WTF Is 75 Soft? The 75 Soft Challenge Rules And Overview
I first started hearing about the 75 Soft Challenge, a viral TikTok challenge trend, after completing the 75 Hard Challenge earlier this year.
I didn’t even know this 75 Day Soft challenge was a thing, and I got curious.
In this article, I’ll share exactly what the 75 Soft Challenge is, the 75 Soft Challenge rules, and health and fitness tips to get through the challenge successfully.
What Is The 75 Soft Challenge?
The 75 Soft Challenge is a social media health and fitness challenge with rules to be followed for 75 days.
This is a lighter challenge version of the popular 75 Hard Challenge, which some participants find the rules too time-consuming and strenuous (especially regarding the two 45-minute workouts a day).
The 75 Soft Challenge takes a similar approach to healthy habits with this idea behind the harder version. Still, it makes it more accessible to start for those with limitations in time, energy, money, or something else.
What Are The 75 Soft Challenge Rules?
The 75 Soft Challenge is all about creating healthy habits at a steady, daily pace.
Similar to its hard 75-day challenge counterpart, the 75 Soft has a series of rules and guidelines that must be followed for 75 days to complete the soft challenge, from day one all the way through.
The four rules of 75 Soft Challenge for your daily routine are as follows:
- One 45-minute workout a day, every day for 75 days. One active recovery day.
- Eat a healthy diet and only drink alcohol socially, if any. Only drink on social occasions.
- Drink three litres of water a day. To be safe, make it a gallon of water.
- Read 10 pages of any book, though self-improvement is preferred.
Let’s break down each of the 75 Soft Challenge rules.
One 45-minute workout a day, every day for 75 days
When it comes to the 75 Series challenges, the physical activity portion of the 75 Soft often gets the most attention and fanfare, primarily because it’s the one rule which leads to long-term physical changes and results that are easy to see in your life, not to mention takes the most time to complete each day
Unlike the big brother version of this 75-day challenge which requires two 45-minute workouts daily, this rule is simple.
For this challenge, do one session, one day at a time, train for 45 minutes long for all 75 days, and save one day for active recovery.
There are no specific requirements for your workouts, but one day a week must be dedicated to active rest, a fancy term that means an easy sweat session like walking or very light weights.
Does the Hard seem too hard, and the Soft too soft? Check out the 75 Medium Challenge HERE.
No 75 Soft challenge requirement states where you should work out, unlike the 75 Hard challenge program, which requires one outdoor workout daily. Just make sure to train for 45 minutes.
The 75 Soft Challenge is less about where you work out and the exercise and more about developing healthy habits.
45 minutes per day. Every day. 1 active recovery day. That’s it.
Eat well and only drink alcohol socially, if any
The food plan of the 75 Soft Challenge is not a strict rule, which many will find relief. It does not require you to follow a strict diet specifically.
Eat well and only drink on social occasions.
The 75 Soft diet needs to be healthy foods, whatever you deem acceptable when eating well. This might mean they should follow a diet strictly, and others may prefer to be a little more forgiving when it comes to this rule.
In the end, you know if the diet is healthy eating or not and if you break this 75 soft Challenge rule. So when it comes to rule #2, you decide if you are actually on track through self-discipline. No worrying about diets, cheat days, or cheat meals. Basically, eat well and only drink socially, if at all.
The big adaption of the Soft version of the 75 Soft challenge with this diet rule is the alcohol consumption aspect.
With the Hard challenge option, the rules say zero booze is allowed for 75 days. However, alcohol is allowed during the 75 Soft Challenge, but only to drink on social occasions.
This means no boozing at home, just for the sake of drinking for any of the 75 days. Not even for one day.
And maybe a note to add on this point; a drink socially should be approached carefully and sporadically. Drinking every day or weekend, even if only socially, could have many negative effects and derail your health goals and fitness goals for this 75 Soft Challenge.
So even if it’s allowed in the Soft 75 Challenge rules, don’t use that as a green light to drink as much as you want.
Drink three liters of water a day
Instead of drinking a gallon of water every day on the 75 Soft challenge, which we see on the harder adaptation, the 75 Soft Challenge only requires you to drink 3 liters daily.
Drinking three liters of water per day is a bit less than 1 gallon, so this rule is another modification to the fitness program, making it a bit more accessible to many who find the hard option too extreme and need a better choice.
