what you're doing, so might be a good idea to explain to them before you get started.

ALSO: Don't think about starting this, just start it.

The day I listened to the podcast outlining the rules is the day that I started.

 

[Wouter]

Day 43

Physically
Eating nothing but 'clean' foods, tracking macros and exercising will get you in great shape. It's amazing looking at the progress pics and seeing the changes. My starting weight on this challenge was around 79KG's (174lbs). Today it's 79.8 KG's (176lbs). Not a big difference in weight, but my body composition has changed significantly. I'm way leaner than I was at my starting weight and gaining muscle. Workout #1 for me is with resistance bands, dumbbells and body weight. Basically to get my muscles fired up. Workout #2 is a form of cardio: a walk, a run or a bike ride.

Mentally
75 Hard forces you to develop discipline. If you don't, you'll fail. And there really are a thousand ways to fail. I'm on my second attempt now. First attempt I failed because I forgot to take my progress pic. Such an easy task, yet I still managed to forget. Now I have a comprehensive checklist that forces me to stay on track. Mental changes haven't been as significant for me, because I've always had a 'Get sh*t done' attitude. But it's forcing me to stay disciplined in ways I wasn't before (eating, drinking water and reading). All these seemingly easy tasks add up over time.

That's also where most people fail. They'll start changing the rules during the challenge. Stuff like this will get you to fail:

• It's snowing outside: I'll do two indoor workouts instead
• I'm bulking, so I'll eat anything to get my weight up
• I'll drink the water, but won't track my actual intake. I'll know when I've had a gallon
• I'll take the progress pic this evening. I know I won't forget (but then you do)
• I'll workout but won't track the time I'm actually working out (what feels like a 45 minute workout ends up being 30 minutes)
• Instead of doing two workouts, I'll do a 90 minute back to back session because it's easier
• I won't prepare my meals, I'll just get take-out (the macros will probably be fine, right?)
• These non-fiction books are boring. I'll just read 10 pages of Harry Potter instead
• My diet is on point. One beer can't hurt, right?
• Etc, etc.

Set the rules for yourself at the beginning and stick to them to avoid these 'pseudo' 75 Hard's.

 

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[Mammoth]

Phase 1 starts today. Here we go.

 

[JordanK]

Day 66 - Will probably do an extra 25/30 days as I’m not fully happy with my first month progress compared to how well I’m dialed into it now.

 

[NateKruse]

Today is Day 75 for the original group, right?

Who made it? As long as I don't cheat on my diet or have a drink before I go to bed it's smooth sailing to finish out Day 75. I'll post my results tomorrow.

 

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[NateKruse]

Day 24/75

Today I will quit the challenge. I feel like it's too much of a distraction. I was already eating a pretty healthy diet, exercising often, reading regularly and stopped drinking as my NYR. But this challenge just made it more complex and less enjoyable. On some days it took the focus from more important things. If I had a busy afternoon or evening with friends and family, I couldn't work on the business in the morning. I was cramming in all my 75 hard items. Doing the reading, working out twice and chugging water.

This challenge did help me to keep a steady morning routine (waking up early to do cardio each morning) and to stick to my daily yoga sessions. But overall, it was not worth it. I will continue with some of the habits I aquired, but without the challenge.

It can definitely interfere with other things. In the first 75 Hard podcast Andy says he is flying his Dad out for a vacation but Andy wasn’t going because he made a commitment to himself.

I’m probably extreme but I now wake up 0330 every day, take a picture, walk the dog for 45 minutes, meditate, eat my breakfast, read 10 pages, do a second workout and drink 90 ounces of water by 0715. Then all I have to do for the rest of the day stick with the diet, drink a little more water, and avoid alcohol to meet the requirements.

I agree that I could be accomplishing more if I wasn’t spending so much time and energy on the challenge, but for now my primary focus is on my health so I am okay with that. This plan has been working great for me, especially with the physical results.

My biggest downside has been how many times I get up to pee at night. Even if I finish all the water in the afternoon I still get up probably 3-4 times a night when before it was usually 0 or maybe 1

I am on day 109 now. I will continue until I go on a train trip for vacation in July. As soon as I get back home I will start over with the habits until I hit my goal weight. After that I will make a few changes that are more sustainable. I’ll ease up on the dietary restrictions, drink alcohol socially, only drink 90 ounces of water in the morning and then only drink when thirsty, shorten the workouts, and allow rest days.

It sounds like you were in better physical shape than I was at the start. Andy emphasizes that this is not a physical challenge but a mental toughness program. It’s not supposed to be enjoyable. It’s about proving to yourself that you can commit to something you don’t want to do and you have the mental fortitude to see it through.

