Why 75 Hard Is the Worst New Fitness Trend

A new year means it’s time for a new you – or so I’m told. You’ve cleared your schedule, your motivation is at an all-time high, and now all you need is a plan to become the best version of yourself. And for some reason, the plan that many people are choosing this year is one of the dumbest fitness challenges ever invented: 75 Hard .

I previously explained how to tell if a fitness challenge is a waste of time , and 75 Hard checks all the boxes. He sets you up for failure and blames you for failure; its rules are based on what is difficult to do rather than what will pay off in the long run; and ultimately this is not a fitness or mental toughness program at all, but a marketing tool for one guy.

What are the “rules” of 75 Hard?

The basic idea is this: for 75 days, you should do these five things every day:

1. Follow your diet. “It can be a diet of your choice, but it should be a structured plan designed with physical improvement in mind.”

2. Do two 45-minute workouts a day. This could be walking or restorative yoga. A person should be outdoors in any weather.

3. No alcohol or cheat meals.

4. Take progress photos every day.

5. Read 10 pages of a book; Audiobooks don’t count.

If you go to the 75 Hard website , you won’t see these rules. You must be on the email list for them to be sent to you. In fact, if you do 75 Hard as directed, you’ll start by giving Andy Frisella (its creator) your email address, listen to his podcast, buy his book for $29, download his app for $7, and join his group on Facebook.

Oh, and by the way: if you make a mistake, you have to start over from day one.

What 75 Hard Does Right

I’ll be generous here. Any plan to exercise and eat better will have some potential benefits, although they don’t actually come from 75 Hard itself. You will notice that the exercise program is “do two workouts” and the diet plan is “diet”. In other words, you give yourself an exercise and diet plan and Frisella sits back and takes all the credit.

Some potentially good things you can get by following 75 Hard:

• You set aside time for two workouts a day; it forms a habit.

• Since you’re burning out doing two hard workouts every day, you’ll find that walking, yoga, and other recovery-oriented exercises can find a place in your daily routine.

• You must choose your own training and diet plan; it means making decisions and sticking to them, not just having vague intentions.

• Reading books is good.

There I was as merciful as I could. Now let’s talk about where the 75 Hard gets it wrong.

75 Hard strict for no reason

Look, when I follow a training plan, I make a commitment. If I’m going to do a heavy program six days a week (like I did last summer), I’ll do every workout, even the ones marked as optional. I ran repeats in the rain, went to the gym when I was tired, and when there was too much wildfire smoke in the air to run outside, I did an interval workout on the stationary bike that day.

But why did I stick to the plan? Because I knew it would make me stronger. During this program, I performed a 101 kilogram (222 lb) barbell squat for the first time in my life. I finished with a killer performance that set me up for a great training cycle after that, ultimately leading to an overall personal best (PR) at my year-end weightlifting meet. I did hard things because the rewards were worth it .

This is where it looks like 75 Hard was created by an alien or robot. Athletes work hard, so let’s make people work hard. Athletes follow a schedule, so let’s make people follow a schedule. But it’s like a car without an engine. It may look fine on the outside, but there is nothing on the inside that can power it.

Frisella fixes this major plot hole mostly by yelling at you. You have to follow the rules not because there is any reason for it, but because the rule is: you have to follow the rules. What if the rules don’t suit you? It’s all your fault.

For example, the introductory letter states the following:

You will be tempted to cheat and compromise. I am not tempting you… you are tempting yourself.

Um, you make the rules, Andy. If I am “tempted” to do something that is a normal or healthy part of life and you say I can’t, who exactly turned that normal and healthy activity into a temptation?

When you make a small compromise with yourself, it reinforces that pattern of decision in your life. You subconsciously tell yourself that this is normal and create a pattern of compromise in every area of ​​your life. It smooths out the rough edges of what should be an exceptional life.

Once again, these are promises from Andy Frisella to Andy Friselle , but he wants you to do all the work.

