75 Hard Rules for Drinks: Coffee, Energy Drinks, Pouches
Roon Team
75 Hard Rules for Drinks: Coffee, Energy Drinks, Pouches
75 Hard has exactly two drink rules that are fixed for everyone: one gallon of plain water every day, and zero alcohol for all 75 days. Everything else, coffee, energy drinks, diet soda, sparkling water, pre-workout, a caffeine pouch, is allowed only if it fits the diet you chose before day 1. Nothing but plain, still, unflavored water counts toward the gallon. Miss any of that, and you restart.
The rest of this guide walks every common drink through that single test so you can write your plan once and stop second-guessing it at 6 a.m. on day 14.
Key Takeaways
- The gallon is plain, still, unflavored water. Coffee, tea, sparkling water, and electrolytes do not count toward it.
- Alcohol is banned for all 75 days, no exceptions, no workarounds.
- Every other beverage is a diet-clause question: if you wrote it into your structured diet before day 1, it is in. If you didn't, it is out.
- A caffeine pouch is not a drink, so it never touches the gallon. It still has to pass the diet clause.
The Five Tasks and Where Drinks Fit
Andy Frisella created 75 Hard in 2019 as what he calls "a mental toughness program", not a fitness or diet plan. The five daily tasks: follow a structured diet with no alcohol and no cheat meals, complete two 45-minute workouts (one outdoors), drink one gallon of water, read 10 pages of nonfiction, and take a progress photo. Every day for 75 consecutive days. Any miss resets the counter to day 1.
Drinks touch exactly two of those tasks: the gallon (plain water only) and the diet (everything else). Frisella does not publish a list of approved beverages or a caffeine rule. The official help center specifies that the water must be "plain, unflavored and non-carbonated," and that protein powders, electrolytes, pre-workouts, and greens powders do not count. Beyond that, the test is your diet, and you are the one who wrote it.
What Can You Drink on 75 Hard?
The table below runs every common beverage through both rules. "Diet-dependent" means: allowed if your written diet permits it, banned if it doesn't.
| Beverage | Allowed on 75 Hard? | Counts toward the gallon? | The deciding question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain water (still, unflavored) | Yes, required | Yes | None. This is the gallon. |
| Sparkling water | Diet-dependent | No (strict reading) | Does your diet include carbonated water? |
| Black coffee | Diet-dependent | No | Is black coffee in your written diet? |
| Coffee with cream/sugar | Diet-dependent | No | Do the add-ins fit the diet? Sugar in a sugar-free diet is a restart. |
| Tea (unsweetened) | Diet-dependent | No | Same test as black coffee. |
| Energy drinks (sugar-free) | Diet-dependent | No | Written into the diet before day 1? |
| Energy drinks (regular, with sugar) | Diet-dependent | No | The sugar must fit the diet. Most plans exclude 27 to 54 g of added sugar per can. |
| Diet soda | Diet-dependent | No | Artificial sweeteners are fine on most macro diets, excluded by some whole-foods plans. |
| Pre-workout powder | Diet-dependent | No | Check ingredients against the diet; does not count as water. |
| Electrolyte mix (in water) | Diet-dependent | No | The mixed drink is separate; the plain water gallon remains. |
| Protein shake | Diet-dependent | No | Counts toward diet macros, not the gallon. |
| Alcohol | No, banned | No | No exceptions. 75 days, zero alcohol. |
| Caffeine pouch (oral, not a drink) | Diet-dependent | N/A (not a beverage) | Fits the diet clause? Sweetener (e.g., sucralose) fits the plan? Decide before day 1. |
Does Coffee Count Toward the Gallon?
No. Coffee does not count toward the one-gallon water requirement. The gallon is plain, still, unflavored water, and the 75 Hard help center is explicit about that.
Coffee is fine to drink if your structured diet allows it. A black coffee adds roughly zero macros. A spoon of sugar or a flavored creamer, though, is a cheat if your diet bans added sugar. Decide before day 1, write it down, and stop debating it mid-challenge.
