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

[1step]

On Day 12 currently. First few days were somewhat rough but after day 4 everything has gone pretty smoothly.
My mind feels very clear right now. I feel like I am functioning at a much higher level than previously. I think this is primarily due to the diet change and cutting out sugar.
I am more active now and get less sleep now then before I started 75 hard but I wake up feeling much less tired than I did previously when I was sleeping more.
The hardest part for me right now is hitting the macros that I need to hit for keto

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[anonymousp]

I'm in, however knowing myself I find it highly unlikely that I'll finish the challenge, I'd count it as a win even if I only finished the first week. I'm hoping to increase my sense esteem and confidence, something I've been struggling with for a long time. Starting tomorrow.

 

[S.Y.]

2nd attempt. Day 08 here. (I failed my first one at day 06, last Saturday because of the damn pic)

So far going great. I have to say, starting this during a heatwave is not fun at all... the workout outside was brutal.

Been considering this for a couple months and finally last week decided I would do it.
I started 75 Hard this monday so I am on Day 3 right now. I haven't consistently worked out in quite a few months so the 2 workouts a day will be tough. I am doing the Keto diet and love sweet tea so that's going to be tough as well.
I had a headache pretty much all of yesterday, going to add some himalayan salt to my water hopefully that fixes that.

Were you on keto before, or are you doing keto just for this challenge?

I'm in, however knowing myself I find it highly unlikely that I'll finish the challenge, I'd count it as a win even if I only finished the first week. I'm hoping to increase my sense esteem and confidence, something I've been struggling with for a long time. Starting tomorrow.

"Whether you think can or you can't, you are right. "

Commit to finishing this.

If you fail, get back to it. Aim for one more day.

If you fail again, do the same thing. Learn from your mistakes. Get back to it.

Don't give yourself excuses to fail.

Commit. And rise to the level of your commitment.

 

[Fox]

Day 10 finished here!

Feeling so much better than a few weeks ago.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Actionfaker]

I'm redoing it starting tomorrow.
Thanks for starting the thread last year Fox! As a result I became a big fan of Andy Frisella's podcasts and 75hard.
I finished it in March, but want to do it again because I've started losing battles against myself again since and I should have done better at some parts of it.

Diet: I'll focus on gaining weight. Last time I half-assed this as a goal. I'll obsess less over what ingredients are in every meal now I have a better idea what kind of foods I would like to avoid.
Workouts: Especially for the outdoor workouts I want to put in more effort. They don't all have to be super intense but doing them more mindfully instead of just getting through the 45 minutes was definitely an issue sometimes. Also, I wasn't aware the workouts couldn't be consecutive at the time. This happened a few times.
Reading: I'll need to find some good books, last time I used my Kindle but learned this isn't allowed either. Just like having to take the picture every day doesn't feel necessary, I've experienced how quickly one little compromise can build on and erase good habits, so I'd better do it properly.

Keep up the good work to everyone doing it!

 

[Prodox]

I WAY late on this, but I like the sound of it, I'm going to do it - starting from today!

So far it's 13:41, I've got in one workout session, drank 1 gallon of water and have read half of my daily pages.

 

[Envision]

Just finished my first day - I do a lot of the stuff mentioned already but don’t really workout outside. Found this 10 minutes into my run on the side of the road...

A sign?

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[1step]

Update for me: I failed at day 22 on my first attempt. I forgot to take the picture. I got too complacent with the “easy” stuff and it bit me.

I am continuing on with the challenge and I’ll either do an extra 22 days to make the 75 or I’ll just not truly complete it.

Lost about 20 pounds so far. More energy overall and just generally feeling better than before starting this.

Were you on keto before, or are you doing keto just for this challenge?

I wasn’t on keto before this. I just started when starting the challenge. Basically learning along the way, I knew high level what keto was but first week or so I had to google a ton to make sure I was within the diet.

 

[Wouter]

@JordanK and I are doing Phase 1 together after finishing 75 Hard a while back.

Day 3 today. Feeling awesome so far, definitely missed the feeling after finishing 75 Hard.

F*ck these cold showers though.

 

[MTF]

Day 1 for me and my girlfriend.

Diet restrictions:

A vegan diet for me. A vegetarian diet for my girlfriend.

I eat a clean diet so I'm focusing on eating only the most nutritious and healthiest foods. My girlfriend also has a clean diet but she eats junk food regularly so it'll be a bigger challenge for her.

