75 Hard Round 3: What Paul Learned After A Third Round of 75 Hard

Micheala Barsotti:

Hey 5% Podcast listeners welcome back to another episode of the 5% Weight Podcast with your host, sustainable weight loss specialist, Paul Salter, and myself, Michaela Barsotti. We thank you so much for choosing to spend your time with us today. We have so much appreciation for you. Today we are going to dive in and really pick Paul’s brain about his 75 Hard experience. But before we do that, let’s welcome him on in. How are you doing today, Paul?

Paul Salter:

I am wonderful, really excited to nitpick my past experience because it forced me to do a lot of reflection and make sure I could extract the many positive takeaways. I’m happy to be here and ready to rock and roll.

Micheala Barsotti:

Cool. Yeah, I’m excited. And before we do just that let’s share some positives, what’s going on in the community? What are you excited about? Anything you want to share?

Paul Salter:

Yeah. I want to shout out one of our members in particular, Heather, who just continues every single week to go above and beyond. As our community grows and the number of people are participating and share your win Friday, she still makes time to leave a personalized thoughtful message or response on every single person’s post. It’s incredible to see that. They’re not just good job or awesome work kind of post, they’re personalized. They match the energy of the win. She offers insight, feedback, ask questions. Heather, we’re incredibly proud of you, we’re incredibly grateful for you as well and you’re just such a shining light in our community. And I know every single member appreciates all that you do every single week so thank you.

Micheala Barsotti:

Yeah. How is so amazing, so grateful for her and while we’re on that note, I would just say I want to shout out the community as a whole because for me, the reason I love the community so much is because… I say this all the time. We don’t always want to go home and unpack all of our stuff to our significant other or sometimes we don’t want to have conversations with even some of our close friends in our circle because they don’t always get it. And our community just gets it. They get us always and whenever you have something going on or whether it’s positive or maybe it’s something negative or that you’re struggling with, you always know that you have this safe space to go to and to me that’s amazing. I dropped something in the community this morning that was heartfelt and it was vulnerable. And I just have had so much positive response already that has just lifted me up so much today. As much as I hope that I help those in the community, they help me and I know they help you too Paul, every single day so just the power of freaking community.

Paul Salter:

It really is incredible what happens when you get together with and connect with like-minded individuals. It’s just an accelerant for growth inside and out. And we just couldn’t be more proud of every single member in our community.

Micheala Barsotti:

If you don’t have a circle of like-minded people you need to find them because it is just invaluable.

Paul Salter:

And before we dive in, I don’t think we do a good enough job of this. If you want to learn more about the 5% community connect with Mikeala or myself on a call. Let’s make it happen. I’ll drop the link to do so in the show notes. You can just simply read a little page of more about what the 5% community is, includes, entails. How it will literally help you achieve a sustainable weight loss transformation from the inside out and just have an opportunity to connect with Micheala or myself on a call so we can learn more about you, where you’re at in your journey, what your challenges are, what your goals are and ultimately work with you to decide if we both mutually feel that the 5% community is a perfect fit for you, you feel the same way and that we have the utmost confidence we can in fact help you. And if that is the case we’ll extend an invitation your way. I’ll leave that in the show notes before we’d love to connect with you, answer any questions you have about joining and hope to see you on a call very, very soon.

Micheala Barsotti:

Awesome. All right, let’s dive on in. Paul do you want to give a little bit really quick, a short overview? What is the 75 hard for anybody who’s listening that may have no idea.

Paul Salter:

Yeah, absolutely. I’m actually going to take this right from the 75 Hard website, if you will. There is a man by the name of Andy Frisella he is the CEO of First Form Nutrition supplements and all the above on his quest dream to be the Nike of the supplement and fitness industry if you will. His words not mine. He is also the previous host of the MFCEO Podcast which is now known as the real AF podcast. He is a hell of a dude, a hell of an entrepreneur.

