“75 Hard” will change your life, if you let it. I’ve considered myself to be hardworking, self-motivated, and mentally tough for a long time, probably dating back to my early days of high school. Since the age of roughly 19 or 20, I have taken a serious interest in personal development: reading, podcasts, YouTube videos, really anything I can get my hands on to learn how to grow and become a better version of myself. While I feel proud of who I have been as a result of this in my life, and feel that all of my personal growth efforts have yielded positive outcomes, nothing compares to the level of development that I experienced in completing this program.
ICYMI, here are the FIVE key components, the results, and a few thoughts on how I went about the program.
- Two 45 Minute Workouts, At Least One Outdoors: Most days, I needed to start the first workout by 5 or 6am. My first one was usually outdoors, and it sucked the first time it was pouring rain for that. By the end of the program, I hoped for that type of thing as an extra challenge. On Day 73, I arrived home from a meeting at 4pm. All I had left to do was my outdoor workout and to stick with my diet for the rest of the night. We had to leave for my in-laws house by 5:30, so I knew I had to get my outdoor “Ruck” (run/walk with a weighted backpack) in immediately. As I pulled up to our house, it started to drizzle—here we go, I thought. Love a good “test day.” This is what Andy Frisella, the creator of the program, calls it. This is the switch in your mindset that makes you, like a psycho, actually crave the challenging days. What I didn’t know, however, was that this was no joke of a test. I got going about 30 seconds into my workout and it started to absolutely dump on me. It was raining/partially hailing harder than I can ever remember experiencing (at least while actually being outside). My shirt became instantly drenched and plastered to my skin. This caused the straps of my backpack to dig into the skin on my upper back/shoulder area as I continued to run. I knew it was hurting me, but the mindset was to push through no matter what. After about 35 minutes of downpour, the rain subsided and I finished my workout. I got home, peeled my shirt off, and there it was; \deep skin burns on my back. Maria was shocked and concerned. I felt pride in the fact that 99% of people would not have completed that workout in a million years, but I just did. That is the essence of the program.
Workout Results: 150 workouts completed. 301 miles ran/walked during Ruck sessions. Massive increase in energy, confidence in my physical appearance, and mental toughness created by pushing through extreme soreness.
2. Reading 10 Pages of a Personal Development Book Daily: my 10 pages almost always followed workout #1. I would complete the morning “Ruck” , read a page from my Devotional, Pray, Read 1-2 chapters from the Bible, and then transition directly into my 10 pages for “75 Hard.” As a result, I completed 3 books during the process of the 75 Days.
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- Millionaire Success Habits, Dean Grasiozi
- Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
- The Book on Mental Toughness, Andy Frisella
- Began—The Intelligent Investor, Benjamin Graham
Reading Results: learning a minimum of one new concept per day that can move me forward personally, professionally, and/or financially. Imagine what that could do for you? Imagine what just ten pages per day could do for your life over the course of a year.
3. Progress Picture: I always took it right after my second workout so that I didn’t forget it. It was cool to see the progress from Day 1 to Day 75, but this task is way more about building the habit of paying attention to the little details in life.
Progress Picture Results: I will never again look at any small detail of my life as insignificant. This is a constant work in progress, but it is training my mind to fight against complacency in all areas of my life with the “how I do one thing is how I do everything” mentality. Oh yeah, it also simply feels damn good to see your physical progress.
4. Drink a Gallon of Water Daily: I was given the simple tip years ago to start my day by drinking a full bottle of water before having any caffeine; I highly recommend it. Your energy and mental clarity throughout the morning is much better when you do this. I applied this same approach to 75 Hard, but it was with a 33.8 FL OZ bottle of water. Each morning, typically before leaving for my Ruck, I drank a full bottle and filled it up again to take with me on my workout. By the time I returned home from the workout, bottle #2 was either finished or almost there. Stacking these habits together set me up for success because I need to drink four bottles of the 33.8-ouncer to reach a gallon. With this approach, I was filling up for the third time by 6:30am. As a result, I easily drank over a gallon of water daily, and never found myself having to chug a bunch right before going to bed.
Gallon of Water Results: This is yet another one of the habits that I will stick to every day, even if I’m not on the program. My energy is better throughout the day, my mental clarity is heightened, and my caffeine intake is lower than it was.
