I’m always inspired by a challenge. I find challenges are a good way to stay motivated towards a goal. In fact, when I was running a lot, I always signed up for races like half marathons, so that I had an end goal to keep me both motivated and accountable.

I’ve done Project 50, the 75 Hard Challenge, and last year I did the 75 Soft Challenge. I did a blog post on the 75 Soft Challenge when I did it last year, and it’s one of my most popular blog posts. You can read it here. I did make a few tweaks to the challenge last year, as you can read in my post. But this year, I have decided to stick strictly to the challenge as it was created.

So, I thought, maybe it was time for an in-depth overview of The 75 Soft Challenge.

The 75 Hard Challenge

But, lets first talk about the 75 Hard Challenge. I came across the 75 Hard Challenge, a popular and trending “mental toughness” challenge on both Tik Tok and Instagram.

While I love the idea of a challenge and look to them often for motivation, I was a bit turned off by the idea of the 75 Hard Challenge. But it had me thinking, did a similar but more sustainable challenge exist? But first, what exactly is the 75 Hard Challenge?

The 75 Hard Challenge was created by popular podcaster, Andy Frisella. He describes the challenge as not another fitness challenge but instead it is a “transformative mental toughness program”. A program to build confidence, self-esteem, fortitude, and grittiness. Sounds good right?

The 75 Hard Challenge Rules

The idea behind the challenge is to stick to a few daily tasks for 75 days. The tasks are as follows:

Follow any nutrition plan designed for your goals, with zero alcohol and no cheat meals.
Complete two 45-minute workouts every day, one of which must be outside.
Drink a gallon of water every day.
Read 10 pages of an educational or self-improvement book every day.
Take a progress picture every day.

If you miss any of the tasks or cheat, then you are to go back to Day One and start all over again. While there are benefits of creating any new lifestyle change for the better, and some people have had great results finishing the 75 Hard Challenge, I don’t see this as accessible or sustainable for most people.

First, this challenge is pretty time consuming and not everyone is going to be able to fit this into their busy life. I know, personally, I don’t have the time for two 45-minute workouts, EVERY DAY?!

Second, it gives you no grace like having a cheat meal or a dessert in moderation. I believe in balance for success instead of total restriction. As someone in recovery for disordered eating this can be triggering.

I think the 75 Hard Challenge will push anyone with obsessive behaviors that are not under control into making unhealthy choices.

Lastly, it also does not take into consideration all areas of Health and Wellness such as stress management, emotional wellbeing, mental health, recovery times, etc. I personally take a holistic approach to health and wellness including what I call the Four Pillars of Wellness: physical wellness, mental wellness, emotional wellness, and spiritual wellness.

Both the 75 Hard and 75 Soft challenges are pretty much only focused on the physical aspects of wellness.

The 75 Soft Challenge

So, I wondered if there was a more accessible and sustainable version of 75 Hard and I found the 75 Soft Challenge.

The 75 Soft Challenge was created by Tik Tokker, @StephenGFitness. The 75 Soft Challenge rules are more accessible, sustainable, and can help you create healthier habits that will benefit your wellbeing in the long term.

The 75 Soft Challenge Rules

The idea here, like 75 Hard, is to stick to these daily tasks for 75 days, but with the tasks being easier to accomplish.

Eat healthy.
Only drink on social occasions
Do a 45-minute workout daily, once a week is a recovery workout.
Drink 1 gallon of water a day
Read 10 pages a day

Easier. More accessible and better at creating long term habits.

I still feel that this challenge is missing out on the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of wellness. So, who knows, maybe I’ll create my own challenge soon *wink*

My 75 Soft Challenge – The New Year’s Edition

So, I’m going to further break down these rules and give you a better idea of what I’ll be doing for the next 75 days, starting on New Year’s Day.

Eat healthy – I’m currently working on eating a more plant based anti-inflammatory diet. I’ll be sharing a lot of recipes and what I eat in a day videos during the challenge on my YouTube channel as well as sharing recipes and weekly recaps here on the blog.
Only drink on social occasions – I’ve cut way back on my drinking because I know that’s the number one thing sabotaging my progress. I only drink on the weekends right now, but I’m going to give up drinking for Lent. I did this last year and lost a good amount of weight and felt great. So, my goal with this is to stop drinking full stop from January 1 until my birthday at the end of April.
Do a 45-minute workout daily, once a week is a recovery workout – this will be easy for me as I’m already doing 90-minute gym workout 5 days a week. I want to add back more Pilates, so at least 1-2 days a week of Pilates. Which can count as my recovery day. Other recovery workouts can be walks, outdoor bike walks, or yoga.
Drink 1 gallon of water a day – I drink 1-2 liters of water a day but I’m not really consistent. I have a 40 oz Awola tumbler, so I need to drink three of those a day. But along with this rule I want to STOP drinking certain things. My diet coke and energy drink obsession have to go! Neither of these are beneficial nor good for my health. So those are going completely, and I’ll be adding in a daily drink of greens and more green tea throughout the day.
Read 10 pages a day – whereas the 75 Hard challenge requires reading a chapter a day of self-help books, 75 Soft Challenge says only 10 pages a day and whatever you want. I read a lot and mostly self-help but seeing as I’ll be in THREE classes starting in January for school, I’ll be reading my textbooks.

So that’s it for the challenge. I’ll be sharing hopefully daily on Instagram and recording daily content that I’ll share here in a weekly progress check in post and on YouTube in weekly recap videos,

I hope you’ll join me in this challenge! If you do, comment here or tag me on Instagram so we can cheer each other on