75 Soft Challenge: Rules, Free Tracker & Tips to Actually Finish
Four daily rules, 75 days and, in many versions, no restart after one bad day. Here's what counts for each rule, a tracker to print and a plan to finish.
Key takeaways
- 75 Soft is a 75-day challenge with four daily rules: eat well with alcohol only on social occasions, a 45-minute workout with one active recovery day a week, about 3 liters of water and 10 pages of any book.
- There is no official rulebook, so decide what counts as a workout, a drink and a book, and write your version down before day 1.
- Many versions let you carry on after a missed day, and in Lally's 2010 study of 96 volunteers one missed opportunity did not materially affect habit formation.
- Over 75 days the rules add up to 750 pages, 225 liters of water and about 48 hours of exercise, but 75 Soft is not a weight-loss program.
- Tracking helps: a 2016 meta-analysis of 138 studies found that monitoring progress helped people reach their goals, especially when progress was recorded or shared.
If 75 Hard sounds brutal but you still want a real reset, the 75 Soft challenge is the version that fits a normal week. The 75-day soft challenge has four daily habits: eat well, with alcohol only on social occasions; do a 45-minute workout, with one active recovery day a week; drink about 3 liters of water; and read 10 pages of any book. In many versions, missing a day doesn't send you back to day 1.
Below: the exact rules and what counts for each, the versions you'll see online, a tracker you can print, and a plan for the weeks when it gets hard.
What is the 75 Soft challenge?
Definition
- 75 Soft
- A 75-day self-improvement challenge with four daily habits: eat well and drink alcohol only on social occasions, do a 45-minute workout with one active recovery day a week, drink about 3 liters of water and read 10 pages of any book.
It's the gentle cousin of 75 Hard, the program Andy Frisella launched with official rules: two workouts a day, a gallon of water and a restart after any miss.
75 Soft has no official rulebook. It grew out of the fitness community and is widely credited to Irish fitness influencer Stephen Gallagher (who posted as @stephengfitness on TikTok), who, as TODAY reports, shared it in a 2021 video as 75 Hard for people without time for two 45-minute workouts a day. TikTok did the rest, and you'll also see it called Soft 75.
Cleveland Clinic calls 75 Soft much safer and more manageable for many people than 75 Hard. That's why people pick it:
- It fits a workday. One workout and 10 pages take about an hour, not three.
- It has a rest day. One active recovery day a week is built in.
- One bad day isn't the end. Many versions let you carry on after a miss.
Because nobody owns the rules, you'll find small differences from site to site. Many guides drop 75 Hard's restart rule, for example, so decide yours before day 1.
The 75 Soft rules (the 4 daily habits)
These are the 75-day soft challenge rules in their most common form, the version Cleveland Clinic and many guides list. Do all four every day for 75 days:
- Eat well, with alcohol only on social occasions. There's no set diet. You decide what eating well means for you, and you drink only at real social moments, like a dinner out or a wedding.
- Do a 45-minute workout, with one active recovery day a week. Any kind of training counts. On your recovery day you still move, just gently.
- Drink about 3 liters of water. That's about 101 ounces, or roughly 12 to 13 cups, spread across the day.
- Read 10 pages of any book. Fiction counts too, unlike 75 Hard, which asks for nonfiction.
The questions start on day 2: does a walk count, does coffee, does an audiobook? Here's what counts for each rule.
Rule 1: eat well (and alcohol only on social occasions)
"Eat well" is the vaguest rule, so turn it into one or two checks you can answer yes or no each night.
- Counts: your own written rule, like "vegetables at two meals" or "one treat a day, not three."
- Doesn't count: "I'll be better tomorrow." If you can't check it off, it isn't a rule.
- Alcohol: a drink at a birthday dinner fits the rule. A beer alone on the couch doesn't.
Rule 2: a 45-minute workout (and one recovery day)
Any intentional exercise of 45 minutes counts: a run, a gym session, a bike ride, a yoga class, a pickup game. A brisk walk counts too. The CDC lists brisk walking as moderate-intensity activity, the kind that counts toward its recommended 150 minutes a week.
- Counts: planned exercise you'd describe as a workout, indoors or outdoors.
- Doesn't count (our suggestion): housework, steps from errands, or "I was on my feet all day."
