75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist

Are you looking for a good 75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist to help you change your habits, increase mental toughness, or reach a health and fitness goal? Health and Fitness Printables can make a huge difference in helping you to get on track, and stay on track.

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What is the 75 Day Hard Challenge?

Created by podcaster and nutrition supplement company owner, Andy Frisella, the 75 Day Hard Challenge is a 75 Day Challenge that encompasses different areas of life, for both mind and body. Mr. Frisella claims that contrary to popular belief, it is not just a fitness challenge, but more. According to him, it is a challenge to one's mental toughness. It seems that the physical aspects of the rules are just one aspect of this mental challenge.

The 75 Day Hard Challenge has a short list of challenging rules each participant is to follow, and of course, you follow it for 75 days till it is completed.

One particularly daunting aspect to the original challenge, though, is that if you at any point fail to accomplish even one of the daily requirements, you are supposed to start over the next day on day one.

I guess it's named "Hard" for a reason!

What are the 75 Day Hard Challenge Rules?

Each day, you must:

complete 1 45 minute workout, outdoors
complete another 45 minute workout, indoors or outdoors
drink 1 gallon of water
follow a healthy diet
read 10 pages in any book
take a progress pic

This 75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist includes all of these tasks.

Should you exercise 90 minutes a day?

If you are fairly young, or very fit, or already at or near your ideal weight, and your hormones seem to be well balanced, and your healthcare practitioner approves of the idea, 90 minutes of exercise per day might be right for you.

But contrary to what the challenge suggests, it might be a good idea to either plan a day of rest each week, or make at least one day a week a day of less intense exercise, such as going for a relaxing 90 minute hike or walk.

If you are not up to strenuous cardio or weight workouts for 90 minutes a day, you might even just choose to start out with 90 minutes per day of walking, and gradually increase the intensity of your workouts as your fitness level increases.

Also, you must count the cost of the time in your daily schedule.

Even if you are quite fit, are you in a season of life which will realistically allow you to not only exercise for 90 minutes per day, but also have enough time to:

- plan and prepare a healthier menu (if you aren't already in that habit),

- monitor your water consumption,

- read 10 pages per day in a book,

- and take a progress pic, as it says on most any 75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist?

How Long Should I Exercise Each Day if I want to Lose Weight?

For some folks, men especially, a 90 minute per day workout combined with the right diet, might help with weight loss.

But for women who are as young as 35 up through post menopause, too much of the wrong kinds of workouts may actually increase hormones such as cortisol, which may actually cause the body to cling to excess weight.

You can read more about this on my 75 Soft Challenge Checklist Page.

Also, if you want to monitor your weight more accurately than most scales allow, be sure to download a copy of this free printable body measurement chart.

What is a "Healthy Diet?"

Regarding the 75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist task, "Follow a Healthy Diet," this could mean many things to many people.

If you have a diet in mind already that you think will work for you, great! Why not give it a try?!

If it helps you feel good and fits in with your goals for weight gain, weight loss, or weight maintenance, great!

If you find it isn't workout out well, one nice thing about this requirement being a bit vague on the 75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist is that it gives you the freedom to adjust your diet as necessary.

Again, if you're interested in weight loss during your challenge, be sure to check out my tips on making delicious, effective, weight loss smoothies.

And if you're eating dairy free, check out my coconut milk smoothie for weight loss tips.

Is Drinking One Gallon of Water a Day a Good Idea for Me?

For people above a certain weight, it may well be an excellent goal.

Like for big tall men, for instance.

For an average sized woman, it might actually be too much.

According to Dr. Garrett Smith of Nutrition Detective, when your urine is light yellow, you're getting an adequate amount of hydration.

If your urine is dark yellow, you need more water.

But if your urine looks clear, you need to slow down in your water consumption.

While I know it is true that many of us, especially as we age, tend toward easily getting dehydrated, too much water can actually be dangerous.

So I would encourage you to test and see how much water gets you to see the right color in the toilet, then adjust your daily goal to fit that amount.

And realize that the amount of water you will need on a hot dry summer day in a place like Phoenix, Arizona when it's 120 degrees F outside and you're outdoors for a good chunk of the day will be a very different amount when it's 45 degrees outside or you're staying indoors in a comfortable temperature all day.

All that to say, please listen to your body, not what it might say on a typical 75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist.

What if I Need to Adjust the 75 Day Hard Challenge Rules?

If after reading everything, above, you are a good candidate to follow the rules as they are written, a 75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist like this would be ideal for you.

But if you find you will need to tweak some of the rules to fit your personal situation, I strongly suggest that you use an Editable 75 Day Habit Tracker. It may not be called a "75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist," but it serves exactly the same purpose.

What should I read for my 10 pages per day?

Looking for ideas for meeting your daily reading requirement?

To fulfill the challenge as Andy Frisella created it, and be able to check it off each day on your 75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist, I believe any book is allowed for this part of the challenge.

But if you don't already have a book in mind, may I make a suggestion?

Perhaps get a copy of the Bible and read 10 pages a day in that.

This is the one I'm reading this year, and it allows me to read through the whole Bible in one year, with selections from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs each day.

Reading 10 pages per day in this version of the Bible will get you through a few "days" of the passages each actual day, so you'll get on an accelerated path into reading through the Bible, making it easier for you to complete it once the challenge ends.

This will help round-out the challenge for you, to make it even more holistic as it will enhance your spiritual wellness.

Taking Daily Progress Pics

When I look at most of the progress pics I see online for the 75 Day Challenges, many show people in various stages of undress.

I understand this helps see muscle definition, and that can be encouraging.

But I really enjoy seeing other kinds of before and after (plus intermediate) pics.

I know I may lose some of you here, but here are some alternatives for those of you who may not want to show so much skin online:

take progress pics of yourself fully dressed (so perhaps the neck-to-knee area covered, a little looser than tighter). Besides the fact that more of us feel comfortable being seen fully-clothed, it is also just a nice way to show respect for ourselves. No need to show off parts of yourself that may make you feel uncomfortable when revealed. Plus, it takes less time each day to take a pic of yourself in the clothing you wear most of the day, so you don't have to try to remember to take your pic when you're dressed for your workout.

take pics of just your face. Portraits. You can just do a front view, and/or also take profile pics. Some people have dramatic changes to just their faces, and this can be a fun thing to see change.

These are just some ideas.

You can still take these and the pics with less clothing for your own private records.

Then, at the end of the challenge, if you want to share some before and after pics to encourage others, you can choose which set of pics you feel most comfortable sharing.

Some might be more appropriate to share with your co-workers, for instance, than others.

I'm thinking of creating a page where you can post your 75 Day Hard Challenge Results, and I would love to offer a gallery of pics where people can visit and see some modest before and after pics. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who'd like a page like this.

So I hope you’ll consider taking some modest versions of your progress pics that you'll be willing to share!

The 75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist

I've designed the Wellness and Workouts 75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist to be a beautiful, color-rich yet minimalist tool to help you stay on track, be encouraged, and be consistently successful with your new habits.

Please also check out this Editable Rainbow 75 Day Habit Tracker that is perfect to use when you want to tweak or make up the rules for your own custom 75 Day Challenge.

If you don't have one yet you can get your copy here!