The Unf*ck Your Fitness Podcast

94. The 75 Hard Challenge: My Thoughts On This Hardcore Program

Kristy Castillo Season 1 Episode 94

The 75 Hard Challenge - The 75 Day Tactical Guide to Winning the War with Yourself.

I get a lot of questions about this program: whether or not I have done it, if I think it's a good program, do I recommend it, etc? So... let's talk about it! In this episode I lay it all out there.

As you already know, I believe in a lifestyle change. I do not teach restriction, excessive cardio or short term results but I think my thoughts on this challenge will surprise some of you!

 
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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the UnFuck your Fitness podcast. I am your host, Christy Castillo, and I'm here to give you real talk and cut the BS so you can actually enjoy building a body you love. I'm a personal trainer obsessed with giving you simple action steps to take you from feeling stuck to feeling sexy. Let's go, hey guys. What's?

Speaker 2:

up. Welcome to today's episode. I'm pumped for this one. Today we're going to be talking about 75 hard, which, if you don't already know what 75 hard is, it is a challenge, a program created by Andy Frisela, who I can't even explain Andy Frisela honestly in words. That would give him enough credit. Like he's such a badass. He's entrepreneur. He is the creator of First Form, which is the supplement company that I absolutely love. He's a CEO, author, podcast host, speaker just such a badass. He says whatever he wants, whatever he wants, and not only that. It is so good. He's such a good motivator. He's been in every magazine headlines. Like he's. I'm just going to stop there because I'm going to forget a million things that he does and is, but what I'm trying to say is he's a phenomenal human who is just very inspiring, knows his shit, loves a challenge, loves hard work. So the program 75 hard that he created is phenomenal.

Speaker 2:

So there's a lot of controversy, a lot of talk about whether it's a good program. It's a bad program. Well, I don't know if there's any controversy about whether it's a good or a bad program. They can't really. That's either a yes or no and it is a good program. I think people just either like it or they don't, or they would do it again, or they wouldn't, or they would even try it at all or not. So it's interesting and I have gotten a lot of questions lately and I have to accredit that to it being either the end of last year, where people are getting ready to news resolutions and kick their ass into some kind of a challenge and get fit and all the things, and so 75 hard is something that they you know people come up with like, oh my gosh, I've been slacking over the holidays. I really need to get it into gear. I'm looking for something to do. 75 hard comes out, and then they're like hey, I'll see Christie's thoughts on this. And so I get a lot of messages asking me my thoughts on 75 hard. And I have a lot of thoughts on 75 hard. I have a lot of thoughts on a lot of things, just ask. But it's not. You know, I'm not going to use this episode to say whether it's good or bad or whether you should or shouldn't do it. I just want to talk about it and give you my thoughts and hopefully give you a few different ways to look at it If you have no idea what 75 hard is.

Speaker 2:

It is not a fitness challenge. It says right on the website that it is not a fitness challenge. This is a transformative mental toughness challenge. It is designed to help you take control of your life. In quotations, a tactical guide to winning the war with yourself. So that, right off the bat, is like holy shit. Okay, I remember reading the rules years ago. I read the rules, people would ask me what do you think about this? And this is the rules. And I was like, wow, that is that's a lot of things to do when most people can't even hit their macros and get in a workout every day. And now we're going to ask them to do all these things, which I'm going to list shortly. But when you take it out of being a fitness challenge and it's now a mental toughness challenge, you know he designed this to like.

Speaker 2:

It says take control of your life, not just lose weight, not just gain muscle, right? So I think the biggest mistake that people make when doing 75 hard in a negative way is that they think of it as a fitness challenge. Honestly, january 1st, if you want to do a mental toughness challenge and you want to, you know, take control of your life and what it says it will do. If those are your goals, hell, yes, absolutely go for it. If your goal is to lose weight and you're trying to find a program to do this is extreme. But again, that's not the point of the challenge. So that's why I'm not going to say whether this program is good or bad. Well, I am going to say whether it's good or bad. It's a really good program to help you take control of your life and to transform your mental toughness like 100%.

