If you spend time in the wellness and fitness community you already know about Andy Frisella’s “75 Hard” challenge. The program touts itself as not just a fitness challenge, but a complete “mental toughness program” that “helps you develop the traits and habits necessary to succeed in life.”

Here are the tenants of the challenge:

1. Follow any nutrition plan designed for your goals. Alcohol and cheat meals not allowed.

2. Complete TWO 45-minute workouts every day. One of those workouts must be outside.

3. Drink a gallon of water every day.

4. Read 10 pages of an educational or self-improvement book every day.

5. Take a progress picture every day.

6. If you miss even just one day you must start the whole challenge over at day 1.

Some love this challenge. I’ve never tried it. And likely never will. I’m not trying to yuck anyone’s yum, but the program sounds, well, HARD. And unnecessarily strenuous from a physical fitness point of view.

Additionally, for a program that would take 2.5 hours plus a day to complete there is a significant lack of social connection, life admin, and financial elements to feel like something that would improve my entire life. And frankly, some of the activities I am just not interested in doing.

I still love a good time-bound, habit-based challenge. They motivate, inspire, and give me something to focus on. So, rather than adopt a challenge that I’m not interested in tackling, I’ve come up with my own version.

Introducing: 75 Hotter & Smarter

Here are the tenants of my program:

1. Workout 5x/week at the gym lifting weights.

I’m training for my future old-lady body. Meaning, I want to develop more muscle and definition and mobility. Right now, I’m following Alexia Clarke workouts, which I really like. They combine mat-based movement with free weights and some machines, but they mostly utilize your body weight and accessible equipment like bands, kettlebells, and dumbbells. No two workouts are alike which I enjoy. They can be done at home or in the gym. I like the gym because then I utilize the membership I am paying for and get out of the house.

2. Pilates, Stretching, or Yoga 2x/week (active rest days).

I’m going to dabble in Alo yoga classes on their app or classes at Hotworx for this portion. I used to use the Lululemon Studio app on active rest days but now that it’s discontinuing at the start of November to be replaced with the Peloton app I’m experimenting with something else. I’m just not super passionate about the Peloton ecosystem and am not ready to invest in that yet but that’s just me.

3. Aim for 10,000 steps/day.

This will be easy for me because my job is so active and I regularly get 13,000- 18,000 but if this is asking too much of yourself just remove.

4. Sleep 7 hours/night. Points if you get more.

5. Read and journal for 15 mins/day

Reading can be of any genre but it needs to be a book. Not internet articles or the news.

6. Skincare + supplements daily.

Includes face yoga exercises/gua sha because I’m trying to get rid of my nasolabial folds without filler fml.

7. 1x money date/week.

Go somewhere cute and buy yourself a nice little cafecito and set up your budget, review your calendar, set some personal goals and money goals. Budget, pay bills, decide where your money is going, set up systems. A money oil-change if you will. Trick yourself into doing something unpleasant by romanticizing it.

8. Log all purchases and review budget daily.

9. Drink 64oz of water/day.

10. End or start day with meditation or visualization.

No time limit, no rules. This doesn’t have to last any longer than a Rauw Alejando song either. Just set aside some time each day where you disconnect from your thinking brain and get in touch with your body and subconscious. A great way to drift off to sleep.

11. Grocery shopping + self-care day weekly.

Purchase food for the week like an adult and do one thing to improve/maintain appearance. Ex: my weekly Walmart/Aldi run followed by a day where I do my nails at home or get a bang trim)

12. Less than 30 minutes/day on phone.

Set timers, modes, and limits. We are creating a life in which our devices deliver value to our lives rather than siphon away our time.

13. Call/text a friend or family member. Because neither your job nor your fitness routine can hug you back.

14. Try your best to stay on top of email/mail/laundry/decluttering/cleaning too.

Digital and physical forms of clutter suck and siphon our vitality. Set a timer for 15 minutes and kon mari that shit.

15. If you miss a day, don’t fret. Try your best again tomorrow.

16. Celebrate at the end. Format tbd

Since the start of summer I’ve been very focused on identifying the habits of my ideal self. I started first with working on going to the gym more often, and getting up in the morning to do stretching and yoga. A little shift like packing my favorite Lululemon gym bag with my basic essentials and keeping it by the door helped shift me from someone who decided when I felt like going to the gym to someone who went almost every day with a plan.

Most recently, I’ve been focused on limiting time spent on my phone. I’ve been using the digital well- being and parental controls feature on my Samsung Fold4 to automatically turn off access to apps once I have used up my allotted time. Currently I have limits set on the apps that I notoriously get sucked into that waste my time: a ten minute timer each for Instagram, Pinterest, and my internet browser.

While some of these habits are already fairly easy for me to accomplish (10,000 steps, journaling every day, lifting weights 5x/week) others are more out of reach. Right now I’m not always consistent with staying in touch with friends and family. I have a toxic trait of going ghost mode when I’m feeling like I need to accomplish a big work or personal goal. I’m also not always the best at getting 7 hours of sleep or more.

My ideal self does all of these habits in her sleep, and were I to consistently complete each every day I know my life would significantly improve. It’s my hope that “75 Hotter and Smarter” will help lead me to the right direction.

Since I have started today, that would put me at a December 20, 2023 completion date. Two days before my birthday. Sounds like a good time to focus so I’m ready to rock a new year around the sun. My plan will be to dive in deep on each habit on the blog and report back on my progress. This will help with both accountability and delivering value. I’m looking forward to being honest with my progress while sharing the tips, tactics, and tools that are helping me succeed. See you back here in a week!

75 Hotter & Smarter