Speaker 1: 0:01

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Train for a Great Life. Today we're going to talk about 75 Hard. You've probably seen it, heard of it. It's made its way around the internet quite a bit over the last couple of years. I want to talk about it and kind of there's good parts of it, but kind of how it flies in the face of my philosophy as well of it, but kind of how it flies in the face of my philosophy as well. So, yeah, you've probably seen someone holding on to like a giant water jug or like the you know the index card with X's through however many days they've done of the program. Let's talk about what it really is, where it came from, how it aligns, or doesn't, with training for a great life.

Speaker 1: 0:47

So, if you're unfamiliar, 75 Hard is a challenge created by a guy named Andy Frazella. It's designed as a mental toughness program. Okay, so I do have to mention as well Andy Frazella owns First Form, a supplement company. Supplement companies have wild margins and if it's a company that hits and really kind of you know, goes widespread, you know, in the internet sense, viral, someone's going to get rich right, and so I wonder if a little piece of this is something that's just like a little out there and a bit of a marketing piece. Anyway, that's just a thought of mine.

Speaker 1: 1:36

The idea is that for 75 straight days you have to complete two workouts a day, 45 minutes each. One of them has to be outdoors. You have to drink a gallon of water every day. You have to stick to a diet no cheat meals, no alcohol, read 10 pages of a self-development book daily and take a daily progress progress photo. Okay, sounds straightforward. Here's the catch if you miss even one of these tasks, even even on day 74, you have to start over from day one. Here's the thing. In theory it sounds motivating, push through, no excuses and I can imagine if you go through this it can be life changing. But let's be honest if you're on day 17, 43, whatever, and life throws you a curveball, as it always does, and you miss a workout or you forget your progress photo, are you really going to go back to day one? My guess is probably not. In fact, I would say most people either quietly keep going without mentioning it or just drop the challenge altogether kind of feeling frustrated and discouraged without mentioning it. Or just drop the challenge altogether. Kind of feeling frustrated and discouraged.

Speaker 1: 2:47

Where this kind of falls apart for me is the all or nothing mindset. It's called all or nothing for a reason. I've said that so many times and in owning a gym and working and training people working with people and training people for 15 years now when someone comes in all in, there's nowhere to go but down and you often see it pretty quick Like they're just not caught, especially if this is like a new thing for them. Their mind is way ahead of where their habits actually are. So, because you can, you believe it's either perfect or, worse, worthless. You rarely find yourself in like a good place mentally or physically.

Speaker 1: 3:35

Okay, my philosophy training for a great life is built around consistency and realistic sustainability, not perfection. It's not about doing two days forever or living in the extremes. Instead, it's about showing up consistently, even when life is messy, because you know there's going to be stretches where it just is. Think of it like this If you look back at any stretch of like six to eight weeks and you've trained more days than not, say, you know, four days a week, that's a huge win. You're moving in the right direction If you're eating and sleeping like you care and you've got to be honest with yourself when that, when it comes to that, you know you don't need the streak of perfection. You need consistent action, repeated over time. Okay, real results, strength, endurance, resilience, the ability to say yes to things you love don't happen overnight. They take time, patience and realistic consistency.

Speaker 1: 4:31

I actually at some point I think maybe in 2021, I took the first photo for 75 Hard, I was going to do it. And here's the thing, when I think back to how I was feeling at that time it wasn't good. I wasn't super happy with myself or my habits, and I felt like I just needed something that was like so extreme which, like I know, I know better and and I didn't actually end up doing it, like I kind of you know, it was at a moment and then I had, you know, the next moment where I was like you know what this isn't, this isn't actually what I need right now, but I mean, I I'm not impervious to you know feeling like this might be the thing to do, right. I remember at one point as well, during COVID pandemic, just focusing, having things to focus on to keep you motivated I had this huge streak of like closing all the rings back when I had an Apple Watch and I remember one night I wasn't quite there and I remember literally doing jumping jacks in the bathroom before brushing my teeth to close the rings, and it's just not. That's not what it's about.

Speaker 1: 5:50

Like, if you find yourself in that position a few times in a row, you're one of the times you're not doing it Right, and then what happens? You lose your streak. And then what do you do? You just stop focusing on it. Life keeps happening. Okay, so here's the bottom line temporary intensity okay, this is really what we're talking about like 75 hard. It might give you a short-term boost or a sense of pride, and if you actually go through and do this, you are going to see change. There's no question about that. But I think people underestimate what it actually takes to do this.

Speaker 1: 6:30

But like lasting change, true health, genuinely like what you want out of fitness. That comes from habits that you can sustain, routines that fit realistically in into your world, and not punishing yourself for imperfections. Okay, there are times, yes, when when you need to just do things that you don't want to do, but I feel like this is just stacking that up a little bit too high. So, instead of having to restart at day one when you hit a setback. What if you just simply kept going? You know what if you, you, you kind of think of that as a guardrail. You know like, if you, you, you kind of think of that as a guardrail. You know like, like when a kid goes bowling, whoops, that was a bad one. Boom right back, right back in, right back in line. You know what if you just acknowledge the miss and got back on track? Okay, that's how lasting change happens, not by restarting constantly, um you know, and kind of bumping up against this idea of failing over and over.

Speaker 1: 7:26

Okay, so if you're considering something like this, ask yourself will this actually help me build lasting habits, or am I chasing temporary perfection? And if I am, why am I doing that? Go a layer deeper. If you want lasting fitness, genuine improvement, let go of the perfection and instead focus on consistency. Look back every month. Did you train more days than you didn't? Eat like you care, sleep like you care? Again, you've got to define what those mean for you. But if you can check those boxes, then yes, trust me, you are stacking wins and, depending on what you're looking to see as a result, sometimes those things take time, okay, but just know that you got to keep your head down and do the work, because even when you see those results, what do you do next? You got to keep going Right. So that's why we're looking for sustainable. Thanks for listening. If this resonated with you, share it with someone who needs a gentle reminder who's looking at 75 hard. Okay, and point them toward me. I'll see you in the gym.