NO:
- table sugar or any artificial sweeteners of any kind (the only sweeteners allowed are more nutritious natural sweeteners, for me that's date syrup, for my girlfriend also honey)
- white refined grains (including white bread, pasta, rice)
- pizza
- pasteurized juices
- pastries, cookies, cakes
- french fries
- ice cream
- candy bars
- chocolate (unless it's 100% which I do eat)
- chewing gum
- peanut butter (only banned for me as once I start eating it, I can't control it)
- margarine, hydrogenated oils, vegetable oils other than healthy oils like olive oil and coconut oil

I don't eat most of that stuff anyway or eat it rarely so it's not a big deal. My girlfriend also added one more rule for her: no eating out. She derives too much pleasure from eating out and often goes to restaurants just because she's bored, so in a way it's emotional eating. The only exception for her is a healthy smoothie bar where we order to go (and where you know all the ingredients used) but that doesn't exist in our city.

I won't eat out, either, as it'll be way too difficult to control the diet (identifying the oil used for cooking alone is a big challenge).

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Wouter]

Day 15 today (Phase 1). So far it's been very good for me. Have a lot of energy, gym performance has improved a lot. Even the cold showers are getting easier...

 

[VTK]

Ah god, it's devastating when you realise you've messed up. Was a week in but then realised I didn't have a progress pic from the 6th day, had my phone off the whole day while out camping, hiking etc. I think if I just decided I was too tired to bother working out or bailed on the challenge to have a couple of beers it wouldn't sting so much. Thinking you've nailed it and feeling happy with yourself to only realise later you failed it feels almost like betrayal.

 

[NateKruse]

Phase 1 starts 25 August 2020.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MTF]

Day 9. So far I'm not finding it a big challenge despite a very restrictive diet, reading more than 10 pages a day, drinking more than a gallon (usually 4.2 liters plus 0.7 l of tea on some days), and sometimes doing three workouts than two or doing workouts much longer than just 45 minutes.

 

[MTF]

Day 11 and I'm already wondering if it makes sense for me to continue. It's not a big challenge for me (despite all the stuff mentioned above), I'm not seeing any real benefits, and it feels like it's something maybe a very undisciplined person can benefit from but if you're already organized and disciplined, it's just a waste of time and energy...

 

[MTF]

Day 11 and I'm already wondering if it makes sense for me to continue. It's not a big challenge for me (despite all the stuff mentioned above), I'm not seeing any real benefits, and it feels like it's something maybe a very undisciplined person can benefit from but if you're already organized and disciplined, it's just a waste of time and energy...

Day 32 and my opinion hasn't changed. I'm still doing it but frankly speaking, it's overrated. Like I said before, it probably works for an average obese American but if you already have a good routine I don't think it's that powerful, if not actually counterproductive.

I also feel that it's detrimental to my goals because of the arbitrary rules like two 45-minute workouts. I can do a 45-minute walk and it counts but I can't do a hard 15-minute HIIT session that will be a 10x better workout. Makes sense...

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[NateKruse]

Day 32 and my opinion hasn't changed. I'm still doing it but frankly speaking, it's overrated. Like I said before, it probably works for an average obese American but if you already have a good routine I don't think it's that powerful, if not actually counterproductive.

I also feel that it's detrimental to my goals because of the arbitrary rules like two 45-minute workouts. I can do a 45-minute walk and it counts but I can't do a hard 15-minute HIIT session that will be a 10x better workout. Makes sense...

As a (formerly) obese American I definitely benefitted more from 75 Hard than you likely will. You already had a good system and higher level of fitness. And with your background in publishing, reading 10 pages a day is probably considerably less than you typically were reading in a day.

75 Hard is meant to be a mental toughness program, not a physical program.

I can't do a hard 15-minute HIIT session that will be a 10x better workout. Makes sense...

I’m sure you know this since you were already doing three workouts some days, but nothing is stopping you from doing the 15 minute HIIT workouts. You can do them and then do some other workout for the remaining 30 minutes.

The biggest parts of 75 Hard are following the directions 100% and keeping it up for 75 days straight. None of the individual tasks are very difficult but having the perseverance to not give up is what it’s all about. Something that the average person is unlikely to do.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been finding Phase 1 to be considerably harder than the legacy 75 Hard. The Power List tasks have been the hardest part for me and five minute cold showers are no fun and don’t seem to have any tangible benefit other than building a little more mental fortitude.

 

[Ravens_Shadow]

I'm doing "49 medium" because I don't really give a crap about he arbitrary requirements here. Main thing here is working out each day and no sweets/pastries/french fries/fried chicken. Despite not having any of this for 17 days, I don't really feel any different. Healthier for sure though.

 

[VTK]

What I Learned From Failing 75 Hard

So first of all I failed this challenge and I failed for a couple of reasons. To start with it's actually hard. Secondly, I failed before I started, originally only intending to do a 6 week no drinking challenge with a friend and making commitments that wouldn't give me time to complete it. The more interesting lessons from failure though I'll come to in a bit.

The main reason I wanted to give 75 Hard a go was that I thought it would give me the framework to complete some of the goals I'd struggle with earlier in the year. I also wanted to see how hard the challenge would be, how tough I was and how much progress I could make with the constant exercise and no drinking.