There are no specific rules with this 75 Soft Challenge rule regarding whether or not you must drink the water plain or if powders are allowed to be mixed in as an alternative for your 3 liters of water.
But in my opinion, since the spirit of the 75 Soft challenge is more about “getting it done,” I recommend doing whatever it takes to drink three litres of water per day, powders or none.
But my personal preference is 1 gallon per day.
Read 10 pages of any book, though self-improvement is preferred
It’s odd, this rule is probably the easiest rule of the 75 Soft challenge (75 Hard as well for that matter), but it’s the one that most people decide not to follow.
Reading ten pages of any book is a 75 Soft Challenge and 75 Hard Challenge program requirement that is not just about the knowledge and enjoyment of the non-fiction book you are reading.
It’s also a rule reinforcing that the 75 Soft challenge requires daily time management and making time for your commitment.
Especially for those who do not enjoy reading, this 75 Soft rule requires that you dedicate a portion to your daily reading 10 pages.
There is a requirement in this variation of the 75 Day Challenge that states what kind of fiction or non-fiction book you should read, unlike the hard 75 Day challenge, which requires the books to be self-help or self-improvement.
Although I recommend using these 75 days as a great way to challenge yourself when you read 10 pages each day, pursue self-improvement, and read those same books, the most important part of this rule is the 10 pages, not the kind of 10 pages. Non-fiction would also be ok here.
Read whatever you need to to complete the daily requirement: fiction or non-fiction. Do what you gotta do.
I did write an article about some great books to read during the 75 day program, which you can read here:
The 75 Hard Challenge VS 75 Soft Challenge
While both challenges have similarities, they are very different programs, each offering different results, habits created, personal development opportunities, and outcomes.
The 75 Hard Challenge
For the Hard 75 Challenge, there is a lot of emphases on the mental aspect of the challenge per day.
This is because there is so much time management required for this challenge that those who choose to do the plan need to move and prioritize their habits with daily rules starting from the moment they wake up until they go to sleep.
Let’s be realistic about this challenge. Yes, it is strict. Yes, you do 2 45 minute workouts a day.
75 Soft leaves very little room for a social life, as the food portion and no alcohol make it difficult for many to enjoy social settings. Many people find it to have extreme rules that are too hard to follow.
You can check out my full review and results from completing the 75 Hard Challenge HERE.
However, as with many programs, the higher the amount of effort, mental strength, and energy required is likely to lead to high levels of realistic goals reached, healthy changes, and results achieved.
With this 75 Soft Challenge, you will see a high level of body changes in addition to mental toughness and wellness, better life, and learning how to establish healthy habits achieved by navigating the tough 75 Soft journey.
This will lead to a higher level of pride in your life upon completion as well.
The Soft 75 Day Challenge
Because the challenge rules are far more relaxed than the harder counterpart, that doesn’t mean it’s easy, not that it’s not got a lot of great benefits to those who go through it.
The challenge exercise and diet plans alone are enough to spark physical change, get you in better physical shape, and create a more fit physique. They could also serve as guidelines to help you take new steps towards not just small changes, but overall healthier lifestyle choices that can stick beyond the program.
Both challenge plans can potentially lead to healthy weight loss and sustainable muscle gain if the exercise and food are on point.
The increase in the liquid will lead to a more healthy and more hydrated body, and the ten pages of a book a day will undoubtedly lead to greater overall physical and mental health.
75 Soft Challenge FAQs
Final Thoughts On The 75 Soft Challenge
Challenge Pros
Challenge Cons
Despite the social media posts, the lighter name, and the modified rules, 75 days of the 75 Soft challenge is not going to be easy for many people.
The 75 Soft Challenge rules still require a daily commitment to developing a better daily routine, healthy habits, and a better lifestyle for the long term. It still requires a lot of action and mental toughness.
As with any fitness challenge, safety is paramount and we want to avoid anything potentially dangerous or unhealthy, so check with your primary physician to make sure it’s ok to do.
Rob is a Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Nutrition Coach through the National Academy of Sports Medicine. For the past 10 years, Rob has been navigating the health and fitness landscape in a quest to better himself and those around him focusing on tools such as calorie and macro counting, intermittent fasting, and HIIT training techniques.
