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#102 - 75 Hard Complete: The Highs, Lows, and Lessons Learned
36 Plays26 days ago
In this episode, I dive into my experience completing the 75 Hard challenge, sharing the highs, lows, and everything in between.
What You'll Learn:
- Personal Insights: My motivations for starting, the obstacles, and the strategies that kept me on track.
- Pros and Cons: The good and not-so-good parts of the challenge.
- Key Takeaways: Lessons on discipline, resilience, and the power of structured routines you can use to hit your goals.
- Who It's For: Insights into who might benefit most from the challenge and considerations before starting.
Tune in to get my take on one of the most popular challenges out there!
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Transcript
Introduction and 75 Hard Challenge Overview
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome back to the Fit-ish Project with your host, Lathan Bass, where we make fitness and health simple for regular people like you and I. Got another weekly episode coming at you. Before we get into this, if you have not already, you can leave a review, continue to get this out to more people. I really appreciate that.
00:00:21
Speaker
But today's topic, I just finished up 75 hard at the beginning of this week. And I've done an episode in the beginning of 75 Hard, then I did one kind of midway through. And so I thought I would bring it full circle and talk about my experience overall with 75 Hard, the results that I had, the pros, the cons, who it might be good for, and just some lessons and some insights that I gained from doing this challenge.
00:00:48
Speaker
And so if you don't know what 75 Hard is, it's a 75-day challenge, as the name says, And it's pretty difficult. I won't lie. It is pretty difficult. It has it had its moments for sure for me.
00:01:00
Speaker
The rules are fairly simple. Two 45-minute workouts per day. One has to be outdoors no matter what the weather is, which I'll get into that in a little bit. That kind of made for it some rough days.
00:01:11
Speaker
ah You have to follow a specific diet. So any kind of diet that you want. What I did is I just tracked my macros. you have to drink a gallon of water per day. You have to read 10 pages out of a book, but it has to be some sort of nonfiction book. So like self-help or self-development, something where like you're learning.
00:01:28
Speaker
ah Take a daily progress photo and then no alcohol for 75 days. Those are the rules. So pretty straightforward, pretty simple. Some of those things are easier than others. But if you miss any of those tasks on any day, fail to do any of those things, you have alcohol, you break the diet, you don't get your gallon of water, you forget to take your picture, don't get both workouts in.
00:01:48
Speaker
then you fail and you have to start back over on day one. So it's gotta be 75 consecutive days of doing these tasks every single day. And so consistency is a huge part of this,
Mental Resilience vs. Physical Benefits
00:02:00
Speaker
obviously. And if you read into the challenge, they talk a lot about how it is supposed to be more of a mental challenge than anything else. A lot of people will do this for the physical reasons because you'll see people with their transformations. And a lot of people do end up losing weight because it is so extreme in nature. i mean, you're following a diet,
00:02:18
Speaker
drinking in water, you're working out, an hour and a half per day, like you're going to lose weight if you are following a diet and you're doing that much activity. And so a lot of people go into with this idea that it's a physical challenge, but you read into it, if you read about the founder of the challenge from Andy Fursella, he talks about how this is not really supposed to be a physical thing. It's supposed to be even more so a mental thing. So something to help you build discipline, to build resilience, to build consistency, and just really show you what you're capable of doing.
00:02:47
Speaker
And so when it came to me, my motivation for doing it was number one people ask me about this challenge all the time if they think it's something that i recommend or something that they should do and since i had never done it i wanted to have my own opinion of the challenge and give it a try my initial thoughts were always like for a lot of people it's not a great idea because they're going into it with the wrong mindset about why they're actually doing the challenge like i said most people go into because they want to lose weight But the problem with that is, is it's so extreme in nature that a lot of people who actually are able to make it through, which isn't a very large percentage of people who were able to do these things for 75 days in a row, they don't really know what to do when they're done with this. And so I'm gonna talk a little bit about like going into this with the right mindset and how you can actually get something out of this and not just like lose weight and then end up gaining it all back, which a lot of people do when it comes to more extreme programs and diets and training programs of this nature.
