12 Common 75 Hard Mistakes Women Make (and How to Avoid Them)
The 12 mistakes, ranked by impact
1. Starting on a Sunday
Sunday starts have the lowest completion rate. Your first workout day is Monday, when motivation drops. Better: start Monday morning or the 1st of a month.
2. No bloodwork beforehand
Women starting 75 Hard with low ferritin or vitamin D will struggle. Get bloodwork the week before. Treat deficiencies before Day 1.
3. Under-fueling during your luteal phase
Days 15-28 of your cycle, your body needs more carbs and slightly more calories. Cutting both while doing two daily workouts triggers HPA-axis fatigue. Most-cited cause of mid-challenge crash.
4. A full gallon on heavy-flow menstrual days
The gallon target is paired with sodium needs. On heavy-flow days, you lose extra sodium and gain less from food. A full gallon dilutes you. Drop to 3 L on days 1-2 of menstruation. Add an electrolyte packet.
5. Doing both workouts indoors on outdoor day
One workout must be outdoors. A 5-minute walk to the gym doesn't count. A 45-minute outdoor walk does. Plan the outdoor session first thing in the morning before excuses appear.
6. Reading audiobooks instead of physical pages
Per Andy Frisella's original rules — audiobooks don't count. The Her 75 strict 75 Hard mode enforces this. (75 Medium and 75 Soft allow audiobooks.)
7. Pre-buying expensive gear
Don't buy new shoes, new workout clothes, or new appliances before Day 1. Pre-buying creates exit cost without commitment. Use what you have.
8. No accountability partner
Solo challenges have meaningfully lower completion rates. Tell one person before Day 1. The Reset 75 app's friend feeds solve this in 2 clicks.
9. Comparing yourself to other women on TikTok
Pre-Day 1 transformation videos sabotage your psychology. Other women's Day 1-vs-Day 75 reveals are cherry-picked. Don't watch them. Your data is the data that matters.
10. Restarting from Day 1 repeatedly
The single most-damaging mistake. Restarting 3-5 times in a row breaks most women mentally. If you're going to miss the rules, switch to a softer Her 75 mode rather than restart. Completion beats perfection.
11. Scope-creeping new rules at Week 4
Adding "no scrolling," "no sugar," "no this, no that" at Week 4 is the fastest path to overwhelm. Finish the original rules first. Design Round 2 after.
12. Quitting on Day 40 instead of softening
Day 40 is the highest-quit day. Most quitters are 35 days from finishing. The better play: drop intensity (skip the second workout, switch to a walk, sleep an extra hour) rather than quit. The Reset 75 app's mode-switch feature does this cleanly.
The pattern under all 12
The 12 mistakes share one root cause: treating 75 Hard's rigidity as the feature, not the bug. For most women, rigidity is what fails them. Her 75's lower modes optimize for completion via modification permission and no-restart.
How to avoid all 12 in 5 minutes
- Pick a Monday or 1st-of-month start
- Get bloodwork
- Pre-decide your modification rules
- Skip the gear shopping
- Invite one friend
- Pick a softer Her 75 mode if it fits your life better
Related reading
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do most women fail 75 Hard?+
Three causes account for most failures: (1) the outdoor workout requirement in bad weather (week 1), (2) luteal-phase fatigue with no permission to scale, and (3) a single travel day triggering a full restart. None are willpower problems — they're rule-design problems that Her 75's lower modes solve.
What's the biggest 75 Hard mistake?+
Restarting from Day 1 repeatedly. Most women who 'fail' 75 Hard actually restart 3-5 times in a row before quitting entirely. The mental toll of restart is brutal. The better play: switch to Her 75's 75 Medium or 75 Soft, which have no restart rule, and finish 75 days clean.
Ready to start your 75 days?
Three intensities. Cycle-aware. iOS 16+, Mac & Apple Vision.