How to track 75 Hard, day by day
75 Hard is a 75 day programme with five rules you complete every single day: a diet with no alcohol, two 45 minute workouts with one outdoors, a gallon of water, 10 pages of non-fiction, and a progress photo. Miss any part of any rule and the official rules say you restart at day one.
What is the 75 Hard challenge?
75 Hard is a 75 day mental toughness programme created by entrepreneur Andy Frisella, built on five rules you have to complete every day with no exceptions.
It is not a fitness plan in the usual sense. Frisella frames it as a discipline programme, which is why the rules include reading and a daily photo alongside the workouts.
The part that makes it hard to track is the combination. Five separate rules, every day, for 75 days, with a restart if any single one is missed.
The 5 rules you have to track every day
All five have to be done in the same day for that day to count. Here they are as published.
- Follow a structured diet aimed at your goal. No cheat meals and no alcohol.
- Do two 45 minute workouts. One of the two must be outdoors, whatever the weather.
- Drink one gallon of water.
- Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book. Audiobooks do not count under the official rules.
- Take a daily progress photo.
How to track 75 Hard, step by step
Track one thing, not five: whether the whole day was complete. Then keep a simple checklist underneath it for the five rules. One picture filling toward 75 is easier to read at a glance than five separate counters.
Set the goal as 75 days, not 75 tasks
The number you care about is completed days out of 75. Tracking five separate counts gives you five numbers and no answer.
Use a checklist for the day itself
Five boxes. A day only counts when all five are ticked. Notes, paper or an app all work for this part, and a printed 75 day tracker holds the whole run on one page.
Log the day once, at the end of the day
Do not tick the day in advance because you intend to do the evening workout. The whole value of a record is that it is honest.
Keep the photos somewhere separate
Make an album on your phone on day one. Digging 75 photos out of your camera roll afterwards is miserable.
Put the count where you will see it
A 75 day challenge is long enough that the middle gets vague. Seeing 41 of 75 filled in is the thing that carries you through week six.
What happens if you miss a day?
The official rules say you go back to day one. There is no partial credit and no rest day built into the programme.
That rule is the whole point for some people and the reason others quit in week three. It is worth deciding in advance which one you are, because restarting at day 60 is a genuinely hard thing to face.
If you want the structure without the reset, keep a total count of completed days alongside your current run. Then a miss costs you the run and not the record. This is the same trade-off behind the don't break the chain method.
Is 75 Hard safe? What doctors say
Doctors have raised real cautions about it, and they are worth reading before you start rather than after.
Cleveland Clinic has noted that two 45 minute workouts a day can be too much for someone new to training, and flagged a risk of overuse injury. They also point out there is little to no scientific evidence that the programme itself is beneficial.
Their sharpest criticism is about the mindset. The all-or-nothing rule teaches you to push through rather than rest when you need to, and the daily progress photo can feed body-image and self-esteem problems. Their suggested alternatives are the gentler 75 Soft, or borrowing the parts that suit you at your own pace.
None of that means do not do it. It means go in informed, and talk to a doctor first if you have any reason to.
75 Hard vs 75 Soft
75 Soft keeps the 75 day length and relaxes the rules that most often cause injury or burnout.
The usual differences are one workout a day instead of two, alcohol allowed on social occasions, water intake based on your body rather than a fixed gallon, and no full restart for a missed day.
Neither version is the serious one. 75 Hard is a discipline test and 75 Soft is a habit builder, and they are trying to do different jobs. Whichever you pick, the tracking problem is identical: 75 days, one honest record. The general research on why recording progress helps applies to both.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the 5 rules of 75 Hard?
- A structured diet with no alcohol and no cheat meals, two 45 minute workouts with one outdoors, one gallon of water, 10 pages of a non-fiction book, and a daily progress photo. All five must be done every day for 75 days.
- Do you really have to start over if you miss a day?
- Under the official rules, yes. There is no partial credit. Plenty of people run a personal version where a missed day breaks the streak but keeps the total, which is gentler and still honest.
- Can I do both 75 Hard workouts indoors?
- No. The published rules require one of the two 45 minute workouts to be outdoors, regardless of weather.
- Do audiobooks count for the 10 pages?
- Not under the official rules. The requirement is 10 pages of a non-fiction book that you read.
- Is 75 Hard good for beginners?
- Cleveland Clinic has cautioned that two 45 minute daily workouts may be too taxing if you are just starting out, and raised a risk of overuse injury. If you are new to training, that caution is worth taking seriously.
- What is the best way to track 75 Hard?
- Track completed days out of 75 as your main number, with a five box checklist underneath for the daily rules. One number tells you where you are. Five numbers tell you nothing at a glance.