Pushing Limits and Comfort Zones
00:03:41
Speaker
Another reason that I really wanted to do this from a personal reason was just I wanted something that was going to be mentally challenging for me. I hadn't done really any kind of like bigger type of goal or anything, honestly, probably since I ran ah marathon, which was almost two years ago now. And so that was a really tough physical and mental challenge for me, just because I hated running when I started doing that. And eventually I ended up enjoying running and I've talked about that on other podcasts, but that was a really good challenge for me just in from both a mental and physical perspective. And so like I hadn't really done anything as big as this for quite a while. And so I really wanted something that was just going to challenge me because I think it's important to do things that challenge you, that get you out of your comfort zone.
00:04:25
Speaker
because it allows you to kind of reset that reference point for what you're able to do. I think sometimes in life, we just get really relaxed and we get super comfortable and we get just dialed into a certain routine and we don't really stress ourselves. We don't really try things that are going to be new and challenging. And I think that's an important thing to do because as we continue to have all these developments and Technology gets better and AI gets better and all this stuff like everything is being made to make our lives more comfortable and easy. But I think part of being a human being and really being able to like reach your full potential and have a really good, fulfilling, purposeful life is being able to do some hard things every once in a while. And so I wanted a challenge like that. And I knew this would provide that for me because.
00:05:08
Speaker
not from like, again, a physical standpoint, because I am pretty dialed in with like my routine and I worked out quite a bit and I've dieted before and I drank a lot of water and I read most days. So like that wasn't really the biggest thing that I knew was going to be difficult, but I knew just being as consistent as this challenge requires
Structure, Planning, and Personal Growth
00:05:25
Speaker
you to do. And also with just living in Iowa and having to get outside and do workouts during the winter, I knew there was going to be some challenges in there.
00:05:31
Speaker
I knew there was going to be some days where like, My motivation was not there at all where I really would have to kind of tap into that discipline again. And that's something that I hadn't really had for a while. So that was another reason that I wanted to do this routine.
00:05:42
Speaker
And then the last thing was just building more structure and routine into my schedule. Just something I've been trying to dial in a little bit more for myself. And that's something that i really talk to a lot of my clients about as well as like just the ability to get into a certain routine and the ability to just like plan.
00:05:58
Speaker
Because a lot of us, again, we know most of the things that we should be doing, but we fail to do those things a lot. And a huge part of that is as simple as it sounds, is just planning and prioritizing ahead of time. And so doing something like this forces you to really plan and prioritize. Otherwise, you are not going to make it through and you're not going to be successful. So those are some of the reasons that I really wanted to do it.
Physical Changes and Discipline
00:06:19
Speaker
And with the challenge finally coming to an end, some of my results that I had from a physical standpoint, I lost a little bit of weight, which I expected. I was following a diet, just tracking my macros. And so like I was tracking all the calories and protein and things like that, that I was eating.
00:06:33
Speaker
And I was eating on average between 28 and 3000 calories a day, which is a lot. And I still lost 12 pounds. Again, as I said, this wasn't something that I was going into it with the idea of like, I want to lose a bunch of weight. I know if I really wanted to lose a lot of weight, I could have cut my calories lower and like really, really dialed it in and like tried to lose more weight, but that wasn't really my goal going into this. So like, I knew that I was going to lose a few pounds and tighten up a little bit, but that wasn't really a main focus for me, but it was just, it was kind of nice to shed some fat and get into a little bit better shape. I feel pretty good from a physical standpoint.
00:07:07
Speaker
I was able to lose a couple of inches off my waist and like my stomach area. I took my body fat percentage before the challenge. And then I took it at the end and I lost about two to 3%. I'm using the hand calipers. And so like, it's not the most accurate, but I know that my body fat percentage went down and just looking at my progress picks from day one to day 75, you can obviously see that I got a little bit leaner.
00:07:29
Speaker
And so that was cool. Saw some of those physical benefits, which are always kind of nice, but I think the cooler part of it was just all the activity that I was able to get in. So two workouts a day, you do that for 75 days, that's 150 workouts. So getting quite a bit of activity, which is always nice.
00:07:43
Speaker
was getting around 10 to 12,000 steps per day, just because a lot of times my second workout would just be an outdoor walk or ah run sometimes. And so, It was nice to just get that physical activity up and I think it goes to show you like the more active you are, the easier that it makes just being on top of those goals and like if you do have some weight loss goals if you do have.
00:08:05
Speaker
goals around your physical appearance and adding in some extra activity throughout your day, just things like walking and just things like being more active and being a little bit more intentional about just being an active person really can do some wonders for helping you just strip off some of that body fat.
