75 Hard Recap & Update

Hello my loyal disciples! It has been quite some time since I have chatted with you all. I have no challenges on the docket for the rest of this month. 2021 has been a fantastic year so far, but I want to give you all a breakdown of what I have learned during this 75 hard and how this 75 hard was so very different from the first one that I did. The first thing that comes to mind for me is that the second challenge was far more difficult than that first one. During the first 75 hard the beginning was a breeze, I faced minimal resistance and was able to curse through the first 30 days. After about day 35, I hit a wall and struggled for the next 10 or 15 days. I achieved a sort of autopilot around day 60 and cruised until day 75. This time around I faced substantially more adversity. During the beginning of this 75 hard, I was not very organized with my meal preparation. This caused me to spend a lot of time preparing meals in the evening, which in turn pushed the time I needed to complete my mandatory reading back, making me stay up later than I needed to. It took me around 12 days to get on the path of being dialed in. I was able to cultivate better time management habits around day 30. I would be remiss if I did not mention the 10,000 kettlebell swing challenge that I was doing while on my 75 hard. That definitely made the beginning first half of the 75 hard more challenging. I underestimated how difficult doing 500 kettlebell swings 5 days a week would be for the outdoor portion of the 75 hard challenge. The initial soreness was almost unbearable, but somehow I was able to persevere. In addition, the ice storm that caused the loss of power to over 200,000 people including myself added another layer of difficulty to this challenge.

Lastly, I pulled my right quad around day 65. I am still dealing with the injury, however it is getting better. So what I have learned during the course of this challenge? I have learned the importance of discipline, and being organized. I learned that community is very important. During the first 75 hard I was going through it alone, but during this one I had Andrew Allen, and Melanie Pollard to help me get through the ups and downs of the 75 hard. The main takeaways are a bit cliché, but hard work and perseverance are key in making any kind of change in your life. The duration of 75 days is just long enough to insure that the initial excitement and motivation will fade, and at times you will just be going through the motions. The catch is that while you may just be going through the motions, at least they will be motions that move you forward in life and closer to your goals. 

I am sure that you all of you have noticed that I have been pretty silent for the past 5 days. Yes I have been going to the gym still, but I have not been tracking my food and have been indulging in the chub. This will continue until 3/29/21. Then it will be back to tracking all my meals and getting after it 6 days a week. The new challenge is to run 6 miles per week for the whole month of April and then up that number to 8 in May. I am going to do the 10,000 kettlebell swing challenge in May as well.  I am going to cut carbs on 4/1 and will be carb-free until July 4th. I will have an outline of the Church of the Chubby challenge completed by April 4th. If you are feeling brave, I implore you to give it a try. I have made a lot of progress towards getting a 6 pack, but I have a long way to go. The battle against the chub is on a cease fire but will resume on 3/30/21! May the Church of the Chubby reign supreme!