- Recovery day: an easy walk, mobility work or stretching. Our stretching timer guides you through eight beginner stretches in about 9 minutes.
Can you split the 45 minutes? The rule doesn't say. For your health it's fine: the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans dropped the old 10-minute minimum, because activity of any length counts. Just decide before day 1, for example two blocks that add up to 45 minutes.
Rule 3: about 3 liters of water
Plain water counts, still or sparkling, with lemon or a splash of unsweetened flavor. Soda, juice and alcohol don't.
Coffee and tea are the gray zone. Physically, they do hydrate you. The National Academies count caffeinated drinks toward total water intake, and in a 2014 study by Sophie Killer and colleagues, 50 male coffee drinkers stayed as hydrated on moderate coffee as on water (a small study, men only). Our suggestion: count herbal tea, leave coffee out, so the rule still changes something.
Is 3 liters right for you? The National Academies set adequate total water intake at about 2.7 liters a day for women and 3.7 for men, from all drinks and food. About 80 percent of that comes from drinks, roughly 2.2 liters for women and 3 for men, so 3 liters of drinks alone is generous for many women and about right for many men. Our water intake calculator gives a starting goal for your weight, exercise and climate, and our 30-day water challenge is a good way to practice this rule first.
Rule 4: 10 pages of any book
Any book counts: a novel, a memoir, a cookbook you actually read. At the 238 words a minute that Marc Brysbaert's 2019 review of 190 studies found for silent reading of nonfiction, 10 pages of a typical paperback, about 250 words a page (our assumption), take roughly 11 minutes.
- Counts: print books and e-books.
- Your call: audiobooks. In a 2016 study by Beth Rogowsky, Barbara Calhoun and Paula Tallal, 91 adults got the same nonfiction text as an e-book, an audiobook or both, and comprehension didn't differ significantly. If you count them, listen for about as long as 10 pages would take you to read.
- Doesn't count (our suggestion): social media, news feeds and newsletters.
If scrolling in bed is one of your bad habits, this is the rule that can replace it. In Greatr you can lock apps like Instagram or TikTok until your evening routine, the 10 pages included, is done.
75 Soft rule variations: which version should you follow?
Follow the most common version unless you have a good reason not to, and write your version down before day 1. Because 75 Soft has no official rules, guides and creators disagree on the details. These are the differences we see most often:
| Rule | Most common version | Common variations |
|---|---|---|
| Workout | 45 minutes a day, one active recovery day a week | 30 minutes a day; 4 or 5 workouts a week |
| Food | Eat well, your own definition | An 80/20 rule; no fast food; no added sugar |
| Alcohol | Only on social occasions | One drink a week; none at all |
| Water | About 3 liters a day | Half your body weight in ounces |
| Reading | 10 pages of any book | Nonfiction only; audiobooks allowed |
| Extras | None | 7 to 8 hours of sleep; 5 minutes of meditation; a photo on day 1 and day 75 |
| Missed day | Carry on the next day | Restart at day 1, like 75 Hard |
Some people change the length or the rules instead. 45 Soft runs the same four rules for 45 days. 75 Medium (still 75 days) usually asks for a 45 to 60-minute workout and 10 to 20 minutes of daily reflection, as Cleveland Clinic describes it. Our guide to 75 Hard alternatives, linked in the next section, compares both.
Our suggestion for a first try: the most common version, plus one written line per rule saying what counts. Adding extras like a sleep rule is fine, but every extra rule is one more thing to miss.
75 Soft vs 75 Hard: the key differences
75 Soft keeps the 75 days and the daily checklist, and softens almost everything else. The biggest difference isn't the second workout but the reset rule.
| Rule | 75 Soft | 75 Hard |
|---|---|---|
| Workouts per day | One, 45 minutes | Two, 45 minutes each |
| Outdoor workout | Not required | One a day, any weather |
| Rest day | One active recovery day a week | None |
| Diet | Eat well in general | Your chosen plan, no cheat meals |
| Alcohol | Only on social occasions | None |
| Water | About 3 liters | 1 gallon (about 3.8 liters) |
| Reading | 10 pages of any book | 10 pages of nonfiction |
| Progress photo | Optional | Every day |
| Missed day | Carry on, in many versions | Restart at day 1 |
| Time per day | About 1 to 1.5 hours | About 2.5 to 3+ hours |
Choose 75 Soft if you want 75 days of structure that fits around work, kids or a social life. Choose 75 Hard if you already train most days, have close to three hours a day to spare and want a single miss to cost you the whole run.