00:08:21
Speaker
And then lastly, with the reading was kind of nice to get really back into just reading as much as I like to do. I'm One of my goals for myself is to read Monday through Friday about 15 pages a day because I don't always do it on the weekends. But Monday through Friday, I know if I read 15 pages a day, I can get through at least a couple books a month if I do that. Because a lot of times I'll end up reading, I'll get to my 15 pages, but the book's good or I just want to continue going. And so I end up actually reading like 20 to 30 pages. But with this challenge, you have to read every single day. And so a lot of times I would go into it
00:08:53
Speaker
make sure that I just read my 10 pages. And then after that, I would end up wanting to read more. And I think that also is just a good reminder too, because a lot of times we'll go into something and think like, we have to do this super long workout, or we have to make sure that every single meal for the day is perfectly planned out. But it's like a lot of times you just need to get started and doing the thing. And then once you get started, a lot of those other things will start to fall into place. So Rather than thinking about you have to get in this really long hour long workout just think about how you need to get into the first 10 minutes get in there stretch a little bit get into your first set and then a lot of times once you get going, you want to continue to do those things because you know.
00:09:32
Speaker
you're feeling better, kind of getting a bit of a groove. And you know that when you finish, you're going be a lot happier that you ended up doing all that work. And so just a good reminder to don't stress over everything. And don't think about like how you have to do this super long workout, you have to follow this diet plan to the exact T just focus on getting started. And I noticed that once you can start and just get the ball rolling a little bit, a lot of times that momentum will carry you through.
00:09:58
Speaker
With the mental side of things, I mean, I think the obvious thing is just like discipline. This challenge takes some discipline because there's a lot of times where like you don't want to do the second workout or like I said, just being here in Iowa, like there were some really, really cold days. I think some of the coldest days got down to negative 20 something degrees with the wind chill. And so like getting outside and walking for 45 minutes and being outside wearing three pairs of gloves and two pairs of sweatpants and three sweatshirts and winter coat and still being cold, like Those days sucked. I did not enjoy that one bit. But again, it goes to show you like, you're not going to die. Like you're going to survive. You're pretty resilient. Humans are very resilient. And our ability to endure hard things is one thing that's really cool about us. And that's why we've sort of survived this long. And that's why we continue to be at the top of the food chain, because we're smart and we have the ability to do hard things.
00:10:50
Speaker
And so I think just going through some of those days and on some of those longer days, we're like, kind of tired and you don't really want to get that second workout in, like it just forces you to flex that discipline muscle a little bit. And the way I always think about discipline and willpower and those things is it's a muscle just like everything else. Like the more that you practice it and the more that you do hard things and you repeat these things and you get more consistent with these things, the better that discipline muscle builds.
00:11:14
Speaker
Because I know for me and I know for a lot of my clients, like when they start, they don't have that discipline that they really want. And that's something that a lot of people really want to develop because They know that if they can get the habits in place and they can get that discipline in place, that the things that they want on the other side of that.
00:11:30
Speaker
And so just continuing to focus on those things and not really beating yourself up too much. Like if you do have some days where you slip and things like that, but just understanding like the more that you put those reps in and the more that you really focus on building that discipline, the better it gets over time.
00:11:45
Speaker
And then the second thing that I would say, which I already touched on a little bit, which is like the prioritization and the planning of it all. Doing a challenge like this really forces you to plan out things in advance. And if you don't, you're going end up in a bad spot. So like if you don't plan out, okay, I'm going to get my first workout in at this time, I'm to get my second workout in at this time.
00:12:03
Speaker
But if you slack on those things and you don't come through with those things, it might put you in a really bad position. So I had a couple of those days where like, I wanted to do a workout in the morning and then I would do another one in the afternoon is typically what my schedule was like in my routine that I kind of got into. But like some days I would just get in a really good group at work or would have things come up or like just outside things that like I didn't really account for, or didn't know were going to happen.
00:12:26
Speaker
And then I'd be having to go for a walk at like late at night when it's dark out and it's cold and I don't want to do that. Or like if you're slacking on drinking your water throughout the day, well, now you get to like seven or 8 p.m. and you still have a half a gallon of water to drink. Now you got to chug a bunch of water.