And a few years ago, I believe the story goes as how 75 Hard came about is he had what I believe to be a very lofty financial bet with one of his friends or multiple of his friends that he needed to get down to a certain percent body fat by a specific date and he noticed he was procrastinating. And when he happened to check his calendar, when he was really ready to dig in and make sure he did not have to pay his friends. There were either 75 or just shy of 75 days left between the end date and where he was currently. And he devised a plan to get himself there in… I make this incredibly clear and important, a sustainable manner. He wasn’t taking this stupid crash diet approach. And the way he describes 75 Hard though is not a fitness program, not a diet program whatsoever. It is a transformative mental toughness program. It is an iron man for your brain. And although you are bound to see and experience many physical changes the majority of the changes are going to be seen or rather experienced on the inside.

And what the 75 Hard challenge is, or contains rather, is a 75 days of course to do all of the following action steps every single day, no excuses, no variations of the action steps just to get them done before you go to sleep every night. And that includes taking a progress photo every single day, drinking a gallon of water every single day, following a nutrition plan does, not have to be a diet. You don’t have to seek weight loss to do this but following it with a hundred percent consistency, no alcohol, no free meals, or some of you may still know them as cheat meals, none of that whatsoever, perfect compliance or adherence to your unique portion goals. You need to get two workouts in every single day. Each workout needs to be a minimum of 45 minutes. And one of the work workouts has to be outside. Rain, shine, snow, cold, blizzard, hurricane, tornado, whatever it may be, one workout needs to be outside and you can’t just do a 45 minute workout in the gym and then go right into your next workout. There needs to be a time and space between your workouts So it’s not really just a 90 minute workout. It’s two separate workouts.

And then lastly, you need to read a physical book, not an audio book, a minimum of 10 pages per day. And at first glance or in this case first listen, sounds pretty simple but simple is not easy and it will really challenge your mental fortitude, your grit, your planning, your preparation, your resiliency to ultimately check all of these boxes every single day for 75 days. And if you’re someone who has either completed it successfully or at least attempted it, you know it’s challenging again, simple is not easy and it is quite an inside out physical, mental, emotional challenge as well.

Micheala Barsotti:

Well, and did you say this too? if you mess up, you start back?

Paul Salter:

Ah, yes.

Micheala Barsotti:

there’s no, “Oh, just get back on track.” That’s part of this mental challenge is that you need 75 days straight of consistency. Cool. All right, well let’s dive into question number one. What specifically about the 75 Hard interested you to go for it?

Paul Salter:

Yeah, I still remember where I was when I heard it. I think the year was 2019 and I was headed… Let me think 2019. Yeah, it was February or March and I was listening to Andy’s Podcast when he just had recently introduced it on social media and on the podcast, what it is. And I was living in Arizona at the time and I remember I had massive FOMO. I was like, “Oh wow, these guys are doing this cool thing. I can do that.” And I really very much wanted to be part of this in crowd who could accomplish it because to me, I saw the merit it being a micro exposure to an out of comfort zone experience every day. And I knew that individually, all of those to dos were very, very doable. Yet I recognized that collectively there would be some challenges but I had the utmost certainty I could do it except I had one problem. I had a 10 day vacation to France booked and I wasn’t about to attempt to do 75 Hard during this once in a lifetime opportunity.

I remember just sitting there after listening to that podcast, I probably listened to the episode five or six times, no joke. Stayed up to date on the 75 Hard hashtag on Instagram is following people. And I think what really drew it to me was there was this potential to help me level up to that best next version of myself. If I got through this challenge and I would join the ranks of other like-minded high achieving people who wanted to be the best version of themselves. And that has always been something that has motivated me. Hence connecting like-minded women here who want to feel, look and be their best in the 5% community.

Micheala Barsotti:

Love that. Did you notice a big difference between the first time you completed it and then this most recent time? Has it been two times now?

Paul Salter:

This was time number three.

Micheala Barsotti:

Oh, wow.