Staying on top of both the gallon and your hydration quality matters more on 75 Hard than most programs, because you are training twice a day with one session outdoors.
Can You Drink Energy Drinks on 75 Hard?
Yes, if the diet allows. The official rules do not mention caffeine or energy drinks by name. But the sugar and calorie content of most energy drinks makes this a question worth answering with numbers.
| Energy drink | Caffeine | Sugar | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monster Energy (original) | 160 mg | ~54 g | 16 oz |
| Celsius (original) | 200 mg | 0 g | 12 oz |
| Celsius Essentials | 270 mg | 0 g | 16 oz |
| Red Bull (original) | 80 mg | ~27 g | 8.4 oz |
A regular Monster or Red Bull carries enough sugar to bust almost any structured diet that restricts added sugar. Sugar-free versions of both exist and fit most macro-based plans.
Watch the math: two Celsius cans plus a morning coffee gets you past 400 mg of caffeine, which the FDA considers the upper boundary for healthy adults. Write down a daily caffeine ceiling as part of the diet and stick to it. If you have a medical condition, talk to your clinician before layering that much caffeine on top of two daily workouts.
Diet Soda, Sparkling Water, and Pre-Workout
All three are allowed by most structured diets. None count toward the gallon.
Diet soda contains zero sugar and zero calories, which passes a macro-based or calorie-counted plan. A whole-foods or "no artificial sweeteners" diet excludes it. Write the answer into your plan before day 1.
Sparkling water is water, but the strict 75 Hard reading treats carbonation as a disqualifier for the gallon. Drink it if your diet allows it. Count it as a separate beverage.
Pre-workout is a supplement, not water. The help center lists it among the items that do not count toward the gallon. If your diet includes it, fine. If not, fine. The gallon stays at 128 ounces of plain water either way.
Where a Caffeine Pouch Fits
A caffeine pouch is not a beverage. You place it between your lip and gum; nothing goes into a glass; nothing gets swallowed as a liquid. It never touches the gallon, for or against.
It is a diet-clause item. If you are running a macro-based diet and the pouch has zero calories and zero sugar, it fits. If your diet is whole-foods-only or excludes artificial sweeteners, most nicotine-free pouches use sucralose or similar sweeteners, and that is a conflict you need to resolve before day 1. Read the label, match it to the diet, and write the decision down.
The official 75 Hard rules do not mention caffeine pouches. Frisella has not ruled on them. So the answer is the same answer as everything else on this list: does it fit the diet you committed to?
The Gallon and the Caffeine Cutoff on the Same Day
The 75 Hard schedule pushes a lot of stimulant demand into a narrow window. You have two workouts, one gallon of water, 10 pages of reading, and a full workday. Most people reach for caffeine to cover the second workout.
A 2013 study by Drake et al. (n=12, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine) found that 400 mg of caffeine taken six hours before bed still measurably reduced total sleep time. On a program that resets for any failure, poor sleep compounds fast.
The practical rule: put your last caffeine before the afternoon workout, not after. If you train at 5 p.m. and sleep at 11, that means cutting caffeine by 5 p.m. at the latest. An earlier cutoff is better. Build a caffeine timeline that fits your pre-workout window and your sleep schedule, then follow it for 75 days.
When Does 75 Hard Start in 2027?
There is no official start date. You can start any day. But the January 1 wave is the biggest, and day 1 on January 1 means day 75 lands on March 16, 2027.
If you are reading this in September or October, a fall start overlaps with two other seasonal challenges: Winter Arc (October 1 to December 31, 92 days) and the Great Lock In (September 1 to December 31, 122 days). All three share the same DNA of daily discipline and no cheat days. The three-way comparison breaks down where they differ.