00:12:39
Speaker
You're getting up two or three times and that night to go to the bathroom. And so you have to really plan and prioritize and just stay on top of your things. And I think that's also a good lesson and just something to just keep in mind when it comes to your goals. Because a lot of these things, like a lot of our things that like make us healthy and things that help you achieve your fitness goal, they're pretty simple in nature.
00:13:00
Speaker
But like you have to stay on top of these things and you have to do these things consistently in order to see the results that you want. And it's very easy to start letting things slip a little bit here. They start to slip a little bit there. And then you look up and you're like, oh, man, I gained 10 pounds because I wasn't really as locked in on my nutrition as I have been. Or like I'm not drinking as much water. And I noticed that that's kind of affected me a little bit. Or I started to let my sleep slip a little bit. And I was staying up a little bit later. And now I'm starting to see how that's affecting my energy levels and my workouts. And so It's never these big, huge things that really cause us to like hit these plateaus or hit these certain areas where like we just kind of fall off. It's usually a more gradual type of thing that starts to happen over time. And so I think a challenge like this just forces you to really focus on those little things.
00:13:45
Speaker
taking a picture every day and drinking water and reading and all those things. Like none of those things are really hard or difficult, but you just have to be disciplined. You have to stay on top of those things. You have to plan, you have to prioritize certain things in order to get those things done. And so that was a good lesson and a good reminder as well, just kind of moving through this challenge.
00:14:02
Speaker
And then lastly, just a couple of just random like lifestyle things that I saw just improve with myself was like, The no alcohol thing, not drinking for 75 days. I'm a person, I like to go out and have some drinks with my buddies and have some drinks to my friends and and have a night out and things like that. But not having alcohol for that long of an extended period of time definitely had some effects.
00:14:21
Speaker
I know like if i do go out like on a weekend and I stay up late and I have some extra drinks or things like that, like it messes with my brain a little bit. Like i have a little bit of brain fog the next day, typically not as productive. And the biggest factor is probably how much it affects my sleep.
00:14:35
Speaker
And there's a lot of science on this. I've listened to tons of different people talk about this and read books and stuff. And like alcohol is just, it's not good for your sleep. It's not good for your sleep at all. Even though you feel sometimes like you may fall asleep quicker or you might even feel like you've like had a deep sleep.
00:14:51
Speaker
The actual things that are going on within your brain and the level and the quality of your sleep is not nearly as good when you have alcohol closer to your bedtime. And so for me, like that was definitely something I noticed. My sleep got better. I felt like sharper mentally, like my brain was just like, I felt like my processing and just memory and things like that were all more solid. And I was just more productive because wasn't having alcohol, sleep was more of a priority. And so definitely notice those things. And those are some things that I want to continue to focus on because sleep is such a huge thing. And I've talked about it ad nauseum on this podcast, but it really is important. Like, it's just one of those things that like, once you really start to dial it in, and once you really start to focus on sleep, you'll notice just how much of an effect that it has on just every facet of your life. But I think so many of us never really ever prioritize those things. And I know
00:15:39
Speaker
For you parents out there who have kids or small children, like you don't really have that luxury as much as some of the rest of us. But if you do have a chance to like really prioritize your sleep and really focus on getting better sleep, I think you'll notice that it has a lot of different benefits. And especially like if you're somebody who is chasing some fitness goals about wanting to build muscle, build strength, lose weight, those things, like sleep really does have a pretty big impact.
00:16:03
Speaker
So with that being said, I mean, that was just kind of my experience, like my results in a nutshell. And then just some other lessons that I kind of learned. I mean, the time management thing, like we all know is important, but doing a challenge like this really forces you to to balance out those daily tasks of work and family and friendships and things like that with other things that you also want to accomplish and other things that you also see important. So time management was definitely something that this was a good challenge to remind me of and really to focus in on. I think the mental toughness part of it, like getting out when it's super cold and just doing things that you don't want to do when motivation was low was definitely part of it.
00:16:39
Speaker
The consistency, like I mentioned already, just the power of small daily habits. It's kind of cool. Like when you go back and every single day you're forced to take a progress picture. And so like if you start to look at your progress pictures, you can see some of the physical changes taking place. And it's again, it's not like you're doing any one big thing, but it's just these small little things that you do day after day.