Speaker 2:

The problem is that when people do it, they do it as a weight loss challenge, like oh my God, I need to lose weight this year. I'm going to do 75 hard. That'll kick my ass into gear yes, it will, absolutely, and it will do what it says it's going to do, but it's not a fitness challenge, and so I think that's something that I want to bring to our awareness as we begin this discussion is that that is the biggest mistake that people make, when they're like, no, that was too hard or that's too extreme, because that was my mistake. When I first read the rules, I was like, oh my God, that's absolutely unnecessary and it is unnecessary to do all of those things to lose weight, to get into shape but that's not the point of the program. So the program is Amazing. It's our mindset around the program, or maybe our outcome expectations, reason for doing the program. That is the problem.

Speaker 2:

So let me tell you the rules of 75 hard, in case you don't know them. Number one you have to stick to a diet of your choice. Number two no alcohol. Number three do two 45 minute workouts a day and one must be outside. Two 45 minute workouts each day for 75 days and one must be outside. It can obviously just be like going for a walk or doing anything, but it has to be outside for 45 minutes. Number four rule drink a gallon of water. Number five read 10 pages of a personal development book. And number six take a progress photo Every single day.

Speaker 2:

You have to do every single one of those things. Phenomenal, so freaking hard. There's no way I'm doing that. I'm just going to be honest. There's no way I'm doing that right now, not in my life right now. That's not. It's not going to work for me right now. But so when I read that, I'm like the challenge itself is amazing. Do I have time to do that? Absolutely, I could find time to do that. Do I want to do that? No, and I think that's where I differ, in the sense it's not like, oh my God, I couldn't do that, or I couldn't do a workout outside every day, or I can't find the time, or I can't not drink alcohol or whatever I can do, whatever I put my mind to, I can do whatever I commit to, but I don't want to do these things. So that's just my thoughts for myself. Right off the bat.

Speaker 2:

Depending on the mindset I've I'm in, I would have so many thoughts on this right. I used to be in this mindset of go, go, go, hustle, hustle, hustle, and I loved the thought of 75 hard because I thought everybody should be kicking their ass into gear and you know, 100%, all the time, all or nothing. So sure that sounded like a great thing to do. I've also been in the mindset of no frickin way Does anyone need to do those things. When I was in that kind of a mood, it was because I was thinking it was a fitness challenge. And I know you don't have to work out that much, I know you don't have to drink that much water, I know you can have a little bit of alcohol and still lose weight. So when I looked at it as just a fitness challenge, I thought, no, that's ridiculous, that program is so unnecessary, nobody needs to do that. But again, that's just the mindset. So I think getting different opinions from people who have done it, who have never done it, who would do it, who wouldn't do it that's the part that I love the most is because every single one of these people is a different person with a different mindset, with a different lifestyle, with different, you know, age children, no children. You live in a great climate where you could be outside all the time. You live in a really cold climate where you hate to go outside me when it's cold, things like that. So it's nice to have like these different.

Speaker 2:

I like discussions because it takes so many different outlooks and I really can get. It takes out the black and white. It takes out the yes or no and the all or nothing. I'm like, oh, I see your point. As you know the kind of person that you are living, where you are, with the age, children that you have, I could see where it's a hard pass for you. I can see where someone else who you know lives in a beautiful climate, has no children, wants to really push themselves and has time for that. I can see where you would want to do it Right and so there. It's not like it takes out the good and the bad, but I want to read some thoughts and opinions and kind of give my thoughts on it as well, because, again, this is just kind of one of those discussions I'm sure you all thought I was going to get out here and be like 75 part is bullsh**t and it kind of is. I'm not saying that. I don't think that. I do think that, as far as a fitness challenge, it is bullshit, but it is more than that. So, thoughts and opinions, I'm going to read kind of just what a couple of people generally said and my thoughts.

