75 HARD

(Picture- me mid way through 75 hard-v  happy)

It was a cold, miserable, rainy day in the depths of Devon- and definitely qualified as a ‘down’ day. I’d eaten enough food to feed an army, and hadn’t exercised at all that day. In fact, I don’t think I’d even left that house that miserable day. In conclusion, I felt and probably looked like complete crap, inside and out. I’d resorted to social media scrolling just for something to do, and as I was scrolling through tik tok, (urgh I know what had I become) something stuck out at me. A girl was talking about how she had started this crazy challenge, to improve her mental resilience. Now, my mental resilience was the thing I was struggling with, so I turned to the internet to research further.

On the internet, I found much information about 75 Hard, both negative and positive- but the vast majority pointed me in the direction of a podcast which would apparently explain the challenge to me in more depth. The podcast was by Andy Frisella the creator of 75 Hard who was a big, tough, fit man, with a hell of a big soft side. Frisella claimed on the podcast that he had spent his whole life struggling with mental resilience-and this challenge that he had created tested Mental Resilience to the absolute limit.

He then went on to discuss the challenge, expressing that it had 6 elements to it:

1)You must complete two sets of 45 minutes of exercise per day-with 45 minutes being outdoors

2)You must drink just under 4 litres of water a day

3)You must read 10 pages of a non fiction novel/day

4)You must be on some form of diet

5)No alcohol

6)No cheat meals/rest days

Now, you may read that list-and think, that’s more than doable…easy even. And you’re right. For one day. Imagine having to do this for 75 days straight-and not one rest day/ cheat meal during that whole time. Personally, I believe it’s the consistency that’s the challenge, not necessarily the actual tasks. It’s the consistency that requires mental resilience.

What I struggled with the most initially was drinking just under 4 litres of water a day. Previously, I was drinking maybe 2 litres max, so when I started chugging enough water to quench a fully grown man my body panicked slightly. I suffered from very bad bloating, lightheadness, and even occasional waves of nausea. However, after a few weeks, my body acclimatized and these symptoms went away. Additionally, I struggled with having to get up and do my 45 minutes of exercise before work. On 90% of the days it was fine, however, it’s on the days where you didn’t sleep very well the night before, or you don’t feel well, or it’s pouring down with rain outside, when it’s tough. Mental resilience is being built.

However, enough of the struggles. I discovered so many benefits from doing this challenge. First off-the 10 pages of a non fiction novel. I’ve always loved reading, but I tend to prioritise fiction over non fiction. However, during this period I read 4 books, and loved every minute of them. I felt more intelligent and much more knowledgeable after finishing them, but most importantly I enjoyed it-I enjoyed having to sit down and go through a book, taking notes and really take  in the information. It was extremely cleansing. Additionally, the exercise was a massive plus. Although to emphasise that the 75 Hard is NOT a weight loss challenge, when you do that much exercise and dieting weight loss is slightly inevitable. I lost roughly a stone when taking part in the challenge. Furthermore, the mental benefits from this much exercise and from only putting good healthy things into my body (+no alcohol) were huge.

Yet, perhaps my favourite element of the challenge was that it gave me a structure to my day-and instilled such amazing habits into my general life. A typical day looked like this:

-Up at 6

-Water

-Gym

-10 pages

-Work

-Walk

Obviously this is extremely vague BUT it does illustrate how my day was very rigid, very structured, and very controlled- and this really helped me mentally, as well as ensuring that post challenge, I would actually continue many of these elements-as they are now a solid part of my life.

And now I’m finished. Completely and gleefly done. But what next?