00:16:59
Speaker
And eventually you look up down the road and you see all this physical progress that you're making. And so that part of it, just the consistency and just actually being able to see the visual progress was pretty cool. And then i would say like the self-reflection part of it too, like since it is a a mental challenge, I think it's important to kind of take note of just like the things that you're doing, not only physically, but the the changes that you're wanting to make mentally and thinking about like how you can incorporate some of these things into your daily life. Because as I've talked about, this isn't something that you're going to do forever. Like this is not a sustainable approach. This is not something that going do for a really long time. But I think there's things that you can take from this challenge and implement in your life moving forward.
Planning, Mindset, and Identity
00:17:38
Speaker
And then as I also mentioned, just doing hard things, I think it really gives you a nice reset, a nice reference point that you are capable of doing hard things. And so all those things were just some things that just like stood out to me and in little lessons or little reminders that I had throughout this challenge.
00:17:54
Speaker
When it came to some of the pros of the 75 hard challenge, I think Probably the biggest thing is just the structure of it. like It forces you again to like really plan and prioritize your day. And if you don't, like you're not gonna be successful with this. And this is something that I'm constantly talking to my clients about because A lot of times it's not enough to know what to do.
00:18:16
Speaker
Like a lot of people know they should be getting steps in their day. They should be walking like six, eight, 10,000 steps a day. They know that they should be working out two, three, four times per week. They know they should be getting protein.
00:18:27
Speaker
But knowing those things is not enough. Sometimes it really helps when you start to break those things down step by step. make it real make it tangible so that you actually have a plan because just thinking to yourself like i need to get so many steps in i need this much amount of protein and i need to get this many workouts and without having a tangible plan really is like you're not doing as much as you could to set yourself up for success so like when it comes to getting enough protein okay you need to get 150 grams of protein well let's actually break that down and think about how we're going to get that throughout the day okay
00:19:00
Speaker
I eat three meals a day, so I'll break that down. I need to get at least 40 grams of protein at a meal. And then if I get another snack or two with 30 grams of protein, I'm going to hit that 150. Or I need to get 6,000 steps in my day.
00:19:12
Speaker
and normally get 3,000 at work. When am I going to get those other 3,000? And okay, I can take two 15-minute walks, maybe one after breakfast, one after lunch. And I know if I do those things, I can hit that goal. So Just really getting tangible about those things and really planning.
00:19:25
Speaker
Because again, without a plan, like you're planning to fail as the old quote goes. And so like knowing that you have these targets is one thing, like you want to have those numbers, you want to have those quotes, but then actually thinking about, okay, what's my step-by-step plan to actually make those things a reality.
00:19:40
Speaker
And then of course you have to take action on those things. So when you can break it down into a smaller way and make it really tangible, I think that people are much more likely to do the thing. I think another pro, which I talked about a little bit, is just like the mental gains that you get from this is is what I'll call it. And it combines a lot of the physical things. It combines a lot of the mental parts. It combines some of the emotional stuff. And like, it just kind of culminates and creates this big overall effects because when it comes to fitness and health it's not just about the physical it's not just about the mental like it's not just about the emotional it's about all those things tying those things together and i think this challenge really puts an emphasis on the mindset and the mental part which is probably more important than anything like yes the physical things are important the habits are important but i talk a lot about like identity and i talk a lot about mindset because
00:20:30
Speaker
That is the thing that is really driving the car. Like that's the thing that's like making you do the things that you're doing. It's the choices that you choose. It's your behavior. It's all those things like your mindset and your identity are the things that are really driving those things.
00:20:44
Speaker
And this is something, again, that I talk about with clients quite a bit. I had a client recently who's just been doing really, really good with just like consistency with. hitting protein goal and hitting the steps goal and getting the workouts in and i asked him i was like what's been different now like you've been really really on top of your stuff like your consistency has been really awesome like you're doing a lot of really good things like what do you feel like has been the difference and what he said was like i just realized that like i was the one who was holding myself back and i think that for a lot of people that's really what it comes down to like you have to have that self-awareness of like okay this is
00:21:20
Speaker
me Like I'm the person who's in this position because of me. Like there could be some outside things that went on and there could be some things that make it more difficult for you. But at the end of the day, it's like it's your responsibility to make those changes and nobody's coming to save you. There's nobody who can do it for you.
00:21:37
Speaker
Like, i wish as much as I could, like I could work out for other people and make them get the results, but I just can't do that. Like, I'm not going to be in your kitchen slapping the food out of your mouth, like, or telling you exactly what to eat or like getting the exercise in for you. Like it's comes down to you being able to just have that self-awareness and then taking responsibility that these are things that you want to do.