The Bottom Line on 75 Hard Drink Rules
Two rules are fixed: one gallon of plain water per day, and zero alcohol for 75 days. Every other drink passes or fails based on the structured diet you chose before day 1. Coffee is in if the diet allows it. Energy drinks are in if the diet allows them and the sugar fits. Diet soda, sparkling water, and pre-workout are in if the diet allows them. Nothing but still, unflavored water counts toward the gallon. Write every answer down before day 1, because "I'll figure it out later" is how restarts happen.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you drink coffee on 75 Hard?
Yes, if your structured diet allows it. Black coffee is the safest bet because it adds essentially zero calories, sugar, or fat. Coffee with cream, sugar, or flavored syrups must fit the specific macros or food list you committed to before day 1. Coffee never counts toward the one-gallon water requirement.
Does coffee count as water on 75 Hard?
No. The gallon must be plain, still, unflavored water. The official help center lists coffee, tea, and flavored beverages as separate from the water requirement. Drink your coffee in addition to the gallon, not as part of it.
Are energy drinks allowed on 75 Hard?
They are allowed if they fit your diet. Sugar-free options like Celsius (200 mg caffeine, 0 g sugar per 12 oz) pass most macro-based plans. Regular Monster (160 mg caffeine, ~54 g sugar per 16 oz) will bust almost any diet that restricts added sugar. Check the label and stay under 400 mg of total daily caffeine.
Can you drink diet soda on 75 Hard?
Diet soda is not banned by the official rules. It has zero calories and zero sugar, so it passes most calorie-counted or macro-based diets. If your diet excludes artificial sweeteners, diet soda is out. It does not count toward the gallon.
Does sparkling water count toward the gallon on 75 Hard?
The strict reading says no. The help center specifies the water must be non-carbonated. Sparkling water is fine to drink if the diet allows it, but track it separately from the 128-ounce plain water requirement.
Can you use a caffeine pouch on 75 Hard?
A caffeine pouch is not a drink, so it does not affect the gallon. It falls under the diet clause. If the pouch fits your diet (zero calories, zero sugar, but check for sweeteners like sucralose that some whole-foods plans exclude), it is in. The official rules do not mention pouches. Write your decision before day 1.
The Diet-Clause Item That Never Touches the Gallon
The 75 Hard day is long. Two workouts, a gallon of water, reading, a full schedule. The drink rules are simple once you sort them, but the caffeine question has a timing problem: you need focus for the second session without wrecking your sleep.
Roon is a zero-nicotine caffeine pouch with 80 mg of caffeine, 60 mg of L-theanine, 25 mg of methylliberine (Dynamine), and 5 mg of theacrine (TeaCrine). It is not a drink, so it never competes with the gallon. It falls under the diet clause: zero sugar, zero calories, but it does contain sucralose, so if your plan excludes artificial sweeteners, write that exception (or exclusion) before day 1.
The 80 mg dose leaves room under a 400 mg daily ceiling for morning coffee. The felt window is 6 to 8 hours, longer than coffee's typical 3 to 4. That duration comes from methylliberine slowing caffeine clearance. A randomized, double-blind, crossover PK study (Mondal et al. 2022, n=12) found that co-administration cut caffeine's oral clearance from 41.9 to 17.1 L/hr and extended its half-life from 7.2 to 15 hours, with no increase in peak concentration. That study used 100 mg methylliberine with 150 mg caffeine, roughly 4x the methylliberine and 1.9x the caffeine in a Roon pouch, so the magnitude will differ, but the mechanism is directionally the same. The trade-off: a longer half-life means you should stop at least 8 hours before bed.
Tins start at $9.16 on a 12-tin subscription ($0.61 per pouch) or $15.00 for a one-time 4-tin order ($1.00 per pouch), 15 pouches per tin. Try Roon for 75 Hard.
Related from Roon
- Winter Arc vs. 75 Hard vs. Great Lock In
- Winter Arc 2026: Rules and Start Date
- How Long Does Caffeine Stay in Your System?
- Dehydration and Cognitive Function
Written by Roon Team
