Why 75 Soft May Be Ideal for Beginners Over 75 Hard By Brittany Hammond Updated on December 7, 2025 Fact checked by Sarah Scott Fact checked by Sarah Scott Sarah is a writer, researcher and avid yoga practitioner with a decade of experience covering health and lifestyle topics for a variety of digital and print publications. health’s fact checking process Close Getty Images / Maskot 75 Soft is a beginner-friendly version of 75 Hard with less strict rules. This challenge doesn’t require restarting if you miss a day and includes a rest day to prevent overuse injuries.Choosing the right fitness program for you requires consistency and preparation. 75 Soft provides a beginner-friendly alternative to 75 Hard. It includes flexible guidelines for exercise, diet, and hydration. How Is 75 Soft Easier for Beginners? 75 Soft is simply a watered-down version of 75 Hard. The rules for 75 Soft are less strict and include: Eat well and limit alcohol to social occasions.Work out for 45 minutes daily, with one active recovery day each week.Drink 3 liters of water daily.Read 10 pages of any book daily. One of the biggest perks of 75 Soft is the element of grace it offers to participants. Unlike 75 Hard, there is no rule requiring you to start over at day one if you miss something one day. Celina Vitocruz, CPT, pointed out how the fear of failing can mess with someone’s mental health. Taking that fear out of the equation can be helpful for many people. “I like to remind my clients that if you have a bad day, it’s not the end of the world and you’re not starting over from square one, you just wake up tomorrow and try again,” Vitocruz told Health. “It helps create a healthier relationship with fitness, food, and wellness.” Cicely Berkey, CPT, agreed that the flexibility built into the 75 Soft is a plus. It’s great for someone who may work two jobs, be the primary caregiver in their family, or has time factors to consider when taking on a challenge. “The 75 Soft challenge offers some flexibility for people to build sustainable habits while living their life and being able to enjoy time out with friends and family or any celebrations that occur during the 75 days,” Berkey told Health. Why 75 Hard Might Be Too Tough 75 Soft also takes into consideration one of 75 Hard’s biggest risk factors—overuse and the possibility of injury. Berkey noted that two 45-minute workouts daily might not be safe for everyone, especially if you’re not used to that level of activity. This can lead to injuries. Vitocruz noted that 75 Hard also contains additional elements like lack of sustainability, lack of motivation, and the possibility of burnout that are hard for everyone, particularly beginners. The 75 Soft challenge could help you create healthier habits with less pressure. It promotes balance in your routine. According to Brekey, the 75 Soft serves as a framework to guide participants while allowing people to make accommodations for celebrations. “This allows you to be a human and make healthy choices, allowing space for life as well,” said Brekey. What To Think About When Picking a Fitness Program The best fitness or health challenge is one you can do consistently. Strict programs make that difficult to do, and preparation is also key. Brekey suggested finding out how much commitment a program requires. “Can you take on the allotted time requirements, including if you take on a specific diet that now requires you to prepare more food than you have been?” asked Brekey. Brekey also suggested reaching out to a doctor for guidance with this or any new program. Follow us to see more of our stories on Google. Follow Us On “When choosing a health/fitness challenge, definitely learn where the challenge came from and why it was created,” said Vitocruz. “In reality, if we’re looking to become healthier, happier versions of ourselves, a gentler and more sustainable approach is the way to go.” Read more: Wellness Fitness Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit 1 Source Health.com uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Rynecki ND, Siracuse BL, Ippolito JA, Beebe KS. Injuries sustained during high intensity interval training: are modern fitness trends contributing to increased injury rates?. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2019;59(7):1206-1212. doi:10.23736/S0022-4707.19.09407-6