00:21:58
Speaker
And as you start to do those things, you start to turn into that person. You start to change your mindset a little bit, start to change your identity. Then you kind of realize like maybe your mindset and your identity was once a weakness. Now it's actually a strength because you are this person who does want to work out. You do want to eat more healthy and you do want to eat quality foods and you do want to make this priority.
00:22:17
Speaker
And when you start to shift to that identity, well, now it just feels weird if you don't do these things. And now you're not worrying about like falling off track. You're not worrying about like being unhealthy, because now this is just part of who you want to be, like you want to be that healthy fit person who's able to do all the things that they love, and who's able to look in the mirror and feel a certain way, and who's able to, like just really have that confidence and that energy that we all want to have. And so taking responsibility for that, and like really just developing your mindset and really just understanding that you do have a lot more control over your situation than you might think is a big part
Accountability and Self-Discipline
00:22:50
Speaker
of this challenge. And I think is something that a lot of people could gain from doing something like this. And then
00:22:56
Speaker
The last part of it, I would just go ahead and say is like the accountability part of it, like the daily tasks. And as always talk about, like that 1% better approach, like it just promotes that self-discipline that you need to get the things that you want.
00:23:08
Speaker
Because right along with that, you know, the mindset shifts and the identity shifts, like all that stuff is great. But you also have to take action, like without action, without doing these things, without making the choices, without getting the workouts in or eating the meals, like you're not going to see the results that you want to see when it comes to your fitness goals. And so this accountability within this challenge really promotes you to take that responsibility and really start to hone in on that self-discipline and build that self-discipline muscle.
00:23:33
Speaker
And then with that, I think it's kind of cool within this challenge, like you don't focus as much on other people because you're so wrapped up in doing all your things. And I think a lot of times people will look for that outside approval or they'll start to compare themselves with other people around them like,
00:23:49
Speaker
they lost this much weight and this much time and I'm not losing as much weight as them. And like, maybe my progress is taking longer. Things are harder for me. And like, it's really easy to start to compare yourself to other people and not get so focused on what you're doing, but none of that outside stuff matters. And I think this challenge really forces you to just focus on your own stuff because you're so busy and you're so wrapped up in just making sure that you do all the tasks that you need to do that you don't think about any of that stuff. So like,
00:24:15
Speaker
you're taking this accountability, but you're also just really focusing on your own things. And I think when you do that, it makes this journey so much better. Like when you're just focusing on, can I be a little bit better than I was yesterday?
00:24:28
Speaker
When I look back a couple weeks from now, like, have I made strides? Have I gotten better? Have I made more progress? If the answer is yes, then you're doing the right things. You're focused on the right things. Your mindset's in the right place. But once you start focusing on things that you can't control, when you start comparing yourself to other people, like that's not a good place to be. And that only ends in a bad way. And so those are some of the things that I would say like really, really stuck out, like some of the pros of the 75 hard challenge.
Challenges of the 75 Hard Structure
00:24:52
Speaker
And then when it came to the cons, I think these ones are kind of obvious, but like it's very rigid. And so like I talk a lot about like having flexibility and being able to like just kind of flow with the different seasons of life and things like that. But with something like this, it is not flexible at all. It's very rigid, like with exercising, with dieting.
00:25:12
Speaker
And I think that it is not necessarily a bad thing to again go through things like this and have certain seasons where like you really test yourself because you have to kind of find those edges and what those things are for you like that's the whole reason that i did the marathon is because i really wanted to push myself and like find one of those edges for myself and so if you're always too relaxed with things like if you're always relaxed and you're not really rigid or you don't have any discipline like you're never going to really see the results that you want to see but if you're too strict with it you're never going to really be able to stick with this thing long term but i don't think it's necessarily a bad thing to kind of test those edges and see where that is so you can actually find a middle ground and find that kind of goldilocks zone so that you're in a place where like it is going to be sustainable for the long term so
00:25:57
Speaker
Going into this challenge, just realizing like it is very rigid. There's not a lot of flexibility to it. It's pretty clear cut and dry what you have to do. But understanding that like that's not what life is going to be like most of the time. Like things are always going to be changing.