 

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[Tubs]

Oh yeah, I'm fired up. Already failed 8 times, but 9th times the charm.

 

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[GoodluckChuck]

One thing that made me struggle last time I did 75 Hard was not being specific about diet.

It's important to draw clear lines between what is acceptable and what isn't. If you have to use your discretion every meal then you will eventually fail because you know you bent the rules for yourself. The whole point is not bending the rules.

My diet is > 150 grams protein, <2500 calories and no sugar drinks like soda or juice.

 

[Fox]

Tried this when you first mentioned. I lost count on my failure

1 gallon of water is 3.7L. This is where I failed

If you spread it out its very doable.

Pro tip - walk/run/exercise for an hour first thing in the morning with a large bottle of water with you and no food beforehand.

That alone will get you through the first 30-50% easy.

 

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[Chapas]

Although I am not ready for this challenge yet, I was seriously inspired by the previous thread.

I applied some of the principles from the 75 hard challenge from 1st of February, and I have now managed to go almost a month without sugar, fast food and alcohol, as well as drinking a lot of water each day. Have lost 6 kilos during the process and I feel so much better physically and mentally.

Keep in mind that I have not worked out at all (except from I walk around 5-8 kilometres a day). From next month I will try to add a daily workout to it as well.

I hope I am not sidetracking this thread. Just want to thank you for inspiring me, and I can only imagine how far you guys will get by doing this challenge. If I can feel like a new person with just applying SOME of the principles from the challenge, you guys will feel like superheroes. Huge respect to all of you, and I hope to do the 75 hard challenge later this year!

 

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[BigRomeDawg]

These outdoor workouts are dreadful..

 

[Mammoth]

Today is day 39.
First heard about the challenge from @Fox's previous thread (thanks!).

I use recurring tasks on Todoist that reset every day that I have to check off before I go to sleep (also has a phone app).

Take my photo as soon as I wake up, then read, then run.

Looking back at my notes:
Day 2 - 49:00 run, 5.36km , avg pace - 9:12/km
Day 39 - 54:34 run, 7.96km, avg pace - 6:51/km
Damn...didn't realize how much progress I've made until right now...I also challenged myself to not stop at all on my run today.

The hardest part for me is the second workout. Sometimes have to verbally lash myself to do it LOL...can't restart now after all this! Drinking water is still tedious. Diet, no alcohol, reading, picture, are all very easy.

 

[Boogie]

You all are really going to make me listen to 20 hours of audio to find where he said you can't do back-to-back aren't you....

Actually I've been trying to find the source, but I did find this

d.j. pod dot org – (dj pod dot com was already taken)

djpodgorny.com

Thanks for this link.

This may sound like a rant, but it is not. In a way it's a spoiler for some of what you learn in the program so if you want to learn the lessons solely through experience, skip this post and come back to read it later. Maybe you should just skip it until later. I have some reservations about writing this. Doing the program and not just reading about some of its lessons is much more impactful.

The point about having two separate workouts is that it forces you to:
1. make a little time management commitment multiple times per day where you say:
I've gotta do it today when can I do it?
That question isn't just for the workout. It's also the water, the reading, and everything else. It's all of it. You're having to think how to get this done in your day. You don't want to go drink 5 glasses at a time. That's stupid, potentially dangerous, and you don't learn to control yourself through the entire day. This program is all about lessons.
2. arrange things that might come up in your life to still fulfill those commitments no matter what. You are learning that squeeze these two workouts in even if one workout is more convenient. Convenient isn't in the game plan of business or a committed person's life. You have to get it done because you made a commitment to the process. Two workouts, not one, is the process. This is supposed to make your life harder not just be a workout. The workout is the tool to make you spend time and do something hard. He made the rule so this would be harder on you. You have workout and you have time management and commitment and belief and success. He's doing it to teach to to persevere and to manage yourself and your time to learn and feel success.
3. the follow through of forcing yourself to take action on those commitments
You have to succeed or you have to start over. The penalty in business or life can be much more harsh. Get after it. Go make life happen.

This is the the essence of self discipline and loving the process or loving what you do instead of doing what you love. It's getting the fulfillment of micro successes on the path to the macro success. These are steps to make you believe in yourself no matter what to succeed in finishing no matter what. To overcome big barriers by overcoming small ones along the way. You are learning to love the little victories and getting fulfillment even if you aren't loving walking or running or doing pushups in a hard rain, snow, hail, high heat, whatever. It has to get done. Honor your commitment. Love what you do. Love accomplishing even if you don't love the thing so you get it done.

