Original

To get an idea about the modifications I am making to the 75 Day Hard program, I’m including the requirements below:

The 75 Hard Challenge Rules
To complete the challenge, you must follow these rules without compromise for 75 consecutive days: 

• Two 45-Minute Workouts: Two separate, 45-minute workouts, one of which must be outdoors regardless of weather.
• Follow a Diet: Choose a nutrition plan (e.g., Paleo, Keto, Calorie Counting) and stick to it with no cheat meals.
• No Alcohol or Cheat Meals: Absolutely no alcohol or non-diet foods are allowed.
• Drink One Gallon of Water: Roughly 3.8 liters of water per day.
• Read 10 Pages: Read 10 pages of a non-fiction, self-help, or educational book per day (no audiobooks).
• Progress Photo: Take a daily progress photo.
• No Compromise: If you miss any of the above, you must start over at Day 1.

Modified

Below is how I will modify the program for safety and adherence while also improving self-discipline.

• Two 45-Minute Workouts: Two separate, 45-minute workouts, one of which should, ideally, be outdoors.
  • Outdoors: If weather or air quality is unsuitable, swap outdoor workout with yoga, pilates, or rowing at the gym. My outdoor choices will be to walk 45 minutes or play tennis for an hour with my daughter. I’m not a very good tennis player so we just hit the ball around to have fun. Outdoor workout is just movement that feels good and should not be too intense to prevent injury, burnout, and to enhance recovery.
  • Indoors: MWF- 45 minute-Full Body Workout Circuits 2-3 sets for 6-12 reps. Can increase sets/reps one week and reduce the next. May alternate exercises by week. This should prevent overloading nervous system and allow for muscle growth. My goals are to increase upper body strength.
    • Warm-up-5 minutes spin bike
      • Yoga Ball Pushup – I hate regular pushups and like these better.
      • Cross Body Dumbbell Snatches- Agility, Core/Shoulders/Back-Rehab.
      • Resistance Tube or DB Lateral Arm Raises
        • Can be seated on yoga ball or standing
      • Alternating Front Dumbbell Raises
      • Bent Over Rows – Dumbbells or Bands
      • Squat – Bands, Dumbbells – Alternate with Front Squat each week with same equipment. Can add kettlebell for front squats.
      • Alternating Lunges – Bands, Dumbbells. Alternate weeks with Bulgarian Split Squats.
      • Take time to stretch anything that needs stretching after workout.
      • Indoors: Tue, Thur, Sat.
        • HIIT Spin Bike 20 minutes
        • 25 minutes hips and glutes-important to prevent falls as you age.
          • 2-3 sets of 6-12 reps
            • Bridges with Bands
            • Clams-Bands
            • Donkey Kicks-Bands
            • Fire Hydrants-Bands
        • Stretch what needs stretching.
      • Sundays-Agility & Hand/Eye Coordination
        • Virtual Reality Headset Exercises
          • Usually VR boxing
• Follow a diet – Eat home-cooked meals. Can eat one meal out per week.
• No alcohol. It’s not good for you. Or me.
• Drink adequate levels of water per day. I usually do drink a lot of water. One water must include electrolytes as my sodium is usually low or low-normal. Also should include HMB and creatine with that electrolyte mixture.
• Read a minimum of 10 pages of a nonfiction book.No audiobooks.
• Take a Weekly Progress Photo on Thursdays and measure body composition with callipers and/or Renpho scale.
• I’m going to keep the requirement to restart at Day 1 if I miss a daily task.

Start & Ending Dates

I’m starting today, Thursday, April 9, 2026 and the end date of the 75 Day Hard challenge should be June 23, 2026.

Mood-wise, I’d rather start this challenge tomorrow, but I know that putting it off for another day is likely to be more about procrastination. I want to have something to challenge me and improve my physical health while I’m working on researching and writing my book.

You can always modify the 75 Day Hard challenge to meet your needs. We don’t have to push ourselves to fit a very arbitrary and limited set of expectations per day to improve self-discipline and mental toughness. We just need to create daily expectations that will help us reach our goals and promote self-discipline. I do like that the challenge is time-limited to provide a sense of urgency and to allow for goal re-evaluation at the end of the 75 days. At the end of the 75 days, my workouts will change based on body composition and periodisation.

End Note

This workout is designed to help me with some pain that I have in my arms, upper back, and neck. Before starting any workout plan, it is good to consult your physician if you have any concerns.