00:26:10
Speaker
Different seasons are going to be coming like when you have certain things going on in life. But even when things do get a little bit hard, like you do have the skills to maybe push a little bit. And then at other times, like maybe you want to pull back. And so just understand as you go into this, like this is very rigid, but that's not what life is always going to be like.
00:26:27
Speaker
I think another con is obviously the time commitment. Like if you don't have time to put towards these things, like you're really going to struggle. And I think the old saying of you make time for the things that you prioritize, that is absolutely true.
00:26:40
Speaker
But if like you're going into this and you're like super busy and like you just know that like this isn't going to be a good time for you, like I don't know, it could be a time to maybe step back a little bit and see like – maybe this isn't the right time maybe it is like maybe that is the reason that you want to do it so you can actually start to plan and prioritize but i think that's just something to realize like it definitely does take a time commitment obviously the 245 minute workouts that's an hour and a half right there and then some of the other things you know the reading that takes 10 to 15 minutes you have some of the other stuff that you're doing taking a picture like drinking water that stuff doesn't really take any extra time but i mean you're
00:27:13
Speaker
you're adding in probably an hour and 45 minutes per day of extra time that you have to really dedicate to this one thing and so just understand that going into it i think another one of the cons are just the things that you should really think about as you're going into this is just making sure that you're smart about your workouts because if you're not there's a really easy potential to get burned out because when you're doing ah workout not only just every single day but you're doing two workouts every single day like if you're really just trying to hammer down and you're going like two intense 45 minute workouts every single day, you are probably going to struggle, you might end up with some injuries, like you're probably going struggle with recovery. So I think just being smart about those things as you're going through this challenge is important, like mixing in some of those workouts to be like walking or doing yoga or doing some light cardio. So you're not just burning yourself out. Because throughout this challenge, like these 75 days, I actually went through a period where like, I did a deload from lifting. So like, rather than lifting in the gym, I would just walk,
00:28:09
Speaker
for my 45 minute workouts where I would mix in some yoga or things like that because my body just like felt kind of beat down. I felt like I wasn't really recovering as good. I could tell like my nervous system was kind of taking a hit a little bit and I just wasn't feeling as good. So like i dialed it back a little bit and I just went with some more lighter type of activities. And so just be smart about it as you're going into this, because if you're working out for 75 consecutive days, twice every single day, and every single workout is just a freaking, just a grinder, like your body is going to struggle to hold up.
00:28:41
Speaker
And so understand that like, when you're taking these things on like this is a lot and this is a lot more than most people are used to so you need to go at it with a smart way so that you don't end up screwing yourself ended up with injuries not recovering well like shrewing up your sleep like all that different kind of stuff and then the last thing I would say is like since this isn't really a flexible thing it's more rigid like this isn't tailored to everybody especially like when you have certain people who maybe you don't have any sort of like fitness background you don't really know about dieting, like this could be a lot to take on all at one time.
Post-Challenge Maintenance and Advice
00:29:12
Speaker
And I think when you look at like New Year's resolutions, like that's a perfect example. People go in with these very extreme goals. They have these really elaborate plans. And as we know, most people don't stick to those things. By this time of year, there's very few people who are actually still sticking to their New Year's goals.
00:29:27
Speaker
And so when you go into it with a super extreme approach, I think like not having any background or maybe not having any of the skills or habits at all developed in place, that could be something to think about. And maybe this is not the right challenge for you to get into.
00:29:43
Speaker
And then the last thing that I would say about that particular area is like, make sure that as you start to finish up this challenge, like you have some sort of exit plan. Like when you get done with this challenge, this isn't something that you're goingnna do forever. Like it lasts for 75 days.
00:29:58
Speaker
And then after those 75 days, let's say you do make it through, you get some good results. Like you feel good about things, like make sure you have an exit plan because like, if you're not going to continue to follow that certain diet that you've been focused on, like hopefully you've been able to build some better habits just with your eating and planning and exercising walking drinking water all those things take those things and use those things but also like have a plan like how often am i going to exercise like how many steps am i going to focus on getting like in my day what certain things am i going to be eating like make sure that you have some sort of plan as you exit this so that you just don't completely fall off and go back to what you were doing before you started this challenge because if you just
00:30:35
Speaker
completely fall off, you don't take any of the things that you learn and implement any of those habits or new skills that you gained, you're going to end up right where you started this challenge, which is probably not where you want to be because most people go into this challenge with some certain goals and they want to make some certain progress, both physically and mentally. So make sure that you have some sort of plan as you get done with this so that you're not just like,
00:30:56
Speaker
looking around and then you wonder why like four weeks, five weeks after the challenge, like you're gained all your weight back, you don't feel great, like all those habits that you had built are kind of out the window. So have some sort of plan as you get done with this challenge.