Speaker 2:

So I had a comment saying that it seems impossible for people that do not live in a warmer climate. So, like me, it is January, I live in Michigan, it's going to snow soon, it's going to be cold. Can it be done? Can I do a workout outside every single day for 45 minutes? Yes, do I want to? Absolutely not. So I agree. I agree that, being in a colder climate, especially this time of year, if I were going to do it, I'd do it in the summer. I wouldn't do it at all, let me just say that. But if I were going to, if I would do it when it was warmer. But I agree, for people that are in a colder climate, that's a good reason. Where I would be like tapped out. I would not on a day where it is snowing outside 12 inches, because we get some of those days where it is negative 10 and it's literally dumping 12 to 16 inches or something of snow. I know for damn sure I'm not going for a walk and I don't want to start the program over, so I'm just not going to do it. That's plain and simple. So I understand that point completely.

Speaker 2:

I also had someone say how to find. How do people find the time? Literally, I don't know. I know that I would have to sacrifice sleep. I'd have to sacrifice time with my family. I'd have I personally and not in a place mentally where I could be that unbalanced for me personally right now. It would make my life too unbalanced to have to commit to all of those things. I couldn't do it right now, and I think timing matters when you're doing something like this, and so I agree, right now I don't have the time. But if you look at someone else's life who's in a completely different space than you, are different time in their life, they probably do have time. I do not.

Speaker 2:

And someone else said it's very restrictive and quote unquote not realistic for my lifestyle. Completely agree. Coming from a place of restriction and maybe if you've never been in a place of restriction then it doesn't matter, right? But coming from for myself, coming from a place of restrictive mindset and very structured all or nothing, all of that lifestyle, I personally am not going to put myself back into that restrictive all or nothing. If I were to mess up, I have to start all over mindset. That would be very destructive for me and that's personally why my thoughts on that is I agree, it's not realistic for my lifestyle and I'm giving you my thoughts on this so literally, that's just my lifestyle.

Speaker 2:

Again, I can see where someone with a completely different life than I have or maybe you have no anxiety, maybe your balance is perfect in your life, cool, like that's for you. But I'm just giving you my opinion for myself. It's. It's also not meant to be a lifestyle. I realized it's a 75 day challenge. This is not. It's not meant to be a lifestyle, it's a challenge. So I I'm by no means saying that this is would have to be my new lifestyle, to do all of those six things every single day for the rest of my life. No, that's not what I'm saying at all. I know it's not a lifestyle, but even right now, in the lifestyle that I have, I'm not willing to put myself back into that restrictive state. Would I be someday in my life? Maybe, but right now I'm not mentally in a place where I could do that.

Speaker 2:

I had someone else say it's hard for me to. It's hard enough for me to get up at 4 am to do a workout and then, basically, you know, do everything I'll say I have to do in a day and get back to bed before midnight, let alone do something like this. And I agree with that kind of to go off of what I was just saying. It's hard enough for me to get everything right now done in a day that I have to do and I can't imagine putting more stress on my plate. So, again, I think it's just the season of life that you're in, just like with anything else. It's the season of life that you're in and you have to make the choice of weather. You know it's something that is right for you.

Speaker 2:

Someone else said I have seen people do it, have great results and then return back to the exact place that they started. I think it's a waste of time. I think that this is why more people need less of a challenge mindset and more of a just do the work mindset. I think this is also like duh in a sense of like yeah, you are going to do something for 75 days. You are going to like transform your body right, and then, when you stop doing all of those six things after 75 days, you are going to gain the weight back. So physically, yeah, if you don't keep your weight back, you're going to get to keep doing those things for the rest of your life. Then you will go back to where you started Again. It's not a fitness challenge, so I'm not knocking the program in that sense, but I think also that's why people just aren't ready. I think people think I'm just going to do this and kick my ass into gear and then they look amazing and then they stop doing all that work and then they go back to physically exactly what they looked like before and how they felt before. So it's like what's the point for me? I would rather do it more gradually, get to that end result and have it take longer than doing it all really quickly in 75 days, stopping and then, you know, going back to normal.

Speaker 2:

I had someone else say that I see the benefits of building consistency and discipline. Completely agree with that it's. I see the benefits of the program 100% and for me I think it would be like I could do those things. For you know, for 75 days I could do those six things. I would then have to figure out how am I going to continue the consistency and the discipline. So basically, having a plan for after would be really important to me. Like how am I going to continue to have consistency and discipline, but not in this way? So which of these six things am I going to continue to do and when? How often?