Reading was no issue for me. I read like crazy. I have to stop myself reading most of the time as it can be a source of procrastination. Drinking water is no issue for me, I drink like a fish and 4l of water has always been pretty much standard practice. Photos are just photos.

Exercising not only every day but twice a day in separate sessions with at least one being outdoors though.......that's a real bastard. At the start of the challenge, I was in diabolical shape. I'd slipped a disk in my back earlier in the year which had kind of crippled any serious idea of exercise beforehand and then had a big summer of partying.

Alcohol was the biggy for this challenge. I could easily go weeks at home without touching a drop of alcohol, it wasn't a problem for me in the lockdowns earlier in the year. I live in an insanely social city though and social events here often involve an incredible amount of drinking. Avoiding a beer with friends was a bit of nightmarish prospect.

So how did it go? Well this was my post from the first week when I first failed:

"Ah god, it's devastating when you realise you've messed up. Was a week in but then realised I didn't have a progress pic from the 6th day, had my phone off the whole day while out camping, hiking etc. I think if I just decided I was too tired to bother working out or bailed on the challenge to have a couple of beers it wouldn't sting so much. Thinking you've nailed it and feeling happy with yourself to only realise later you failed it feels almost like betrayal."

That was a very zen post to be honest, it's hard to put into words how much it hurt. It wasn't just devastating, I was devastated. Genuinely betrayed by myself. On this camping trip I'd been reading in a tent at night utterly exhausted. I'd been working my balls off with the exercise, hiking, canoeing, biking, swimming etc. I'd been up early running around the campsite finding sugar for coffee and making breakfast for my friends even though I'd be having none of on my fasting day. I'd ridden a bike past a monastery brewery (which is the best kind), and managed to avoid the sweet nectar of a rare beer in the sunshine. I was high on my own success streak, feeling bulletproof.

And then I got home and realised I'd F*cked it anyway because I hadn't taken some stupid picture the evening beforehand. I walked straight out the door and didn't come home for two hours. I had to keep walking otherwise I knew I'd just throw the whole challenge in the bin or at least throw the rules in the bin for the day and restart it another time. Or worse, I'd lie to myself and convince myself that I hadn't broken the rules. That I had a photo of me on a bike or something that would count as a progress picture.

What turned it around for me was realising that in this entire week, nothing had really tested me that much in terms of mental toughness. The toughest thing I could possibly do would be, to be honest with myself in failure and then pick myself up and instantly restart with this as the first day, from total scratch, knowing I hadn't been able to ride this out in one go. To not break my fast day, to not have a beer, to not put off exercising tonight. Straight back in.

So I did, and that probably built more mental toughness for me than anything else in the challenge. It might be speaking from bias, but I'm not sure you would get the most out of this challenge unless you fail it at least once and test your self-honesty and ability to pick yourself up of the floor and start again.

From here on I really got into the challenge and saw very quick progress physically. I started dropping weight, building muscle and my back felt better and better to the point I forgot about it.

I ended up failing the challenge again later on through another simple F*ck up, passing out in bed with my book in my hand. Back to Day 1. I failed again later on missing a picture (that I think I accidentally deleted) but at this point I knew that without the time to complete the challenge in total it would be more about me getting the most out of living under the rules for six weeks than it would be about having a monster streak of successful days.

My goal earlier in the summer had been to get down to 72kg while fixing my back and gaining a decent level of physical fitness. I'd been up around 78/79kg when starting the challenge. On the 45th day of 75 Hard, I stepped on the scales and they read out 71.2kg. I'd improved on all of my lifts, aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness and my back was the best it had been all year.



So what was the most interesting thing that I learned? Discipline is definitely not just will-power or mental toughness, even if it is a huge part of it.

It turned out I was pretty tough mentally. More than I thought. Whenever I realised I had to consciously decide whether to live by the rules or fail, I made the right choice. When my arms hurt too much to lift I worked my legs. When my legs hurt too much I swam. When I couldn't swim I'd skip. When I couldn't skip I borrowed a bike to ride. When I wasn't biking I was running.

If I had to I'd walk and I reckon if I'd had no other option I'd have crawled around outside for 45 minutes. I had no issue going out after midnight in the pissing rain to complete a run, or leaving a party to get a workout in. Same with reading and anything else in the challenge. I did the equivalent of 5 consecutive 100 mile Iron Man races in terms of avoiding drinking with friends lol. I had no problem being honest with myself when I failed and I restarted straight away every time. I lived under those rules without question for the entire 6 weeks I was doing the challenge.

But interestingly I still failed it multiple times but not through a lack of mental toughness. I failed on things that I forgot to do, or that I didn't consciously make a decision to avoid. I failed to plan, organise and prepare in a manner that would ensure I could only fail through a failure of will. It's no good having mental toughness if you have nothing to apply it to.

