Adjectives

(s)arduous, backbreaking, grueling, gruelling, hard, heavy, laborious, operose, punishing, toilsomecharacterized by effort to the point of exhaustion; especially physical effort“worked their arduous way up the mining valley”, “a grueling campaign”, “hard labor”, “heavy work”, “heavy going”, “spent many laborious hours on the project”, “set a punishing pace”
(s)arduous, straining, strenuoustaxing to the utmost; testing powers of endurance“his final, straining burst of speed”, “a strenuous task”, “your willingness after these six arduous days to remain here” (F.D.Roosevelt)
(s)arduousdifficult to accomplish; demanding considerable mental effort and skill“the arduous work of preparing a dictionary”