Speaker 2:

After this challenge is over, what made and I think that would depend on the person I had a lot of people say I loved the journal or the reading. I loved drinking the water. Like I felt amazing. I loved being on the diet, that I was on it. You know, I felt really great doing those things. I had a lot of people say that and I agree. So I think that's really good to look at it that way, in the sense of maybe you can't do all six of those things forever, but what can you do. That really made the biggest difference to you after doing this program. What can, what can you continue on with?

Speaker 2:

And then I had a pretty good conversation with someone. She said she had done 75 hard and she was counting down the days until it was over and then she had a hard time getting started again after. And that wasn't the main point of the conversation that she was having with me, but it really stood out to me and I responded to her and I was like something that you said really stood out in the sense that you were counting down the days until it was over. I realized it's a challenge. I realized when you're doing it, you're doing it and you're doing it for a reason. But in my opinion, if you are doing something that you have to count down the days until it's over, obviously not a lifestyle change which you know I am really big on.

Speaker 2:

So and this I think maybe this triggered me so much too was because I used to count down the days when I was doing Beachbody programs. I used to count down the days until it was like, oh my God, only five more days of this program. I can't wait till this is over. And finally I remember thinking, god, I wish I had a program or workouts to do where I never got sick of them, like I never counted down the days until a program was over. And so that's what I do now. I don't. I follow a program but I'm never counting down the days till it's over. I realize it's a lifelong program and it just it's monthly and it keeps going and going and going. So I think for me, when I heard her say that, I was like, oh my God, that's a huge red flag in the fitness world. Now, again, I feel like I need to keep saying this so I don't get hate. But again, I know this is not a fitness program, so it's not this program's fault. This program is not designed to be a lifestyle, but for the average human, and I will even say for the average woman, because I can't speak for men, I think. Well, I know our brains are programmed differently for the average woman.

Speaker 2:

Mom, someone who's been in the all or nothing, restrictive, mental fuckery that comes along with that to do something like 75 hard and that's what this person was saying when we were talking in my Instagram messages, you know to do something where you are waiting, like counting down, like, oh my God, I want this to be over so badly. What is the? What is the point? Why are you doing that? I just could not do that to myself. We, I that's just. That's a big struggle for me and I'm thinking I don't ever want to put myself into a position again where I'm like God, I can't wait for this to be over. This sucks so bad. I hate it. Right, I don't. So that for me, was like yikes. And then she also said I had a hard time getting started again. Yeah, because when you're doing a program that's like so freaking hard, you hate it, you're counting it down till it's over, and then you're like, oh, take a little break and then I'll do it again. Um, no, you're.

Speaker 2:

First of all, your break is going to look like a complete shit show because you've been so on track. And again, this is for someone who's in that all or nothing mindset. This would be me. I would be doing 75 hard. I would be so hyper, fixed on doing everything perfectly. Once that ended, the next day I'd be like, oh my God, I'm off my diet. I'm not doing either workout. I'm not reading right Like I'd be like I'm so sick of doing all that stuff, I'm going to do none of it. And then I can't even imagine what would make me get back on track to do that again, because I would be enjoying all of the things that I couldn't enjoy for so long that it would be like really hard. It's like after the holidays, when you're like how the hell do I get back on track? Like I don't want to get back on track. I'm enjoying eating all the things and doing all the things. Like I don't want to do that again.

Speaker 2:

So I think that really was some like that really stood out to me in a conversation, was like wow, that was, I'd totally been there. And then on the flip side, I've had those who messaged me and said they loved it. They do it once a year. It was absolutely amazing. It was challenging but doable. They feel great Again I just talked about this drinking a gallon of water following a healthy diet, getting outside for a workout. They love the challenge it brings. You know this, what I want to say, like almost a restart, like this motivation to like I can do this. This is so hard right, so I love that and I think that, again, that's something that it depends on the person, their lifestyle, what they need. If you need a kick in the ass overall mentally, physically, the whole thing this is a mental toughness challenge. It's transformative. It says it right in the description, so I think that's a perfect program for you if that's what you need, and I think it'll do exactly what it says.

