75 Soft Challenge: A Gentle Approach to Better Habits
75 Soft Challenge: The Balanced Beginner’s Guide to 75 Days of Better Habits
TikTok may have made 75 Hard a household name, but its strict, all-or-nothing design can be overly demanding for many people. Enter 75 Soft: a gentler 75-day framework built around four daily habits instead of six rigid mandates. Think of it as setting your habits to cruise control—still moving you toward better health, but without constant pressure.
Motivation Boost: 75 Soft meets you exactly where you’re starting—no judgment and no prerequisite fitness level. Beginners get the structure they crave without burnout, while seasoned athletes can use the 75-day window to tighten up nutrition, hydration, and recovery habits.
In this guide you’ll learn:
- The exact 75 Soft rules and how they compare to 75 Hard
- Why each habit (nutrition, movement, hydration, mindset) is backed by science
- A week-by-week planner you can copy or tweak
- Troubleshooting tips if life inevitably throws a curveball
- How a BodySpec DEXA scan turns your 75-day experiment into data-driven progress
What Is the 75 Soft Challenge?
The Origin Story
75 Soft began as a viral tweak to entrepreneur Andy Frisella’s original 75 Hard program. TikTok users craved a more flexible, beginner-friendly path—one that rewarded consistency over perfection. The result: a four-rule system you follow for 75 consecutive days without having to restart if you slip.
The Four Core Rules
| Rule | What It Means | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Eat well and only drink on social occasions | Emphasize whole foods; alcohol is limited to celebratory moments | Reduces empty calories, supports metabolic health, and aids physical recovery from daily activities or workouts. |
| 2. Engage in 45 minutes of physical activity daily—one of those sessions each week should be dedicated to active recovery | Any exercise counts—strength, cardio, yoga, hiking | Meets the CDC’s 150-minute weekly activity minimum in just 4 days and builds consistency. |
| 3. Drink 3 liters of plain water per day | ≈ 12–13 cups | NASEM’s Adequate Intake for total water (all beverages + food moisture) is ~2.7 L for women and 3.7 L for men. Three liters of plain water lands most adults within—or slightly above—those totals once other fluids are included, making it a practical rule of thumb. Adjust based on climate, body size, and medical guidance. |
| 4. Read 10 pages of a book | Any genre | Six minutes of reading can cut stress levels by up to 68 %, outperforming music and walking, according to Mindlab International research at the University of Sussex (WebMD). |
75 Soft vs. 75 Hard
| Feature | 75 Soft | 75 Hard |
|---|---|---|
| Daily rules | 4 | 6 |
| Workout load | One 45-min session | Two 45-min sessions (one outdoors) |
| Hydration target | 3 L | 1 gallon (≈ 3.8 L) |
| Nutrition | “Eat well,” alcohol only socially | Strict diet, zero alcohol or cheat meals |
| Reset after slip? | No | Yes—back to Day 1 |
Bottom line: 75 Soft keeps the spirit of disciplined habit-building without the punitive do-over.
Why These Four Habits Work (The Science)
1. Smart Nutrition & Limited Alcohol
- Whole foods first. Fiber, protein, and micronutrients support muscle repair and keep you fuller for longer.
- Dial back drinks. Excess alcohol impairs recovery and disrupts sleep quality.
- Easy calorie win. Skipping two standard cocktails (~150 calories each) sidesteps roughly 300 empty calories per night out—savings that snowball over time (USDA FoodData Central).
- Need practical recipes? Find actionable meal ideas in our guide, Meal Prepping: Strategies for Success.
2. Daily Movement—With Rest Built In
Harvard Health estimates that 30 minutes of moderate exercise burns 167–266 calories for adults weighing 125–185 lbs. Extrapolated to 45 minutes, that’s roughly 250–400 calories per session (Harvard Health Publishing). Regular movement also boosts feel-good neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin.
Over time, those chemical rewards reinforce your exercise habit.
The scheduled active-recovery day—think easy walk, mobility flow, or light swim—keeps blood moving to sore muscles so you feel fresher the next day.
3. Adequate Hydration
Aiming for 3 L of plain water helps you stay ahead of the subtle performance dip that comes with even 1–2 % body-weight loss from fluids. Mild dehydration at this level can impair short-term memory, slow reaction time, raise core temperature, and reduce endurance capacity (National Library of Medicine). Keeping your tank topped up therefore supports sharp thinking (cognitive function), efficient cooling (thermoregulation), and sustained workout output (exercise performance).
4. 10 Pages of Reading
Reading can lower heart rate and stress by up to 68 % in just six minutes, outperforming music and walking, per University of Sussex data (WebMD). This nightly ritual also anchors the other habits—behavior scientists call it habit stacking.
Pro tip: Pair your evening pages with a tall glass of water to knock out Rule 3 simultaneously.