This planning and organisation failure happened for a couple of reasons. The first being I considered some of the tasks inconsequential. Reading and photos for god's sake and yet these were fundamental to the challenge. It's the little things in life that you're good at or consider easy that will catch you out. You can't just assume that these things will get done, you need to plan and organise for them as well. If I'd planned those into a morning routine I wouldn't have had this problem. If something is important to your goal, even if you find it easy, then you need to plan and organise for it.

The second reason planning failed was because you need to plan for your plan to fail. You need to be aware when the conditions your organsiation has been set around have changed and that you need to update your planning. I had actually planned for taking photos, I'd written "Photo" on my mirror at home. I had an app on my phone to remind me. When I went hiking and camping though I didn't think about how my routine had changed and how my organisation wouldn't support me in the changed environment. I didn't update my planning. So I didn't get reminded about the photo and I missed it and failed. You need to be aware you're in a battle if you expect to win it.


So my take away for me to work on and try apply to everything else in my life is that: Discipline = Organisation + Awareness + Mental Toughness

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[S.Y.]

Done.

I failed twice, both times because of the pic. I have been doing everything else for 110+ days.

Which leads to the first thing I learned. I can workout 2 times a day and do everything I need done. And I plan to continue.

The second lesson: beware of the midpoint. Around day 35, my focus started to go away. I took time to recommit.

The 3rd lesson: this is not that difficult. Maybe because I have been planning my days consciously, have been eating generally well and exercising regularly. I have actually enjoyed it (minus the annoyance of having to take a pic daily)

 

[XxThelionxX]

It's day one and I'm ready to get at it.

 

[Kasimir]

I did it also once and failed on day 30 or so. Just got motivated to do it again.
Today is day one. Let's get it this time!

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Jeff Noel]

I need someone else's opinion.

Have I failed?

I remember Andy mentioning in his podcast that once, he was in bed and realized he hadn't done his workout outside so he got out of bed and did it.

Last night. Last thing I had to do was drink my last water bottle, 2/3 empty. I fell asleep at 11pm and woke up at 2 am. Freaked out and drank the bottle. Went back to sleep until 6 am.
I usually start my day at 6 am.

Did I fail?

 

[Kasimir]

Did I fail?

I thought it’s mostly 6 am to 6 am.

 

[Jeff Noel]

I thought it’s mostly 6 am to 6 am.

Andy seems to say it's "until your day is over", which is why I'm not sure. I felt like shit when shook the bottle at 2 AM and realized there was something left in it.

I just don't want to cheat my way to the 75th day (I would be at day 29 right now I think).

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[1step]

I started 75 hard at the end of June. I missed two pictures over those 75 days.

Started over after the 75 days and now I am at day 40 without missing anything. For the pictures I started making a habit of taking the pictures first thing in morning and then as I brush my teeth at night I have a sheet on the mirror to check off the days tasks and as I do that I check my phone to make sure I have the photo. It’s been helpful to work that Final review in with a habit I have already had established for many years (brushing teeth) as I know I won’t miss it.

I am on a keto diet and I definitely recommend it. Previously before 75 hard I was high carb and keto makes a big difference both with weight loss and also sustained energy. I have lost 40 pounds since starting this at the end of June which is about 20% of my body weight. Being active has helped but the big thing for me has been diet because my workouts aren’t super intense workouts most of the time.

Did I fail?

I think recently he said if you have to ask the question you already know the real answer

 

[Ma.Gico]

Day 30 here.
Its became very doable.
At day 6 i hurt my Achiles tendon by runing every day. I should have started by walking at first and then runing. Havent run for long time until now.
But i didnt quit and started walking in a hurry way for 45 min.
During my workweek its very easy for me to do it. Its just rutinary.
During weekends it happend couple of time when i got to sleeping time and still having to drink half a galon water. Thats not cool.

I started it just because me being very unorganised and with very low willpower . And by doing it i feel now more in control of doing what i have to do. And being more conscious of my excuses.
Also im feeling more confident and knowing that im able to do things i propose.

How are you guys doing with this challenge?

 

[Fox]

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

Super impressive and was cool to see him stick with.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[ZeroFrozen1400]

If both are over 45 mins ya that’s all good.

I’ve done that before - did my gym session and then went right into a walk outside.

Hello Fox,

I'm already 30 days in and pushing forward.

I have a clarification for you about the two workouts.

On the book #75Hard, Andy says you can do the two workouts back to back.
You have to respect a time gap of 3 -4 hours in between workouts.

I also added an additional task, take a cold shower every day.

Have an awerome day!

 

[Fox]

On the book #75Hard, Andy says you can do the two workouts back to back.
You have to respect a time gap of 3 -4 hours in between workouts.

Andy modified/added some little stuff dozens of times over the years.

I did it as it was outlined in the first podcast he had on it - if it doesn't count whatever.