- 75 hard vs 75 soft
- 75 medium
- 75 day challenge
- habit streaks
- consistency
75 Hard vs 75 Soft, and where 75 Medium fits
75 Hard vs 75 Soft vs 75 Medium, rule by rule: workouts, diet, alcohol, water, reading, photos and missed days. And which one to pick for the weeks you have.
75 Hard vs 75 Soft comes down to time and forgiveness. 75 Hard asks for two 45-minute workouts a day with no rest day, a strict diet, a gallon of water, 10 pages of non-fiction and a daily photo, and any miss sends you back to day 1. 75 Soft asks for one workout with a weekly recovery day, eating well, 3 litres of water and 10 pages of any book, and most versions let you carry on after a miss. 75 Medium sits between them.
The rules side by side
| Rule | 75 Hard | 75 Medium | 75 Soft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Workouts | Two 45-minute sessions a day, one outdoors | One 45-minute session | One 45-minute session |
| Rest days | None | One a week | One active recovery day a week |
| Food | A diet you choose, no cheat meals | A diet you choose | Eat well |
| Alcohol | None | None | Social occasions only |
| Water | One US gallon, about 3.8 litres or 128 oz | 3 litres, about 101 oz | 3 litres, about 101 oz |
| Reading | 10 pages of non-fiction or self-improvement. No audiobooks. | 10 pages of any book | 10 pages of any book |
| Progress photo | Every day | Optional in most versions | None |
| Missed day | Start again at day 1 | No fixed rule | No fixed rule. Most versions carry on. |
| Who sets the rules | Created by Andy Frisella | Community version, no single owner | Community version, no single owner |
The last row explains a lot. 75 Hard has one source for its rules. 75 Soft and 75 Medium grew up afterwards as community versions, so their rules shift from one write-up to the next. The versions above are the common ones, and they are the ones the trackers on this site use. For what counts under each rule, read the 75 Hard rules and the 75 Soft challenge rules.
75 Hard vs 75 Soft: what is different
Four differences do most of the work.
- Training time. 75 Hard is two sessions a day, every day. 75 Soft is one, six days a week, with a lighter seventh.
- The outdoor rule. Only 75 Hard has one, and it applies in rain, cold and dark.
- Alcohol and food. 75 Hard bans alcohol and cheat meals under a diet you write yourself. 75 Soft asks you to eat well and allows a drink on social occasions.
- The restart. In 75 Hard a single missed rule on day 60 costs you 60 days. In most versions of 75 Soft it costs you one square on the grid.
- The small stuff. A gallon against 3 litres, non-fiction against any book, a daily photo against none.
The first one is the one that decides most people's outcome, so put a number on it. Two 45-minute sessions is 630 minutes of training a week. Six sessions of 45 minutes is 270. The CDC's guidance for adults is at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week plus muscle-strengthening on 2 days, which means even 75 Soft is well past the baseline. 75 Hard is over four times it.
And that 630 is only the time moving. Add 20 minutes per session for changing, showering and getting out of the door, and 75 Hard comes to over two hours a day. That is the real cost of the challenge. The water and the reading are easy next to it.
What is 75 Medium?
75 Medium is the middle version, for people who find 75 Soft too loose and 75 Hard too much. Like 75 Soft, it has no single owner, so the rules vary. The common version has five parts.
- One workout of at least 45 minutes a day, with one rest day a week.
- Follow a diet you chose, with no alcohol.
- Drink 3 litres of water, about 101 oz.
- Read 10 pages of any book.
- Take a progress photo. Most versions make this optional.
So 75 Medium keeps the training load of 75 Soft and borrows the food discipline of 75 Hard. That trade is the point of it. Many people can find 45 minutes a day. Far fewer can find 90. But plenty of people want a firm food rule, because "eat well" turns into whatever you felt like by the third week.
Where 75 Medium differs from 75 Soft, then, is the diet and the alcohol: a diet you wrote down rather than a general aim to eat well, and no drinks at all instead of drinks on social occasions. Training and water are the same.
There is no fixed missed-day rule for 75 Medium either. Decide before day 1. If you want 75 Medium to feel different from 75 Soft, a strict restart is the obvious lever to pull, and it is the one that makes the challenge noticeably harder without adding a minute of training.