Step-by-Step: Launching Your 75 Soft Journey
- Mark Your Calendar – Choose a start date with minimal travel and social commitments.
- Get Baseline Data – A BodySpec DEXA scan provides exact fat, lean, and bone metrics so you can quantify change beyond the scale.
- Stock the Fridge – Fill half your cart with produce, a quarter with lean proteins, and a quarter with whole-grain or starchy carbs.
- Plan Workouts – Mix strength (3 × per week) and cardio or mobility (4 × per week). Use Rule 2’s built-in active-recovery day strategically.
- Create a Reading Queue – Line up three inspiring books now so you’re never scrambling at 10 p.m.
- Make a Habit Tracker – Design a spreadsheet, bullet-journal spread, or printable checklist to log your daily four. Post it somewhere visible.
Sample Week Planner
| Day | Workout | Meal Focus | Reading Cue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon | 45-min full-body lift | High-fiber breakfast bowl | Lunch break |
| Tue | 5 k brisk walk | Colorful salad & grilled chicken | Pre-bed |
| Wed | Yoga flow (active recovery) | Omega-3-rich salmon | Commute (audiobook) |
| Thu | Interval bike session | Batch-cooked chili | After dinner |
| Fri | Upper-body strength | Sheet-pan veggies + tofu | Coffee-shop break |
| Sat | Hiking | Picnic with whole-grain wraps | Evening wind-down |
| Sun | Lower-body strength | Slow-cooker stew | Lazy Sunday afternoon |
Why 75 Soft Works for Every Fitness Level
- True Novices – 45 minutes can be a gentle walk and light stretching, building the exercise habit without intimidation.
- Intermediate Gym-Goers – Use the 75-day runway to focus on progressive overload or master a new skill like pull-ups.
- Advanced Athletes – Dial in recovery, hydration, and mental resilience—the often-overlooked performance multipliers.
No matter where you start, the four rules leave enough flexibility to scale intensity, volume, and food choice to match your unique goals.
Busy-Professional Hacks
- Time-box workouts at the same hour daily to reduce decision fatigue.
- Carry a one-liter bottle—refill it three times and you’re done.
- Use meal-prep Sundays so weekday dinners reheat in 5 minutes.
- Listen to an audiobook during your commute to nail the 10-page rule.
What If You Miss a Day?
Unlike its tougher cousin, 75 Soft doesn’t make you restart at Day 1. Instead:
- Acknowledge the slip without self-shaming.
- Reflect on the trigger—was it scheduling, fatigue, or environment?
- Adjust tomorrow’s plan (earlier workout, pre-filled water jug, etc.).
For more resilience tools, explore Breaking Bad Habits: The Science of Habit Formation in Fitness.
How 75 Soft Benefits Different Lifestyles
- Students & Early-Career Professionals – Consistent 45-minute walks or gym sessions can ease academic stress. Staying hydrated and prioritizing whole-food meals also helps stabilize energy during long study marathons.
- Busy Managers – A quick lunchtime strength session fits into a packed calendar and, paired with mindful alcohol limits, supports reductions in visceral fat. Lower visceral fat means lower cardiovascular risk (CDC—Abdominal Obesity & CVD).
- Content Creators & Influencers – Daily habit check-ins double as engaging social content. Hitting the 3-liter hydration goal keeps your voice clear and energy high on filming days.
Level-Up: Track Your Transformation with BodySpec
Stepping on a scale can’t tell you if the weight you lose is fat or muscle. A BodySpec DEXA scan breaks down:
- Fat vs. lean-mass changes
- Visceral-fat levels (key heart-health marker)
- Bone-density shifts that reveal how your training protects your skeleton
Book a session in minutes at a BodySpec van or studio near you.
75 Soft FAQs
Can beginners really work out 45 minutes every day?
Yes—because intensity can vary. A low-impact yoga flow counts just as much as a hard interval run.
Is drinking 3 L of plain water safe?
Remember, 3 L is water alone. The NASEM recommends about 2.7 L of total fluids for women and 3.7 L for men, including water from food and other beverages. Three liters of water will meet—or in some cases exceed—those totals once coffee, tea, or high-moisture foods are factored in. Adjust up or down based on your size, activity, climate, and medical advice.
Do audiobooks count for the 10 pages?
Many participants say yes. Focus on continuous learning rather than format.
Can I combine 75 Soft with calorie tracking?
Absolutely. A meal-logging app and periodic DEXA scans add objective feedback.
Ready to Go Soft—and Get Strong?
The 75 Soft Challenge proves you don’t need extreme rules to spark meaningful progress. Consistency—not perfection—changes bodies and brains. No matter your starting point, craft your tracker and schedule that baseline DEXA scan to make the next 75 days your gentlest—and most rewarding—transformation yet.
