Last year, I realized I needed to get in better shape, so I hopped on YouTube to search for workout programs. A random video opened with an ad for “75 Hard,” a fitness trend created by entrepreneur Andy Frisella in 2019.
The challenge lasts 75 straight days, no breaks. Each day requires two 45-minute workouts (one outdoors), following a diet with zero cheat meals, drinking a gallon of water, reading 10 pages of nonfiction and taking a progress picture.
It seemed simple enough.
Turns out, I wasn’t as mentally strong as I thought. I broke pretty easily less than two weeks later on the Ocean City, New Jersey, boardwalk when I saw fried Oreos.
Earlier this year, I decided to try again, this time shrinking the window to 14 days. If it worked, I’d extend it into summer. To help ensure success, I talked to two people who had completed the program.
Grinding for results is in Shawn Cullen’s blood. The 21-year-old South Jersey athlete had been training since childhood. After ending his football career at Delaware Valley in 2023, he wanted a new challenge, and 75 Hard appealed to him.
“It wasn’t just a week thing or month-long thing,” Cullen said. “It was actually 3 1/2 months of consistent work.”
Like Cullen, I’d played sports growing up, so I knew I had the background. I started by building a meal plan of eggs, chicken Caesar wraps and turkey burgers — about 1,240 calories and 129 grams of protein per day.
I also talked to John Miller, a family friend who completed the program.
Miller warned me that 75 days of consistency would be rough. I asked him if two weeks could really make a difference.
“It takes two weeks to break a habit and two weeks to make a habit,” Miller said. “I’d say fourteen days is the minimum baseline of feeling the effects of it.”
So, I followed the rules: one workout indoors, one outdoors. The first few days, I was exhausted and tempted to quit, but I kept thinking of Cullen’s words: “Stay persistent, stay consistent and when you feel like giving up, don’t think about tomorrow, don’t think about the future. Just think about the task that you have to complete right then and there.”
By the end of the first week, I was better at scheduling workouts and finding time to read before bed.
By the final days, the routine felt natural. I wasn’t burned out or fatigued, and I felt stronger, both mentally and physically. On my last day at the gym, I even hit personal records on bench press, incline dumbbell press and tricep extensions.
I knew going into this that just two weeks wouldn’t be enough for major transitions or improvements, but I’m happy with the progress I made.
Next up: 75 days.
