Extreme lifestyle challenges have boomed on social media, with people turning to them as a way to quickly boost their health and fitness. Perhaps the best-known example is the viral 75 Hard Challenge – a 75-day diet and exercise programme whose hashtag has amassed a cool couple of billion views.
“An issue I have with lots of these extreme challenges is they are selling a false goal, often to people who are vulnerable – individuals who don’t feel confident in their bodies and people who already have body image issues or are on the borderline of disordered eating or disordered exercise. “The human body is fundamentally hardwired to avoid threat and doesn’t want to be in starvation mode or have a massive deficit, because that’s a threat to us and our nervous system. So, it will do everything in its power to try and stop that from happening.”
“Carbohydrates and protein are still very much the friend of anybody who wants to be physically active. Eating carbs regularly throughout the day will not only support your training, but also support the hormonal pathways that are needed to get good progression. Protein, meanwhile, is essential for the recovery phase and other nutrients like iron, calcium, vitamin D, magnesium and essential fatty acids are all important too.
“Rather than chasing instant gratification through a hard challenge, you need to build your ‘training age.’ For example, with running you might start with doing aand then after doing that for a while, move on to a few park runs, go up to 10K and then slowly but steadily increase your distance. Maybe five to seven years down the line you might start doing ultra marathons.”