Which one should you pick?
Pick by the weeks you have now, not the weeks you wish you had.
| Your situation | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You train once or twice a week now, or not at all | 75 Soft | Six 45-minute sessions a week is already a big step up. Finish one before raising the bar. |
| You train 3 or 4 days a week and want a clear food rule | 75 Medium | Same training as 75 Soft, with a diet and no alcohol |
| You already train most days and have over two hours a day free | 75 Hard | You can absorb the second session, and the strict rules remove daily judgement calls |
| Young children, shift work or a long commute | 75 Soft or 75 Medium | A second daily session is the first thing a bad week breaks |
| A history of disordered eating | Talk to a professional before any of them | A strict food rule with a restart attached can make things worse |
| A medical condition, pregnancy or an injury | Ask a doctor first | The training and water targets may not suit you at all |
My verdict, if you are reading this because you cannot decide: start with 75 Soft. A finished 75 Soft tells you more about your own weeks than a 75 Hard restarted four times, and it leaves you a clear next step. Who should ignore this advice? Anyone who already trains daily, knows they have the time, and finds loose rules harder to keep than strict ones. Some people do better with no wiggle room at all, and for them 75 Hard is the easier of the two.
Moving up works well. Finish 75 Soft, take a week off, then run 75 Medium or 75 Hard with the habits already in place. The reading and water become automatic in the first one, which leaves your attention for the training and the food in the second.
Is 75 Soft easier than 75 Hard?
Yes, on every rule. Less training, more flexible food, less water, a wider choice of books, no photo and a forgiving missed-day rule. It is easier in a way that matters, too: it fits a normal working week.
The catch is the flip side of forgiving. In 75 Hard a miss has an obvious price, so people protect every day. In 75 Soft a miss is cheap, and three cheap misses in one week can drain the challenge without any single day feeling like a failure. If you pick 75 Soft, watch for two misses in a row. That is the pattern that ends it.
One thing I do not know: how many people finish each version. Nobody publishes a reliable count, so treat any completion rate you see quoted with suspicion.
- What is the difference between 75 Hard and 75 Soft?
- 75 Hard asks for two 45-minute workouts a day with one outdoors, a strict diet with no alcohol, a gallon of water, 10 pages of non-fiction and a daily photo, and a miss means day 1. 75 Soft asks for one workout with a weekly recovery day, eating well, 3 litres of water and 10 pages of any book.
- Is 75 Medium the same as 75 Soft?
- No. Both ask for one 45-minute workout a day with a weekly rest day, 3 litres of water and 10 pages of any book. 75 Medium adds a diet you chose with no alcohol, and most versions make a photo optional. 75 Soft says eat well, allows alcohol on social occasions, and has no photo.
- Should I do 75 Hard or 75 Soft first?
- 75 Soft, unless you already train most days and have over two hours a day to give it. Finishing 75 Soft builds the water and reading habits and shows you what your weeks can hold, which makes a later 75 Hard far more likely to last.
- Can you switch from 75 Hard to 75 Soft partway through?
- Nothing stops you, but it is a new challenge rather than a continuation. Count it as day 1 of 75 Soft. If you keep the days you already did, write down that you switched so the record stays honest.
- Does 75 Medium have a progress photo?
- Optional in most versions. 75 Hard asks for one every day, 75 Soft has none, and 75 Medium leaves it to you. If you take one, use the same spot and light each day so the photos compare.
Read next
- 75 Hard rules: the 5 daily tasks and what counts for each9 minThe 75 Hard rules are five daily tasks for 75 days in a row. What counts for each one, whether walks and audiobooks count, and what happens if you miss a day.
- 75 Soft challenge rules: the 4 rules, the rest day and missed days8 minWhat is the 75 Soft challenge? Four daily rules for 75 days, with a weekly rest day. What counts for each, how alcohol works, and what a missed day means.
- How many habits should you track at once? Start with three6 minTwelve habits on the first of the month is how you end up tracking none by the twentieth. Here is how to pick the number you can actually hold.
- What happens if you miss a day of a habit? Less than it feels like8 minOne missed day barely slows a habit down. The two days after it decide whether you lost a day or the habit. Here is what to do with them.