Want the full picture, including 75 Medium, 45 Soft and Monk Mode? See our guide to 75 Hard alternatives, with 9 easier options side by side.
Free 75 Soft tracker and printable calendar
The simplest tracker is a sheet of paper you check every night. Print this page, copy the two tables into a notebook, or add the four rules to our habit tracker and check them off online.
Tracking isn't just admin. In a 2016 meta-analysis of 138 studies with 19,951 participants, Benjamin Harkin and colleagues found that monitoring progress helped people reach their goals, and the effect was larger when progress was physically recorded or reported to someone else.
The weekly tracker
| Rule | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eat well, alcohol only socially | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| 45-minute workout or recovery day | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| About 3 liters of water | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
| 10 pages of any book | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ | ☐ |
The 75-day calendar
| Week | Challenge days | Days with all 4 rules | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Days 1 to 7 | __ of 7 | Day 1: your version is written down |
| Week 2 | Days 8 to 14 | __ of 7 | Day 14: check your times and adjust |
| Week 3 | Days 15 to 21 | __ of 7 | Day 21: if motivation dips, do your minimum |
| Week 4 | Days 22 to 28 | __ of 7 | Day 28: four weeks done |
| Week 5 | Days 29 to 35 | __ of 7 | Day 30: one month done |
| Week 6 | Days 36 to 42 | __ of 7 | Day 38: past halfway |
| Week 7 | Days 43 to 49 | __ of 7 | Day 45: where 45 Soft would end |
| Week 8 | Days 50 to 56 | __ of 7 | Day 50: two thirds done |
| Week 9 | Days 57 to 63 | __ of 7 | Day 60: 15 days left |
| Week 10 | Days 64 to 70 | __ of 7 | Day 66: the median in one habit study (Lally, 2010), not a deadline |
| Week 11 | Days 71 to 75 | __ of 5 | Day 75: finish line, pick the rules you keep |
Lost count of which day you're on? Our days since calculator counts from your start date, and you can count the start day as day 1.
Track it in an app
Prefer your phone to paper? Greatr, the iPhone routine app we make, is one way to do it. Add the rules you do at a set time, like the workout and the 10 pages, as habits in one morning or evening routine, then tap Play and run them in order. Greatr counts every day you show up, with medals like 30 Day Streak and 66 Habit Days, and every habit earns XP.
How to prepare before day 1
Plan for about 1 to 1.5 hours a day. The rules take about an hour (45 minutes of training and about 11 minutes of reading), and changing, showering and getting to a gym add the rest (our estimate). Water takes no extra time, only a bottle you keep refilling.
The night before day 1, get these ready:
- Your version, written down: what counts for each rule, and what happens after a miss
- Your recovery day, picked in advance (Saturday or Sunday works for many people)
- A workout plan for week 1, with a time and a place for each session
- A water bottle with ounce or liter marks, so 3 liters is just a number of refills
- Two or three books on your nightstand, so a finished book never stops the streak
- A start date: a Monday, or tomorrow
- The tracker, printed and somewhere you'll see it
Then give each rule a fixed moment. This is habit stacking: attach the new habit to something you already do every day. "After I pour my morning coffee, I will fill my water bottle." "After dinner, I will read 10 pages on the couch." The cue does the remembering for you.
Starting in January? Read why most New Year's resolutions fail first. And if you're picking books, our reading time calculator shows how long a book takes and how many minutes a day you need to finish it by a date.
How to actually finish: tips for week 1 to week 11
The rules are easy on day 1. The hard part comes later: a busy week, a missed day, the novelty wearing off. Plan for those now.
No study has tracked when people drop out of 75 Soft, so the stages below are a common shape for long challenges, not data. Read them as a map.
Weeks 1 and 2: the easy part
Motivation is high. Use it to set the order you'll keep: same time, same place, same sequence. Don't add rules because day 4 felt easy.