Speaker 2:

I some of the things that I struggle with are a lot of people can't even do five workouts a week and hit their macros. So what the heck makes you think you can do these six very restrictive things for 75 days? Why not start with doing five workouts a week, maybe walk three to four days outside, maybe drink half of a gallon of water daily? Read, if you want to, right Like, why can't we start out? And this would be in in a way. I'm not comparing this to 75 heart at all, but I see where, for me, I'm like when I hear people say, hey, I'm thinking about doing 75 Hard Christy. What are your thoughts on it?

Speaker 2:

My first question I want to ask is like well, have you tried doing half of those things? Like, are you on any kind of consistency at all? Or are you coming from a complete shit show, no organization, and you're gonna try 75 Hard? Like, maybe try half-assing it for a while, compared to 75 Hard half-assing it, right, try doing half the things on that list for 75 days and see if that works for you. So I always think, like, have you tried less than that first? Because I think a lot of times we think we need to kick our own ass and we have to do things so, so challenging when in reality if you could just do three to four workouts a week, go for a couple of walks and hit your macros, like you would see a lot of success. Also, questions I have, like I would ask if you were coming to me and saying, hey, I wanna do 75 Hard, what do you think I would say, great, absolutely.

Speaker 2:

But what happens after? Are you okay with not being able to maintain that and not doing that going forward? Are you okay with losing 15 pounds, looking at incredible, feeling amazing, not being able to sustain that and then gaining weight back, not feeling as good, eating foods that are gonna make you feel like crap, like are you okay with the being totally on and what that feels like? And then coming off of that, what that feels like, are you okay with that? You know, like, honestly, are you okay with that? Because I think that's where some of the mental fuckery honestly comes after is like you're on and you're on, and you're on for 75 days or any challenge you do, but this episode is about 75 Hard. You're on for 75 days. You killed it, you crushed it.

Speaker 2:

What the heck do you do after? And how do you go from feeling like I'm doing so good, I'm following this program, I'm doing amazing to now that program's done. I'm so glad that's done, I'm gonna sleep in, I'm not gonna do these things right Now. What do you feel like? Do you feel like a loser because, like you quit, you couldn't maintain it? Like what's the mental part that comes along with that? And I'm really aware of that. Like that's a really big focus for me personally, because I work with a lot of clients who have done all the restrictive things and then been like I couldn't maintain that. I felt terrible. I lost 15 pounds and then afterwards I gained 30 because I felt so bad about myself because I couldn't stick to it. Right?

Speaker 2:

I wish more people knew that they don't have to do a challenge or a diet or even a program like you could just pick a few healthy habits and figure out which days to fit them in, and that alone would give you more of the lifestyle. So, as far as my thoughts on whether it's a good program yes, it's a good program my thoughts on should you do it? I don't know. I wanna say probably not, for most of the people, for most of you listening, and myself included, you're not ready to deal with what comes after it. You're probably not ready to deal with what comes with it, but I would say most of the challenge comes with what comes after it. That's not to say, though, that you shouldn't work towards being the person that is ready for it, right, if you want to.

Speaker 2:

So do I think most of the people in the world should do 75 hard. Yeah, it would probably be beneficial for us to all get our asses kicked every once in a while, honestly. But do I think most of the people in the world are ready to do the challenge? No, and, honestly, maybe that's part of the problem. Maybe we're too soft, maybe we tell ourselves we can't do hard things right, maybe we're just, I don't know. Maybe that's part of the problem is that I'm thinking most of us can't do it. Maybe we all need to do it and get our asses kicked. I don't know.

Speaker 2:

I'm not saying that, I'm even right, but I think that a lot of for myself and for just what I know about pushing too hard and burnout and again, this is myself that I'm talking about and, honestly, a lot of my clients that come to me when I think about pushing all or nothing, restriction, burnout, going hard, equating your worth with doing enough I don't think that a lot of us are ready for that. But if you can get yourself to the place where you are ready to push yourself and do something like 75 hard, I think that would be amazing. Imagine living in a world where we're all okay with pushing ourselves and knowing mentally afterwards we can maintain most of that. We could be a freaking badass, right? Or even knowing like cool, I can do that for 75 days and then I'm also okay with gaining 10 pounds back and being a little laxed on it, right, like I think that being those kinds of people that can do 75 hard. I think that's incredible. So I guess that's a goal that maybe we all work toward is like hell, yes, let's try to be the people that can do 75 hard, that can maintain that balance, that we can think we're capable of doing something like that. Because right now I'm not and I'm not saying that that's a good thing, I'm just more focused right now on the lifestyle portion, and I think it's really important to know the difference.