00:31:09
Speaker
And I've already touched on it a little bit, but I think like who this is for is like people that have some sort of background with dieting and exercise, I think would help you a lot with this. And like, again, you can do whatever you want. Like, you don't have to listen to me, but this is just my opinion as somebody who's done the challenge now. And somebody who also talks to a lot of people who have different physical goals, who have different fitness goals and want to accomplish certain things and have certain transformations and lose weight and things like that. Like,
00:31:35
Speaker
Is this a great challenge to like make a physical transformation? Like, will you get some results? Yes. But if you're doing all these things, but then you don't plan on sticking to any of these things after you get done with this challenge, like i said, like you're just going end up where you started. And so go into this with the right mindset.
00:31:51
Speaker
Understand this isn't a lifestyle, but this is a way to make some improvements on your mindset, make some improvements from the physical standpoint, focus on what you can learn and focus on building some better habits. And I think if you do that,
00:32:02
Speaker
and you enter this with the right mindset and then have some sort of exit plan as you get out like this can be a good place to start for people and then lastly just a couple tips as you are if you do decide like this is something that i want to try like definitely plan ahead schedule workouts and meals in advance like have an idea like make sure that you plan and prioritize because that is a huge part of being successful with this number two i would say just make sure you listen to your body like this is a lot of extra stress it's a lot of extra exercise it's a lot of just taxing on your mindset. It's a lot of extra taxing on your body. So you don't need to overdo it. Yes, this is supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be a challenge, but like listen to your body, be smart about those things and make sure that you are doing the right things to make sure that you feel good. Like you're sleeping, you're eating, you're drinking, you're not following any crash diets or anything like that. Like you want to make sure that you're not feeling like absolute trash as you work through this challenge.
00:32:53
Speaker
And then the last thing I would say is like, if you can do it with someone else, that would probably make this a little bit easier. I was kind of riding solo, I was doing it by myself. And so I didn't really have anybody to like call or talk to or like, you know, do some workouts with and things like that. So like,
00:33:08
Speaker
That throws an extra element into it. Anytime you can add a little bit of accountability with somebody, I think it makes it easier to stick to these things. And with something as extreme and as tough as this challenge is and for this long, I think it would be helpful to have somebody there who you could you know talk to about it, you you could bounce ideas off of, maybe work out every once in while. I think that would help a little bit. so And so to round this thing out, I think overall, like my thoughts on the challenge, I'm glad that I personally did it, but I'm also glad that it's
Reflection and Support for Listeners
00:33:35
Speaker
over. i am is similar to my time with training for a marathon. Like I was really, really glad that I did it and I learned a lot of good things and it was ah a good mental challenge for me. And I liked the process of just doing something that I knew was going to challenge me.
00:33:50
Speaker
That was very similar to how I felt about this challenge, but I am glad that it's over and that I can get back to my own routine so that I don't have to work out twice a day and do all those like super little things that I don't necessarily focus on, like taking a progress picture every single day or drinking gallon water every single day. Like it's nice to have some of those days in there where like I just take a full recovery day and things like that. And so Overall, glad I did it, but I am glad that it is over. And so hopefully you got a little bit of insight from this podcast. And if you do have specific questions about the challenge or like if you're thinking about if you want to do it or you're still on the fence about it and you have specific questions for me, like I'm always here to answer those or listen to anything that you have to say. so
00:34:30
Speaker
Again, hope this was helpful. If you are somebody who is wanting a little bit of help with just one-on-one type of coaching, maybe you're like, okay, I'm not going to do 75 hard, but I do want to start to get the ball moving. I do want to learn some of these things about dieting, about exercise. Maybe you do want to get some of that background in and start building some of these habits, but want a little bit more tailored, more personal type of approach, something that's not so rigid and is a little bit more flexible.
00:34:55
Speaker
That is what I help people do with one-on-one coaching. So you can always check the link in the show notes for that. But I appreciate you listening and we will see you week.