Weeks 3 to 5: the dip
The novelty wears off and life pushes back: a cold, a deadline, a trip. Decide your minimum now. A 45-minute walk, your food rule, the water and 10 pages before bed still make a full day.
Weeks 6 to 11: getting easier
For many people, the habits start to feel more automatic here, more routine than effort. In Phillippa Lally's 2010 study, 96 volunteers set out to repeat one daily behavior for 12 weeks.
Automaticity rose fastest in the early weeks and then leveled off. The median time to reach that plateau was 66 days, with individual times from 18 to 254 days. So 75 days covers the median, not everyone: 75 Soft is long enough for many habits to settle, and some take longer.
What to do if you miss a day
Do the next day, fully, and don't restart at day 1 unless your version says so. Mark the miss on your tracker so you stay honest, then move on. The rule that matters is the one from our Atomic Habits cheat sheet: never miss twice.
Tips that help you reach day 75
- Same time every day. The workout at 6:30 AM or at lunch, the reading after dinner. Decisions you don't have to make can't be skipped.
- A fixed order. Put the rules you do at home into one routine: fill your water bottle, train, shower, read. Each step becomes the cue for the next.
- A partner. Do it with a friend, or text someone your tracker every Sunday. In Harkin's meta-analysis, progress reported to someone else helped more.
- A minimum for bad days. Write down the smallest version of each rule that still counts.
Worked example
Maya, a fictional example, starts 75 Soft on a Monday with Sunday as her recovery day.
- Day 1Spin class at 6:30 AM, a 1-liter bottle filled three times, 10 pages after dinner.
- Days 23 to 24A work trip. She swaps the gym for a hotel-room workout and reads on the plane.
- Day 38She misses the workout with a fever, marks the miss and carries on the next day.
- Day 75 onwardShe keeps the morning workout and the 10 pages as her new routine.
What results can you expect after 75 days?
Expect habits, not a dramatic before-and-after photo. If you keep the most common rules, the totals add up: 10 pages a day for 75 days is 750 pages, about three books of 250 pages (our assumption). Three liters a day is 225 liters of water.
The exercise adds up too. 75 days is 10 weeks and 5 days, so with one recovery day a week you'll do 64 or 65 workouts: at 45 minutes each, that's about 48 hours of exercise. Six workouts a week is 270 minutes, almost twice the CDC's minimum of 150 minutes of moderate activity.
750 pages
read in 75 days at 10 pages a day
Arithmetic: 10 pages x 75 days
About 48 hours
of exercise in 64 workouts of 45 minutes
Arithmetic: 64 x 45 minutes
225 liters
of water at 3 liters a day
Arithmetic: 3 liters x 75 days
Weight loss? Maybe, but 75 Soft isn't a weight-loss program. It has no calorie target, and "eat well" means something different to everyone, so results vary a lot and we won't promise a number (for what a month of training and food can change, see can you get abs in 30 days). What's realistic: better fitness, a reading habit, steadier hydration and, most of all, a daily routine you know you can keep.
Is 75 Soft right for you? (Who should be careful)
For most healthy adults, yes: the rules are moderate, and Cleveland Clinic calls 75 Soft much safer and more manageable than 75 Hard for many people. But a daily checklist can hurt some people.
- A history of disordered eating. Daily food rules and tracking can pull you back into rigid patterns.
- New to exercise. A brisk walk counts, so start there and build intensity over the weeks instead of training hard from day 1.
- Perfectionism. If one missed box ruins your week, set a no-restart rule before you start. Why that works: consistency over perfection.
- Injury, pregnancy or a medical condition. Ask your doctor which workouts fit.
- Water. More isn't always better. Cleveland Clinic warns that drinking a lot of water fast can cause water intoxication (low blood sodium). Spread your 3 liters across the day.
And remember: the challenge is yours. Changing a rule to fit your body isn't cheating; it's the point of the soft version.
After day 75: how to keep the habits
Keep two of the four rules, not all of them. Finishing the 75 Soft challenge is the start, not the end, so pick the two that cost the least and gave the most, like the morning workout and the 10 pages. Turn them into a fixed morning or evening routine, and add a new habit only when those run without effort.
