Workout twice a day. Once, outside, doused by frigid rain. Again, at a Bikram studio, bench pressing on a nail bed in 120-degree heat. Yesterday was your easiest day, because every day should be hard. Get that social media clout.
This… is not me. Years ago, I launched the Reasonable 60 for a group of friends. This was a pushback on the whole 75 Hard trend. My take: maintain a diet, exercise daily, and share accountability amongst friends. There were a few arbitrary rules, but it boiled down to being healthy in a way that worked for me. This then transformed into the Reasonable 365, and we still post daily in a Slack channel about our exercise and eating from the previous day. That shared accountability is everything.
Now that I’m deep into my road to 40, I’m ramping it up. I’ve filled the calendar with a myriad of physical milestones. Half Marathons, Power Lifting Competitions, Obstacle Courses. Random challenges to focus my body and mind.
Latest test, the Reasonable 75. It’s overwrought and delightful. Let’s dig into it.
The Rules
- Do two workouts a day. One Strength and one conditioning.
- Eat at a reasonable calorie deficit. For me, that’s 1,800 calories with at least 180g of protein.
- No alcohol.
- Write 250 words a day. Essay drafts, blogs, missives, whatever.
The challenge runs 75 days. If I miss any item on a day, the day is a miss. If I miss a day, it adds on to the end. I get 7 misses over the course of the challenge. More than that, I’m calling it a failure.
For the exercises, they don’t need to be insane 45+ minute slogs. Instead, I’ll be doing a strength session: Dan John’s Easy Strength on weekdays, with the kettlebell-focused ABC and Humane Burpee on weekends. These are short, effective workouts I know like the back of my hand.
For workout two, it boils down to anything that is at least 20 minutes of an honest effort. Here I’ll continue my 4-day-a-week running plan, mostly easy runs, and balance the remaining workouts with LISS cross-training and yoga.
The diet is self-explanatory, along with the alcohol. The writing replaces the 75 Hard requirement of reading, which I do enough of as it is.
But that’s it!
Outcomes and Measurements
What are my expectations? I’ll maintain a reasonable level of strength while continuing to improve my running splits. Ideally, I’ll lose 15+ pounds.
How will I measure? With a DEXA scan at the start and another at the conclusion.
On the writing side, I’m dead set on building a consistent habit over the next few months. There are no serious expectations on what I’ll write, mostly blog posts, but if I lean into poetry or fiction, that’s fine too!
For the actual tracking, I’m moving away from spreadsheets and handwritten logs for this one. Instead, I vibecoded a simple web app with a basic, persistent magic token tracking system. I think it’ll mostly work, with a bunch of functionality breaking along the way. This is another way for me to blend hobbies, goals, and continued learning.
Even better: 5 of my pals are joining in. Let’s get moving!