Paul Salter:

Yeah. The first time I was like a robot. Let me practice with I’m very fortunate with I am 100% in control of my schedule and yes, technically we all are but working for myself I can work when I want, where I want. I can work out when I want so I’ll practice with that because I do have that fortunate opportunity to be very, very flexible in my day. But the first time through I was just so concerned with checking those boxes every single day, I acted and thought robotically. And this time around I was much more present in trying to stop and smell the roses if you will. Appreciate what it was I was doing. Some of the workouts in the heat of Florida, or I was in Ohio for part of it in the dead of winter, in the cold, feet of snow on the ground just trying to stop and appreciate what I was doing and really trying to also reflect on the mental changes in the growth that was happening one day after another.

But that first time through, I got to the end and although I was happy about having checked all the boxes for 75 days, I didn’t feel fulfilled. I just felt like something was missing because I was so robotic. I didn’t appreciate or embrace the experience and I didn’t include or really connect with others either. I really just developed this sense of tunnel vision and said, “I’m going to do this and no one or no thing is going to get in my way.” Whereas this time around and similar to my second time through, I very much connected with people. We had people in the 5% community doing this as well. We had a private slack chanel in our community dedicated to those who were going through it. I was much more able to relax and enjoy the challenge, which I think opened myself up to having different feelings and reflection to learn more about myself as I went through the 75 days.

Micheala Barsotti:

All right, controversial question here. Many people bash the 75 Hard because they say it’s not realistic or sustainable. What are your thoughts on this?

Paul Salter:

That’s a really good question. Well done on the interview prep, I’ll give you that. I guess my first instinct in responding to that is there’s nothing about this that isn’t sustainable. All of these check a box of being a strong influencing factor to supporting personal growth which is, if you’re not learning and trying to better yourself, you’re dying. Reading more and taking care of yourself should be pretty high on your list regardless of where you’re at, what your goals are in your nutrition, health, or fitness journey. However, I totally understand when you see two workouts per day or perfect nutrition it doesn’t seem sustainable.

There’s a couple things to unpack. Number one, especially this time around every single second workout of mine was a walk. I walked outside. I’m not doing two days in the gym ,doing two Cross Fit workouts or running seven miles in the morning and lifting weights in the afternoon. No, my second workout was a walk every single a day and at least once a week, my work outs, both of them, were walks. Walking is a 100% acceptable, is the best form of movement, it’s free, it’s easy to do. You can do it anywhere. Yes, rain, shine, snow, tornado, hurricane all of the above. And when you take that mindset you don’t have to be a hard ass to go do these intense workouts twice a day, every day of the week. That’s much more digestible, much more sustainable. You know, I walk frequently as it is. I have a dog that absolutely needs to be walked multiple times per day so it just led to me walking a bit longer on occasion but was still very much sustainable.

And from the nutrition perspective, totally get it. I love a good drink.,I love plenty of ice cream in my life and being very, very strict with my nutrition for 75 days, what made it sustainable was knowing there was an end date. It wasn’t forever. Not one moment in time did I sign up for 75 forever, infinity hard, it’s not forever. I knew there were 75 days. I knew I could commit to it. And here’s the thing, human beings are incredibly fucking resilient when they have a clear goal and a clear why behind it. With those two boxes checked it was easy. It was very sustainable and I’m actually going to transition into another phase of which we’ll talk about here shortly, because I firmly believe in the output after my given input for these 75 days.

Micheala Barsotti:

I also think it’s not for everyone and Andy even says that over and over again. He’s like, “I’ll weed a lot of people out with this because there’s a lot of people that can’t do this because they don’t want to.” That’s what it really comes down to. You said it. You can do anything you want to do but for a lot of people, yeah, it might not make sense for them but it’s not for everyone.

Paul Salter:

Yeah. And then on that too, if you want what the 5% of those are the most wealthy or successful, you need to be willing to do what 95% aren’t and this is probably pretty close to those numbers.

Micheala Barsotti:

Follow up question here. We touched on this a little bit or you just did, this is not meant to be a diet plan, right? Can you explain what this challenge is really about?