If you built your routine in Greatr, keep it running after day 75: Greatr keeps counting every day you show up, and every habit keeps earning XP. Our list of good habits examples has ideas for what to add next.
Looking for a next challenge that trains focus instead of fitness? Try Monk Mode: a set period of fewer distractions and more deep work.
Your next step: tonight, write your version of the four rules on one page, one line each, with the time you'll do them. Day 1 is tomorrow.
Frequently asked questions
What are the rules of 75 Soft?
75 Soft has four daily rules for 75 days: eat well and drink alcohol only on social occasions, do a 45-minute workout with one active recovery day a week, drink about 3 liters of water, and read 10 pages of any book. There is no official rulebook, so versions differ, and many let you carry on after a missed day.
What happens if you miss a day on 75 Soft?
In many versions of 75 Soft, you note the miss and carry on the next day, without restarting at day 1. Some people keep a reset on purpose, so decide before you start. In Phillippa Lally's 2010 study of 96 volunteers, missing one opportunity did not materially affect habit formation. A useful rule of thumb from James Clear's Atomic Habits: never miss twice.
Does walking count as a workout for 75 Soft?
Yes, a brisk 45-minute walk can count, as long as it is a planned workout rather than steps from errands. The CDC lists brisk walking as moderate-intensity activity, the kind that counts toward its recommended 150 minutes a week. Our suggestion: save a slow stroll for your active recovery day, and pick up the pace when the walk is your main workout.
Can you split the 45-minute workout?
The rule does not say, so it is your call. For your health, splitting is fine: the 2018 update of the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans dropped the old 10-minute minimum, because activity of any length counts. If you split, decide how before day 1, for example two blocks that add up to 45 minutes, and write it into your version.
Does coffee or tea count toward the water goal?
It depends on your version; many people count only plain and sparkling water. Physically, coffee and tea do hydrate you: the National Academies count caffeinated drinks toward total water intake, and a 2014 study of 50 male coffee drinkers found moderate coffee hydrated about as well as water. Our suggestion: count herbal tea and leave coffee out.
Can you drink alcohol on 75 Soft?
Yes, but in the most common version only on social occasions, such as a dinner with friends or a wedding. That rule is vague, so define it before day 1, for example at most one evening a week. Some versions allow one drink a week and others none at all. Alcohol never counts toward your 3 liters of water.
Do audiobooks count for the reading rule?
There is no official rule, so decide before you start. In a 2016 study, Beth Rogowsky and colleagues gave 91 adults the same nonfiction text as an e-book, an audiobook or both, and comprehension did not differ significantly. If you count audiobooks, listen for about as long as reading 10 pages takes you, roughly 11 minutes at an average adult reading speed.
Can you lose weight with 75 Soft?
You might, but 75 Soft is not a weight-loss program. It has no calorie target, and eating well means something different to everyone, so results vary a lot. What it reliably adds up to is about 48 hours of exercise, 750 pages read and a daily routine. If weight loss is your main goal, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian.
Sources
- 75 HARD Rules
- What is the 75 Soft Challenge? How to do the gentler version of 75 Hard
- The 75 Soft Challenge: When 75 Hard Is Too Much
- Adult Activity: An Overview
- The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans
- Report Sets Dietary Intake Levels for Water, Salt, and Potassium to Maintain Health and Reduce Chronic Disease Risk
- No Evidence of Dehydration with Moderate Daily Coffee Intake: A Counterbalanced Cross-Over Study in a Free-Living Population
- How many words do we read per minute? A review and meta-analysis of reading rate
- Does Modality Matter? The Effects of Reading, Listening, and Dual Modality on Comprehension
- 75 Medium Challenge: Rules and Benefits
- Does Monitoring Goal Progress Promote Goal Attainment? A Meta-Analysis of the Experimental Evidence
- How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world
- Water Intoxication
About this article
Jip Groen is a co-founder of Greatr who writes about routines, mornings and screen time: reading the research carefully, trying it on real mornings and turning it into one step you can take tomorrow.
Read full bioHow we wrote this
Jip Groen wrote this guide from the studies and sources listed above, linked so you can check them. Greatr is our own app: we mention it where it fits, and it never decides what a study says. Published Nov 3, 2026. Read our editorial policy.
