David Horne - Jan 8, 2026
I really like the idea of the 75 Hard challenge. While I think it has a lot of merit, I don't feel like it is for me, at least not now. To complete 75 Hard there are 5 activities you must do every day without fail. The trick being that you can't skip, substitute or switch things up. If you don't follow the plan, you must start over at day one.
While I'm not going to attempt 75 Hard now, I do have some thoughts on it. Here are some of my thoughts on the individual tenants.
I appreciate the variability in this. Not every diet is going to be right for every individual. But, I think sticking to a diet for an extended period of time is an excellent expiriment. The diet can be really simple or complicated.
This step is the one I find the most difficult to approach. What diet to choose. I've done very little in trying to adhere to a strict guideline for what I eat. I have done stints of no soda, or trying to incorporate certain items. This would be the thing I'd most need to think about.
This in my mind is actually two rules. You must exercise for for 45 minutes once a day. And then for 45 minutes again with a separation of 3 hours for another 45 minutes. And at least one of these sessions must be outdoors.
I really like the emphasis on exercising outdoors. I feel like this is essential in many ways. I don't spend enough time outside and spending time outside every day would be a great boon. It also touches on another thing that I believe is necessary for the transformative effects of 75 Hard. The weather will most likely be a problem, it will be too cold or too hot, rainy or there won't be a good place to exercise. But none of these are valid reasons not skip, if you skip you must start over, full stop.
At my fitness level and time commitment I'm not ready to attempt two 45 minutes sessions every day. I barely started working out for about 45 minutes a day 3 times a week and that feels like a lot.
I think hydration is great. Drinking a gallon of water every day seems excessive, depending on the person and the climate. I personally like 1oz of water for every 2lbs of body weight is a really good goal. So, depending on your weight you would end up drinking more or less. Factoring in water loss from exercise, maybe this makes more sense.
I like this, the pages need to be non-fiction and actual reading with your eyes. I enjoy audio books but they don't give a chance to pause and digest. Also 10 pages of fiction would be to easy. The problem would be stopping at only 10 pages. This feels like an almost meditative practice.
Another great tenant. Recording progress helps keep focus and see and acknowledge the gradual changes that build up. This is touted as a mental challenge, and while it is, it is also designed as a fitness challenge.
If anything I don't think that just a photo is enough. I'd like to see some daily reflections. And could have daily weigh-ins or other measurements.
If I'm not going to do 75 Hard then why am I even talking about it? First, maybe someday I will. But, for now I've considered two options. The first would be tailoring it for me, in my mind I'm thinking of it as Easy 75.
With Easy 75 I'd just make some minor adjustments as already indicated. I wouldn't follow a strict diet, but I'd record everything I ate in a food journal. I'd cut out soda and refined sugars. And I'd make sure to put high-quality proteins and fruits and veggies into the mix.
I'd do 45 minutes of exercise a day. It wouldn't necessarily need to be outdoors. But I'd add in the requirement of going outside for 15 minutes every day. This could look like doing a 45 minute workout outside or a workout inside and 15 minutes just outside sitting, walking, reading, whatever.
I'd cut the required water intake to just 1oz per 2lbs of weight, although I would hard lock it to a minimum of starting weight.
I'd still do the reading and daily photo and I'd add in daily weigh-ins.
I don't believe that 75 Hard is some is some magic trick. The idea that it is the "only program that can permanently change your life" is ludicrous to me.
There are some key features that really help to make it transformative. The first is that it is just longer. Anyone can endure something for a week, you can pick a month when you aren't traveling or don't have a birthday or anniversery. Two and a half months pretty much means you'll find a groove or get bumped off. Staying the course is a commitment. Given how many people drop off with goals in less then a month, this is a good length of time. I think it could be longer, but not much shorter. The length of the challenge gives good habits a chance to settle in and prove that you can in fact succeed in doing something that might have seemed impossible every day for months.
The second is that the challenges are hard. That is to say, they are outside the norm of what most people experience or attempt to do. At least one if not multiple of the challenges will be difficult.
Several of the challenges would be difficult for me. I don't regularly read non-fiction, I don't exercise that much or that often, I don't adhere to a diet or take daily photos. I have drunk large quantities of water daily and I do like to read, so two of them are pretty doable. The other three would present challenges.
The final key that brings together the magic of 75 Hard is the no excuses, no cheat days, no wiggle room. This combined with the length of the program and the difficulty of components means that there will be setbacks, there will be trials, there will be days when it seems infeasible or just impossible. And that is where this stands out in a mental challenge. If it was a fitness challenge, taking a day off wouldn't matter. But for building extreme mental fortitude pushing through the hard days is where the real growth happens. Going for a jog when it is cold and rainy and you already have so much work to do.
Reading 10 pages when you lost your book and it's a quarter to midnight. Doing 45 minutes of outdoor exercise when you're traveling all day. Sticking to your diet when everyone is going out to eat and you aren't eating what you normally would. It is easy to do things when the stars align. But the flower that blooms under the bell jar will whither and die when exposed to the elements.
I'd also add that they combine physical and mental challenges a need to go outside and stretch and define boundaries
This brings me to the second option to 75 Hard and that is The Hard Five. This is the choose your own adventure version! I don't believe that any of the core tenants or rules in 75 Hard are strictly necessary or even the best possible choices for everyone.
The Hard Five is doing 5 hard things 7 days a week without fail. (I like the idea that this is where the 75 came from.) That is to say you can make your own version by picking any five things that are personally challenging and do them for 75 days consecutively to create your own tailored transformative experience.
Whatever you choose should stretch you, push you out of your normal. They should encompass both physical and mental, possibly spiritual too. They should force you to leave your safe places and lead to potential conflicts. And there should be something definitive to track your progress, a picture, a video, a journal, a logbook.
Here are some of the ingredients I might choose:
I would then pick five of them and refine and balance them. And then I run them for 75 days. In many ways, I feel like doing 75 Hard or my easy version is better. The balancing and decisions having already been made. Also 75 Hard has a reputation, so people are more likely to be impressed without long explanations.
But with that said I'm kind of building my own ad-hoc recipe at the moment. I started with my workout plan. It isn't daily, but it is there. And I've been working on my An Art A Day Challenge of which this is part of.
However it works out I think there is something empowering about having a set number of things you can do it a day to mark of and say you've succeeded. Right now I have two, but I can add more.
I wrote this for myself, but I hope it gave you some insight on why you might want to or might not want to do Hard 75 or modify it for yourself. And that you'll be inspired to try and do something that challenges you, not just for a few days, but until you know you can do it, no matter the obstacle.