5. Pick a Diet and Stick to It. No Alcohol! The hardest part initially was no alcohol in social situations, but once you communicate the importance to your friends and family, that gets easier, too (if that’s a challenge for you to begin with). My diet was as follows:
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- No fried foods
- No sweets/ treats (I.e cake, ice cream, cookies, candy)
- No soda
- Observing Sugar intake (5 grams or lower for protein shakes / protein bars)
- No alcohol
- No chips / junk food
Diet Results: This was tied with the two workouts as the most challenging component of the program for me. The results were undeniable. From a mental toughness perspective, it showed me that I am in control of what I put into my body. Simple, but difficult to adhere to if you’re anything like me. This also shifted my definition of “treating myself” in an extremely positive way. I like to drink some beers. I like to indulge in a variety of sweets from time to time; this has not changed. My relationship to those things has, however, entirely shifted. I had a few drinks and a piece of coffee on the day after completing the program. I enjoyed these things and had a great day, but I felt pretty awful the next morning (duh). My mindset now is that “treating myself” is actually doing the challenging things; that’s where I feel my best and happiest. I will still indulge in those “non- program items” moving forward, but it will be sparingly and strategically. It will also be quickly followed the next day by forcing myself back into the right habits. In my opinion, this is the best mental shift you can make in your life.
The key to this entire program is what Andy Frisella refers to as a “zero options” mentality. Don’t be the person that reads these guidelines and immediately alters it to make it easier or more “doable.” The purpose of a program like this is create lasting change in your life. And what a transformational experience it can be if you commit to adhering to all rules with no compromise. I highly recommend 75 Hard to EVERYONE. Yes, the progress pictures will show fitness improvements, but it is so much more than that. It is a Mental Toughness Program that has made me better in every area of my life. My only strong suggestion for anyone who decides to do it is to do it exactly as Andy Frisella lays it out in his podcast. He submits, and I agree, that making an easier version for yourself defeats the whole purpose.
Two additional points I’d like to make for anyone considering this program, but maybe is “on the fence” about taking the leap.
It IS scalable. People who are 70 years old have done it, so that person’s two workouts probably looked different than mine. But, they still could do it; it is not reserved for young people or people who are extremely athletic. Scalable also means that as I continue Andy’s full “Live Hard” program, which consists of 165 days per year “on program” and 200 days “off program,” I will continue to push myself to make workouts harder and my diet stricter. It doesn’t matter where you are physically or mentally right now, you start with what you’re able to do (while adhering to the guidelines above, of course). To clarify further, for example, the program states that you must complete two 45-minute workouts daily, and one of them must be outdoors. Are you completely out of shape right now? Great news—this program is for you to get better. It doesn’t say “two 45-minute workouts, one sprinting at full speed the whole time, and the other completing 1000 push-ups.” It says two 45-minute workouts, one outdoors. All that matters is that you are pushing yourself. Scalable.
It is NOT, however, flexible as it relates to the core five guidelines (i.e. I’ll just do one workout each day for my version, or I’ll only drink alcohol on Saturday nights). You’re missing the point, and you won’t get the same mental results out of it if you’re making exceptions for yourself.
Looking back on my growth throughout the program, there are several positive takeaways that you can expect if you decide to do it, too.
Takeaway #1: self-confidence and mental toughness grows with every decision made during this program. Newsflash: Alcohol and food are inanimate objects. They should not have any control over you, but for so many of us, they do (myself included). I found throughout my 75 days that alcohol and non-beneficial foods are EVERYWHERE. When it comes to drinking, I understand that not everyone reading this drinks alcohol. With that being said, I think it’s fair to say that a majority of adults DO, at least in many social situations. The key here is communicating clearly with people that mean the most to you that this is a firm commitment, and you want their support as you go through the program. If they still don’t support you at that point, that is a whole different conversation for another blog. Thankfully, my close friends and family were great and understanding of what I was trying to do with this thing.
Bottom line is I couldn’t be happier that I chose to commit to the yearlong #LiveHard program. 75 Hard is the initial “boot camp” for it, and the growth is just beginning. I am now on Day 6 of “Phase 1” of the program and feel amazing. After reading this, I hope you’ll join the club, too.