Paul Salter:

Yeah. This is so much about just challenging you as an individual to push yourself outside your comfort zone, to be proactive, to prioritize, plan ahead of time and ultimately follow through and be a man or woman of your word. If you’re going to commit to something you need to follow through. And that’s what’s going to be challenged the most because the first week or two are going to be pretty easy peasy. You’re going to be high on momentum, motivation, and excitement. But as that slowly begins to wan and fade away, which it always does, if you don’t have a clear goal and a clear why, well now those low energy days or by week three when you’re just starting… Your legs and your heels and your feet are starting to become incredibly sore and your fatigued, beaten up, run down and tired that’s when you’re most likely to quit if you don’t have the clear why. But there’s nothing to do with trying to lose weight or a diet plan here whatsoever. Yes, if you follow super strong nutrition consistency for 75 days you’re probably going to make some pretty awesome physique changes and maybe even lose some weight but that’s not the end goal here. It’s all about the mental component and that’s why he literally calls it… What’s he say? It’s a transformative mental toughness program and you just hit the nail in the head with that description.

Micheala Barsotti:

If you go into it as a diet program or you’re doing it to lose weight you’re most likely going to be unsuccessful just because it is so much like mental to it that we know the small changes drive weight loss and this is not small change. This is going in right out of the gates but that’s because it’s for the mental toughness side. Alrighty. Did you ever have hard days? And if so, can you explain, how did you continue to push through?

Paul Salter:

Yeah, this recent time like I mentioned, I was in Ohio for a little while and we got a foot of snow one Sunday and it was negative one degree out. I was just like, “No part of me wants to Trek through that to get my second work out.” For wherever I was staying, they did not know how to plow the roads either so the snow just lingered and It got to a point about in the early to mid thirties, and I even shared this in the community. I was like, “There is a very large part of me that does not want to continue. I have no desire to complete the walk, go through a second lifting work out later whenever I can drive out of my driveway.”

And I think I just really started losing the battle with my inner bitch voice for a while. And it took connecting with other people, doing it and focusing on why I was doing it to really bring me out of that funk so to speak and to get my ass back in gear so I could in fact check all of those boxes for that day and get back to a new clean slate the following day. And that’s what I kept telling myself too, is like, “Just get through today and you can see how you feel tomorrow.” And of course the next couple of days, my mood, my attitude about the whole thing improved and I was right back on track.

Micheala Barsotti:

Out of the five things I think it is. What was the most challenging for you throughout the 75 days?

Paul Salter:

It was the damn progress photo because it was easy when I was home because I would take it right when I wake up in the morning as part of my morning routine but I traveled quite a bit during the 75 Hard. Being in different environments, different sleep wake schedules, there were many times when I would recognize in the middle of the afternoon, like, “Oh, I forgot to take a progress photo.” But I wanted to take it like in the same clothing and the same relaxed pose that I couldn’t take it wherever I was at that particular moment in the day. I would like set an alarm and send myself an email reminder, take progress photo before bed and that happened more times than I care to admit but it always got done.

Micheala Barsotti:

Wow. Impressive. All right, tell us your biggest takeaway and learning experience from the 75 days.

Paul Salter:

Action alleviates anxiety. When you have a fairly extensive to do list to satisfy the 75 Hard requirements, you don’t have time to bullshit, you don’t have time to second guess. If you open an email, you better get that email done because before you know it it’s time to go get your second workout in or to go chug a [bigillion 00:20:45] ounces of water or read or whatever it may be. And I think one of my biggest transformational changes was I noticed still this day a couple months removed as we’re recording this episode, I’m still very, very good about if I think of something to do, I just go do it. I don’t think twice like I used to at least not as frequently. I take that action so it doesn’t just linger in my mind and breed more and more anxiety as though the hours or even days and weeks go by.

