Will you try the 75-day fitness challenge? Here’s what the viral New Year’s workout trend will REALLY do to your body

Experts have warned against trying a new viral fitness challenge that involves hitting the gym twice a day and drinking extreme amounts of water to maximize fitness in just two and a half months.

The ’75-Hard’ challenge has taken social media by storm, with more than a million video clips shared by users documenting their experiences with the diet and exercise regimen.

The strict plan was created in 2019 by US-based author and podcaster Andy Frisella and is said to bring about ‘physical and mental transformations’ through its five key elements.

Most crucial are two 45-minute workouts per day, which, according to Frisella’s website, “can be all you need to do based on your fitness level.”

Participants should also drink eight pints (4.5 litres) of water daily, give up alcohol, eat a generally healthy diet and spend at least 10 minutes a day reading non-fiction, to promote mental fitness.

But experts have warned that not only is the plan unrealistic, meaning participants are unlikely to stick to it, but it could also lead to serious health problems.

Drinking more than two liters of water a day without vigorous exercise can affect the body’s complex salt balance, causing a range of painful symptoms such as low blood pressure, nausea and vomiting, and muscle cramps.

In the worst case, the problem can lead to seizures and even coma.

‘If you drink too much water you become overhydrated and you get hyponatraemia, which is when your salt concentration becomes too low,’ says Professor Peter Watt, a sport and exercise scientist at the University of Brighton.

‘This can cause other problems with your blood pressure and overall health.

‘Drinking a liter of water is extreme. Even two liters a day is probably not essential to keep you hydrated.

The NHS recommends drinking around two liters – about six to eight glasses – of fluid a day, and more if you are exercising or in hot weather.

But social media users have touted the benefits of the plan, with one woman claiming it helped her lose more than two stone, and others saying it ‘transformed’ their relationship with food.

Frisella, the challenge’s founder, claims on his website that the 75-Hard Challenge is the “only program that can permanently change your life, from the way you think to the level of discipline with which you tackle every single task in front of you.” , tackles. .’

He shared dramatic before and after images documenting how the plan increased his muscle tone and emphasized that the “mental changes are 100 times greater than the physical changes.”

On his website, he claims that those who have taken on the challenge have become “better leaders at work,” “increased their income” and “took full control of their lives.”

Two people who completed the challenge also shared their experience on social media.

Devamsha Gunput, 29, from Edinburgh, who completed 75-Hard last March while working full-time as a digital consultant, told the BBC the challenge was ‘uncomfortable’.

But it has helped her exercise more regularly and ‘transformed’ her relationship with food.

Sophie Deakins, 27, also completed 75-Hard last year while working as an assistant manager at a London cinema.

She said the challenge helped her change her mindset and boost her confidence.

Strength and conditioning coach Tana von Zitzewitz said those considering taking on the workout challenge will need a lot of extra time, making it difficult to stick with it.

“There is so much pressure on people to change their lives at this time of year,” she told the BBC.

She suggested that those eager to start a new fitness routine should instead choose a plan that is less rigid and inflexible, and more fun.

Meanwhile, NHS GP Sam Whiteman said the 75-Hard is unlikely to deliver greater benefits than any other healthy eating and fitness plan.

“If the question is whether this is better than going to the gym three times a week or running once a week and eating healthy, I’m not sure,” he told the BBC.

The new year is no stranger to new health and fitness fads.

The regimen follows other extreme fitness fads, including burning 600 calories in 60 minutes and the 100 rep challenge, where you perform 100 reps of a single exercise every day for a month.

The Covid pandemic saw a social media explosion of a fitness challenge called ‘everesting’, which saw participants climb hills at a height of 8,848 meters – the same height as Mount Everest.

Some people cycle, run or participate in a relay to complete the mammoth task.

The NHS recommends adults aged 19 to 64 do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week.

This could be 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Alternatively, you can do 75 minutes of vigorous activity per week.

It suggests a mix of strengthening activities, such as yoga, lifting weights or carrying heavy shopping bags, moderate activities that get your heart rate up, such as a brisk walk or bike ride, and vigorous activities such as running or swimming.