Speaker 2:

Do not start something like this program if you're not ready. Don't. Don't let your friends push you into it, don't. I've done things like that before where, yeah, I'm like, yeah, I'll try that program, and a couple of weeks into it I quit because I'm like that is not for me. And if I would have just listened to myself before I started, I would have known that right. So what I like to do instead of like having, when someone comes to me, what I say is I ask them this questions like are you ready for this program? Are you ready to get today 55, mess up and start all over. Right, if you're going to modify it, then it's not doing the program, it says it right in there, like there's questions, like frequently asked questions like can I modify this, can I do this, can I do this? And it's like no, if you don't commit to it and if you don't finish the program exactly how it's written, then you didn't do the program Right. So this isn't something that's like a half-assed thing, it's like commit to it or don't.

Speaker 2:

So I think, starting out for someone to get them ready, I will say, like are you ready with not? Are you ready to? Are you okay with not being able to maintain it? What happens after the challenge? Are you okay with gaining a few pounds back? Are you okay with saying no to certain things during this challenge? If not, let's set aside an hour a day to walk or work out or meal plan or meal prep or read or, you know, call your friends, take a bath. Like let's set aside an hour of each day to get some things in and kind of move ourselves toward being ready to do 75 hard, because you don't have to do it and it's not a weight loss challenge. So don't do it with weight loss being the goal. Do it with a total, transformative mental. You know your attitude in that, but I think that working yourself up to that, if you can get to the place where you're very consistent with your macros, you're very consistent with your walking, you're very consistent with moving outside a little bit, you're very consistent, you're very confident, you're very sure of yourself, then hell yes.

Speaker 2:

In conclusion, if you are ready, if you think you want to do 75 hard and you're ready, do it. Go all in on yourself. Prove to yourself that you're a badass, because that's what it's for. If that's what you need, go get it. I think it would be an incredible program, and those who have done 75 hard say that like it is an incredible program. I'm so glad I did it. Maybe I won't do it again, but I'm so glad that I did it. Right. I don't want to do it, not right now, it's and if it's not for you, that's okay, just like everything else in the world, though just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't make it bad. So that's kind of what I want to end this with.

Speaker 2:

If you're up for the challenge of 75 hard, I think anyone who does 75 hard does it to the T, 100%. I think you are a fucking badass if you've done it. If you're not ready to do it, that's fine too. I think you're a fucking badass for admitting that, because I personally don't have a problem saying I'm not going to do it, not right now. But don't talk shit about it, don't brag that you've done it, don't say I'm never doing that. I think you're an idiot if you do it Like don't do that, because just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't make it bad, doesn't make it wrong, anything like that. So I hope that I hope that I surprised some of you. I think I did, because I think a lot of you thought that I was just totally going to get on here and just bash it and that's yeah. I didn't do that.

Speaker 2:

So and this is very authentic to my thoughts and I can attribute that to the things that I've gone through because, like I said, there are times where I've been like that's the best thing ever, everyone should do it. And there's also been times where I'm like no one needs to do that. We need to live a very happy, balanced lifestyle and touche. I think either one of those are fine as well, but I'm not going to rip on something that I haven't done for one. I'm not going to rip on something just because I don't see the point in myself doing it. I think that we should all go into everything with an open mind, but those of you that did message me and you were like hey, I think what you're going to say is it's too rigid, it's not a good lifestyle, no balance, all the things I do. 100% agree with you as well. So thank you for being here. I will talk to you next week.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for listening to today's show. Go ahead and leave a rating and a review and, of course, follow the podcast so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And I would love it so much if you came to connect with me over on Instagram at Christy Castillo fit. I will see you next time.