Micheala Barsotti:

Love that. That’s good. How did you structure your days to make sure that you check the boxes every single day and didn’t miss a step? And what advice would you give to somebody who maybe wants to do it to become more successful with it?

Paul Salter:

Great question. Having done it two times previously, I was well aware of all the requirements but for someone who’s thinking about doing it the first time, write them down a million times. Put them in the kitchen in your fridge, at your desk, in your bedroom, in your bathroom so you’re constantly reminded of what is expected of you every single day you don’t have to start over from the beginning. And a lot of that really boils down to proper planning and preparation. I’ve already ingrained the habit of the night before as planning out my to-dos. I was extra meticulous with planning my second workout, getting it on my calendar, writing it down. I was extra meticulous with when I was going to read and putting the hydration midday checkpoint in my calendar as a reminder too, like, “Am I on pace to hit that gallon of water?”

And then the last thing I did was try to take some of these new habits I needed to form and anchor them to existing ones. Like I mentioned, taking that progress photo when I brush my teeth in the morning or right after rather, not simultaneously though that would make for a good progress photo, is trying to do, if I’m already doing something every single day, let me add that new habit there that way it’s more likely to get done. Reading became a staple in my routine. I’d always read in the morning but I was never seven days per week. I just made it a staple. Same with the progress photo and water. I had this trustee shaker bottle I carry everywhere. I just made sure to hit my minimum number of those per day as well.

Micheala Barsotti:

What was the easiest for you to execute?

Paul Salter:

The water.

Micheala Barsotti:

Out of the five things? The water?

Paul Salter:

Yeah, just living in Florida you got to drink your water so it made it-

Micheala Barsotti:

And was that already a habit that was pretty ingrained and you?

Paul Salter:

Yeah, I would say the first two weeks because I’m so routinized, I wanted to double check. Am I actually drinking a gallon of water? And I was so after a while by four o’clock during the day, because I’m up early, I was already surpassing that gallon no problem. But I would double check and first couple weeks write down little tally marks to make sure I knew how many of these bottles I was getting in just to make sure I was well.

Micheala Barsotti:

Yeah. All right. This just popped in my head. This wasn’t planned but did you have any oh shit moments where you came really close to messing up that day or not completing a task aside from the progress photo that you kind of shared with us?

Paul Salter:

Well, there was one night where I was laying in bed doing my meditation. I was like, “Oh shit, I didn’t take my progress photos today.” I got out of bed and went and took my progress photo. Otherwise, I had to squeeze in a couple really late night walks in, by late I mean, I just don’t go to bed late but like eight or nine O’clock I had to go get that second workout in. And couple times too I had to read late at night. On travel days I didn’t get it done. I still remember vividly one time I had an hour or so to read on a plane. I was like, “No, just do it later.” And there I was at 10:30 at night trying to read barely keeping my eyes open but still got it done.

Micheala Barsotti:

Oh yeah. All right, a last question. You hinted that you plan to do it again. What does this look like? Or what is the next step to doing it?

Paul Salter:

Yeah. Andy actually has a full 12 year or 12 month program. He calls it the live hard program. After you complete 75 Hard, there’s a phase one, a phase two and a phase three, I believe. And between 75 Hard and phase one, two and three, you do all of them in a 12 month calendar year or regardless of when you start. I am going to go ahead and move on to phase one for the first time. I’ve never, excuse me, done it before. But two of our 5% numbers, one of them in particular, Nicole is incredibly gung ho about doing phase one so I already gave her my written and verbal commitment. I think we’re starting May 9th. I think this episode comes out actually right around then.

We’re filming in April so if May 12th is when you’re listening to this, I’m already in phase one. that’s the goal. That’s only a 30 day phase, which is nice but I believe, and I have to actually double check this because I’m not a hundred percent sure of the additional requirements. You do everything included in 75 Hard, that’s your baseline but then you need to take a five minute cold shower every day. I’ve got an ice tub and ice barrel for that so I’ll use that. You need to do a 10 minute visualization exercise every day. I love mandating that. That’s something I’ve wanted to do more consistently. And then you need to complete… Andy has this power list or this get shit done list where you write down your biggest priorities every day. You’ve got to add a couple more tasks to that. I think it’s to do’s three or five of those tasks every single day just to really force productivity. And there might be one other variable I’m missing but those are the three I do remember. Clearly I need to triple check before I start.