In business, you may have to get up early in the morning and work and do it again at night or whenever. What if you have a business proposal due or software that you have to deliver to a customer or a product that you have to get on the market so you get money so you can feed your kids, you have to deliver. In business, you may have to get up early in the morning and work and do it again at night or whenever. That's life. That's true whether you're white collar or blue collar or boss or laborer, you have to deliver and make stuff happen or you lose, the company loses, your family loses. That's not just capitalism. That is life and achievement and working for a cause even if a non-monetary cause. That's why the lazy don't make it in any pursuit and they think they want and need politicians to make their lives easy. They don't get the process. Self actualization or other rewards comes from overcoming obstacles and realizing that is the path through life not being given something easy.

If you were a successful student as a kid, you probably did something similar. You might have forgotten the lessons of school or thought you didn't have to do that as a an adult in the business world - that you wouldn't have to fit homework in morning and night or be inconvenienced. Screw that. You do. That's life. That's the difference between someone who really makes it in life. Until you are totally free (whatever that is), and even then, things will come up, you will have to perform to get anything or accomplish anything worthwhile in life. Free and easy isn't good and needs to be out of your thinking. If we didn't have the business world and civilization, your commitment would be to go hunting and gathering or cooking or whatever. It's all part of life. You have to do to get.

When are you going to read those 10 pages? Is it when you are dog tired and want to go to sleep or when your significant other is hot for some action at bed time? Probably not. Go plan to fit the reading in during your day too. Maybe it's reading 1 page an hour during breaks in work. If that's what it takes, go get it done. If you are an academic, you do the same thing. You constantly need to be learning and juggling that into your life. Go do it.

This isn't a workout plan. This is a life plan. He gets pissed when people call it a challenge. It's not a challenge in his mind. This is a program. A course. Something to learn a lot about life and success and in the process build yourself mentally and ultimately physically. The tip of the iceberg is the obvious payoff, the increase in physical fitness and changes in your body. What is really under the water is the mental change, the force of will you have to develop to make it happen.

This course could have been to find some way to juggle life to write two business proposals per day spending at least 45 minutes on each one and after 75 days, you would have sent out 150 business proposals and you would have learned a lot and made commitments a lot and gotten a lot better and more efficient about writing business proposals, juggling life, learning what you need to know about each potential deal, and you probably would have built some sort of business in the end, and you would know how success works and what it feels like.

He is teaching the same thing. Just in a way that gets you fit.

That's why this isn't a challenge. Treat this more as what is Andy trying to beat into your head through your decisions, effort and actions to ultimately feel success and learn how to make success.

That is this program.

Life and business is all about making commitments that you need to juggle and make happen. Not passively. Very actively. Grit, determination, passion, desire to win, need to win.

Have I said that enough times?

If you take a few minutes and read each of these screens and watch Andy's videos in this instagram link, it will help you understand from him where this is all going especially if you haven't listened to the podcast.

#75HARD Program = @andyfrisella

www.instagram.com

Inherent in all of this is that you have to have the presence of mind to coordinate your day to achieve everything that you've just committed to add to your day and not slip up. Remember the commitment. That's even a little more explicit in Phase 1 and you don't want to forget to turn that shower knob to cold. Every action if not consciously done has a cost. Don't forget. It can be the little things that cause you to succeed or fail.

I need to go drink a 14 oz glass of water. It's time.

 

[BigRomeDawg]

To help you guys adhere to the plan:



Lead with identity, not with actions. ASSUME your new identity, then do the actions to support it. Those actions become your mind’s evidence that you are the identity you stated. You will not win if your identity is “out of shape” or “lazy”. AKA “I’m super out of shape but I’m doing 75hard to get fit.” You'll miss a day and confirm your lazy out of shape identity.

Lead with “I am doing 75hard because I am a fit, disciplined person.” Or something along those lines.

 I like to call myself a rhino. Not sure why, it pumps me up though. Like, if you offered a rhino a cupcake, he'd headbutt straight through your house.

This is explained in Atomic Habits with the example of a smoker who quits: Someone asks them if they would like a cigarette. They reply “No thanks, I’m trying to quit” - haha good luck. VS “No thanks, I’m not a smoker” You go, Debbie.

 

[EvoX1014]

Days 3 and 4 completed!
It was so hard to say no to free drinks when everyone else around you is clearly taking advantage but kept to myself and finished the day well. The progress pic did almost slip my mind but got up after laying down to take it anyways