This formulation of “compromise” suggests that what you are going to do is something important and should not be compromised. But this is just a set of stupid rules. These are not rules that will lead you to any specific goal other than the goal of becoming “a person who did 75 Hard and is proud of it.” It’s okay if you enjoy it, but you’re just as likely to become frustrated with the rules and blame yourself.

Progress photos make you obsess over your body

75 Hard requires you to take progress photos every day. It forces you to focus on the appearance of your body, both as an effort and as a daily obsession. Literally. If you miss a photo for the day, you have broken the rules and will have to start all over again.

Progress photos also help keep other people engaged in the task. 75 Hard’s marketing page features before and after photos of nine different people. By posting your message on social media, you are essentially promoting a cause and keeping the focus on your body image. For a challenge that’s supposed to reward “mental toughness,” this definitely looks like it’s going to blow a lot of people’s heads.

Drinking a liter of water is stupid and potentially dangerous

Another rule is that you should drink a gallon of water every day. For a larger person, considering the total amount of fluid consumed in a day, this is not that extreme. But then comes a word of caution. Frisella is reported to have said the following:

• This does not include liquids from food.

• This does not include other drinks, including flavored water.

• If you need or want to drink electrolytes to replace the fluid lost during all that training, sorry, (flavored) electrolyte drinks don’t count.

He adds the caveat that you can drink a different amount of water if recommended by a healthcare professional. It’s quite strange that the task is positioned “because 75 Hard says so” immediately after medical recommendations, but replacing literally any other reason why you might follow these rules, for example, noticing that they are stupid.

Drinking a liter of water won’t give you any health benefits that you wouldn’t get from drinking a half gallon of (say) water, Diet Coke, coffee, and soup combined.

Drinking too much water can be dangerous, especially if you come to the end of the day and realize you’re not even close to your goal and immediately drink the rest. Hyponatremia, or water intoxication, is a real thing , and the risks increase when you drink a lot of water at once despite not feeling thirsty because someone told you you should. In one case study, a child was hospitalized after a parent forced her to drink more than half a gallon over several hours; it was investigated as child abuse. Cases of death of healthy people from water intoxication are rare, but they do exist .

Try These Best Ways to Improve Your Fitness in 75 Days

If only we could separate the good parts of 75 Hard from the bad! Oh wait, the good parts are “pick an exercise program and stick with it,” so that’s an easy fix.

(Ironically, the 75 Hard website simultaneously says, “Consult your physician or other health care professional before starting 75 HARD™ or any other fitness program,” and then on the same screen says, “THIS IS NOT A FITNESS CHALLENGE “Yes, we can do better.)

Try a real fitness program that has specific workouts and goals on specific days to get you to a specific goal. You’ll leave the program stronger and fitter than before, ready to take on new challenges rather than exhausted and ready to quit.

75 days is approximately 10 or 11 weeks. Here are some programs that fit the bill:

• Hal Higdon’s Plan for Building a Base for “Spring Training” Runners . This is 10 weeks, four runs and two days of strength training each week. Every other weekend you complete a time trial to test your fitness.

• Couch to 5K is a classic program for gently introducing people to running. This is also 10 weeks and starts with easy intervals. You will complete three walking/running workouts each week. I have mixed feelings about how well this program actually works for beginners , but if you’re aware of the caveats, what the heck, go for it.

• Powerlifting program for beginner strength athletes . It’s nine weeks, with an additional four-week peak you can do at the end if you want to try competitive powerlifting (or do a “trial meet” yourself). You will lift four times a week. It’s for people who have some experience with the squat, bench press, and deadlift, but haven’t trained in it seriously.

• This is a Reddit-famous Frankenprogram that combines the Maga-Orth deadlift program, parts of the GZCL squat program, and something called the Death Bench to increase your bench press. It lasts 10 weeks, five days a week, and is designed for experienced lifters who want an intense challenge.

These are just a few examples; There are many 10-week (or 8-week or 12-week) programs available for a variety of sports and activities. Pick one, mark a workout on your calendar and pair it with the right nutrition to achieve your goals. In 75 days, you’ll be a stronger weightlifter or a more capable runner without the need for needless suffering.

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