Micheala Barsotti:

All right. I said last question, but I thought of a bonus question. Clearly you are a fan of 75 Hard. You had nothing but great things to say. It seems like you’ve had a lot of great takeaways from it, but is there anybody that you wouldn’t recommend this for? I’m just curious

Paul Salter:

A really good question.

Micheala Barsotti:

I have my own thoughts so I want to hear what you have to say.

Paul Salter:

Well, I’ll tell you I’m just going to give-

Micheala Barsotti:

I think We have different views.

Paul Salter:

My honest thought process right now, initially what came to mind to answer your question was, if someone currently has a very inconsistent and unhealthy gym routine and nutrition routine it can be an incredibly beneficial to give them this overcommitment of exercises just to throw them into the deep end and watch them swim. But simultaneously was something of this magnitude particular from the exercise component, if you live in a very sedentary lifestyle right now and you transition to two workouts per day, that’s like going zero to 100 and you’re not setting yourself up for sustainable results. I think that’s the demographic that comes to mind is incredibly sedentary and incredibly inconsistent eating habits at this moment in time. You might want to do a 30 to 60 day primer and start working on one habit at a time and slowly building up to it before ultimately diving head first into the full 75 day immersion.

Micheala Barsotti:

Yeah. What is the analogy? You’re missing the forest for the trees.

Paul Salter:

Yeah.

Micheala Barsotti:

Okay. Well basically I think with that, that’s what I was going to say too. There are certain people, if you are super inconsistent with life this is going to be a lot for you. A great mental challenge for you is pick three things and start doing that consistently or one or two, right? Keep it really simple. And then the only other thing I would say, and this is not that I wouldn’t recommend it but I’m thinking of where I’m at in my life personally, I did the 75 Hard. I loved it. I had great takeaways as well. However, I’m personally not interested in doing it right now where I’m at because I am trying to practice more flexibility regularly in my life. That’s something that I’m working towards this year. And so for me, I want that ability to have the flexibility. I love and thrive off of structure so I’m not… But I still want to always have the choice to make towards something. If that’s just this season that I’m in right now. I think it’s always just be realistic with yourself. Is this going to work for you? Do you want to commit to it? I personally don’t but I did at one point and it served me really well when I did.

Paul Salter:

Yeah. That’s a great point. I don’t think this… I should have shared this in the beginning. The reason I did 75 Hard or this third time around is we have some big goals with the 5% way and I knew I was going to have a shit ton of priorities on my plate. And I needed a way to further hold myself accountable to being very good with organization prioritization and being as effective and efficient as possible. And I couldn’t just leave that to me, myself and I. I had to make a verbal commitment to doing 75 Hard. I wanted to be a man of my word and follow through on that. And the inherent extra layer of structure that it provides for someone just like you who is already really structured, was what I really needed to kick off this new year.

Micheala Barsotti:

Yeah. Just goes to show we’re all individuals, different goals, different things we jive with, right? that’s awesome. Thank you for sharing. Appreciate it. Any last minute things you want to say here or?

Paul Salter:

If you’re on the fence do it a thousand percent. And I think the one thing you need to do is find a buddy or at least someone to hold you accountable. Tell someone else that you’re doing it. Preferably do it with somebody else but that extra layer of relatability makes your experience that much better and helps you because you’re going to need it.

Micheala Barsotti:

Well, we thank you so much for listening today. We really hope that you found this episode and discussion valuable. And if you did, we would appreciate it if you share it with somebody you think that we’ll enjoy it as well. And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to leave us a genuine review and rating on Apple Podcast or wherever it is that you listen to this Podcast. All right you guys, we will see you next week.