On the video sharing platform TikTok there is no shortage of stories of users who have decided to undertake a path of improvement, whether it is an inner work or that concerns physical fitness. In their profiles, members tell each other day after day with the hope of being an inspiration for their audience and in exchange for drawing the energy needed to achieve their goal from the affection of the spectators. However, the 75 Hard Challenge: a rather extreme sporting and dietary challenge, whose potential implications are worrying experts and nutritionists.
What is the 75 Hard Challenge
The challenge is named after the 75 Hard, a daily task plan that includes a set of physical exercises and diet and which – as the name suggests – continues for 75 days. The definitions that come closest to the plan’s requirements are actually not technically correct: the author – US entrepreneur Andy Frisella – he is not a nutritionist nor does he have any expertise scientific or academic when it comes to physical exercise, which is why he himself can only define 75 Hard as a “program dedicated to strengthening the mind”.
The plan in fact does not provide precise indications on diets or exercises to be performed, but only recommends carrying out daily actions such as training twice for at least 45 minutes per session and at least once a day outdoors; drink 4 liters of water; read at least 10 pages of essays or informative content; take a cold shower for 5 minutes; photograph your progress and follow an unspecified diet, as long as there is no alcohol or extra meals.
The arrival on TikTok
Frisella is an influencer in the sector whose activities also include the sale of food supplements: it is therefore quite clear that an altruistic interest is not hidden behind the diffusion of his 75 Hard. Advertised online and within its podcast, the plan came to the attention of some TikTok users who, by importing it into the platform, have transformed into a challenge – or rather a challenge to oneself but also posed to other users. Among the architects of the arrival of the 75 Hard plan within the social network of Chinese origin is Rylee Ollearis, a 22-year-old girl who decided to follow the program by documenting its progress day after day on TikTok.
The risks
There was no shortage of imitators, but if on the one hand the decision to undertake a path of personal improvement can be commendable, doing it by following screens at the same time so rigid and so little adjusted to the needs of the individual it can only be harmful. It is not for nothing that nutritionists and experts in the sector have spoken out against the legitimacy of the 75 Hard plan for some time: providing for adherence to a generic diet without the advice of a specialist risks promoting a conflictual relationship with food, but physical exercises must also be planned with the support of specialized help. Prolonging everything for 75 days only does that increase the risk that the advice of the plan is transformed into real toxic habits; the fact that the 75 Hard has turned into a challenge on one platform followed mostly by very young people – conclude the experts interviewed by various online newspapers – has made it even more dangerous.
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