What is your take on the 75 Hard challenge on TikTok, and would you do it?
It takes great courage to admit on these pages that you use TikTok. All those hours you spend senselessly being hypnotised by algorithms, I spend on work, family, business plans and philanthropy. Or, I mindlessly scroll through Instagram or YouTube reels because I am slightly out of step with the zeitgeist. You decide.
At the Water Cooler we look at things with a sober mind. Would I do it? No. But I would do 75 Soft. As with all viral social media challenges, there’s an air of extremism in the 75 Hard challenge that flies in the face of everything that has been written in this column over the years.
What is 75 Hard? It’s been around for some time. It was created by a person called Andy Frisella in 2019. He is a podcaster, entrepreneur and CEO of a supplement company. In other words, he relies on algorithms to make money. While the challenge is designed to change your body and health, most of the talk about the challenge focuses on how people feel. About how they conquered their willpower.
Refreshingly, it doesn’t prescribe unproven diets or silly movements. It is billed more as a mindset reset: A challenge to build the mental resilience required to succeed in life, with a (un)healthy dose of 75 selfies along the way.
These are the rules: You must commit to a diet for 75 days and quit all alcohol. You must exercise twice a day for 45 minutes and one session must be outdoors. You must drink a gallon (almost 4l) of water a day. You must read 10 pages of nonfiction a day. You must take a progress photo every day.
There is no science behind this. But people love being told what to do, and love trying to follow rules. Frisella doesn’t prescribe which diet you must follow, you just need to pick one and stick to it. If someone picks a good diet, then great. If they pick a bad, fad diet, well, then bad. Removing alcohol will benefit anyone.
The extremism kicks in when you learn you are not allowed one cheat meal, or bite, at any point in the challenge. If you slip up once, you go back to day one. This rule applies to every part of the challenge, including the workouts, water, reading and photos — just one slip up and you start again. It’s ridiculous. Any sustainable lifestyle change should make room for an incredibly important factor: life.
Exercising twice a day every day is unsustainable. Frisella doesn’t encourage working out in a hurricane, so there’s a chink in his extremist armour. If you want someone to actually enjoy exercise, it is probably best to make it enjoyable and less likely to cause injury and physical exhaustion. Rest and recovery is vital.
Drinking water is good, but sipping on 4l water every day may be a bit much for everyone, especially if they are standing in a home affairs queue. Reading non-fiction is great, it broadens the mind. Just don’t let Frisella catch you listening to an audio book.
Finally, a progress selfie every day can lead to body obsession. This is like standing on the scale every day. It is the exact opposite of developing a loving relationship with yourself and your body.
What is 75 Soft? It seems the pandemic made Frisella soft, so he created an easier challenge. Perhaps, in his gut he knew it was actually a more realistic challenge. The rules are: Eat well in general, exercise for 45 minutes each day, with one day of active recovery, drink 3l instead of a gallon and read 10 pages of any book.
He must have been reading the Water Cooler, except here we are even softer. Keep moving every day, but we don’t see the need to do a formal workout every day if you are training correctly, and with the right intensity.
All hype aside, people like Frisella inspire people to move and be intentional about their food and lifestyle choices. As with anything, the Water Cooler’s advice is to apply common sense when choosing how to challenge yourself.
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