75 Day Challenge: Rules for 75 Hard, 75 Soft, 75 Medium and a Glow-Up Version
The 75 day challenge in four versions: 75 Hard, 75 Medium, 75 Soft and a glow-up 75, with every rule side by side and how to pick the one you will finish.
A 75 day challenge is a set of daily rules you follow for 75 days in a row, usually workouts, water, reading and diet. The original is 75 Hard (two 45-minute workouts, one outdoors, a strict diet with no alcohol, a gallon of water, 10 pages of non-fiction and a progress photo every day, and you restart from day one if you miss anything). The softer versions, 75 Medium and 75 Soft, keep the shape and drop the punishment, and a glow-up 75 swaps the gym focus for skin, sleep and screen habits. Below are all four side by side, how to choose, and what makes people quit in week five.
What is the 75 day challenge?
The 75 day challenge started as 75 Hard, a programme entrepreneur and podcaster Andy Frisella published in 2019 and calls a mental toughness programme rather than a fitness plan. The idea is that doing five non-negotiable things every day for 75 days, with no exceptions, teaches you to keep promises to yourself. It spread on TikTok, and because the original is brutal for anyone with a job, children or a social life, people wrote gentler versions. Today “75 day challenge” can mean any of them, so the first job is to decide which one you are doing and write its rules down.
75 Hard rules
Every day, for 75 days:
- Follow a diet of your choice. No cheat meals and no alcohol.
- Do two 45-minute workouts. One of them must be outdoors, whatever the weather.
- Drink one gallon of water (about 3.8 litres).
- Read 10 pages of a non-fiction or self-development book. Audiobooks do not count.
- Take a progress photo.
Miss any of the five, on any day, and you go back to day one. That reset rule is the whole point of 75 Hard, and it is also why most people do not finish it. Ninety minutes of training a day plus a gallon of water is a lot for a beginner; if you have a health condition, talk to a doctor before you start.
75 Medium rules
75 Medium has no official rulebook, so you will find a few versions. The most common one keeps 75 Hard’s structure at about half the load:
- One 45-minute workout a day, with one active recovery day a week.
- Follow a diet, with one treat meal a week. Alcohol is limited, not banned.
- Drink 3 litres of water.
- Read 10 pages of any book.
- Ten minutes of something for your head: journaling, meditation or a walk without your phone.
No restart. A missed day is a missed day, and you carry on.
75 Soft rules
75 Soft is the version most people actually finish: eat well and drink alcohol only on social occasions, train 45 minutes a day with one recovery day a week, drink 3 litres of water, and read 10 pages of any book. No restart. We broke down exactly what counts for each rule in our 75 Soft challenge rules guide.
A glow-up 75 day challenge
The fitness versions all measure you by the gym. A glow-up 75 keeps the daily discipline and spreads it across the things that change how you look and feel by day 75: skin, hair, sleep and your phone. This is the version in our app, Bloom, called Glow Up 75. Its six daily rituals are:
- Move 45 minutes. A class, a run, a long walk. On purpose, not the walk to the bus.
- SPF before you leave. Every day, including cloudy ones.
- Hair got care today. Oil, a mask, a proper wash and dry: whatever your hair needs.
- 3 litres of water.
- 10 pages, no feed. A book, not a phone.
- Phone out, lights off by 12. Sleep is the glow-up nobody posts.
No reset, but every day is either ticked or it is not, and the streak shows it.
Which 75 day challenge should you do?
- You have finished a long habit streak before and want to be tested: 75 Hard.
- You train already and want structure without the reset: 75 Medium.
- This is your first long challenge, or you work long hours: 75 Soft.
- You care more about skin, sleep and screen time than about the gym: a glow-up 75.
- It is October and you want something shorter and quieter: the winter arc. We compared the two in winter arc vs 75 Hard.
The honest test: have you ever kept any daily habit for 75 days? If not, pick the softer version. Finishing 75 Soft beats quitting 75 Hard on day twelve, and you can run Hard next time with 75 days of proof behind you.
How to get through all 75 days
- Write the rules on day one and do not edit them. “Eat well” quietly turns into “ate something” by week three if it is not written down.
- Put the hardest rule first. Workouts and reading saved for 11pm are the ones that slip.
- Plan for weeks five to seven. The novelty is gone and nothing visible has changed yet. That is where most people quit, so line up a friend, a group chat or a tracker that shows the gap.
- Take a day-one photo, even if the rules do not ask for it. On day 75 you will want the comparison.
- Track it daily, never from memory. By day twenty you will not remember whether last Tuesday counted.
Tracking your 75 day challenge
A paper tracker works: one row per rule, 75 boxes across, stuck where you see it every morning. On a phone, Bloom is our tracker built for this. Pick Glow Up 75 or one of ten challenges (Winter Arc, That Girl Era, Soft Life Reset and others), or build your own rules, tick each ritual as you do it, keep the streak, and check in with a partner who remembers why you started and nudges you on the days you go quiet. It runs on Android and iPhone, and Bloom+ starts with a 3-day free trial.
Common questions
What is the 75 day challenge?
A set of daily rules followed for 75 days straight. The original, 75 Hard, means two workouts, a strict diet, a gallon of water, 10 pages of reading and a progress photo every day, with a restart if you miss one.
What are the 5 rules of the 75 day challenge?
For 75 Hard: follow a diet with no alcohol or cheat meals, two 45-minute workouts with one outdoors, a gallon of water, 10 pages of non-fiction, and a daily progress photo.
What is the difference between 75 Hard and 75 Soft?
75 Soft is one workout with a weekly recovery day, “eat well” instead of a strict diet, 3 litres of water, any book, and no restart when you miss a day.
Do you have to restart the 75 day challenge if you miss a day?
Only in 75 Hard. 75 Medium, 75 Soft and glow-up versions carry on from the next day.
Is there a 75 day challenge app?
Yes. Bloom tracks 75-day challenges like Glow Up 75 on Android and iPhone, or you can set your own daily rules.
Is the 75 day challenge safe?
The softer versions suit most healthy adults. 75 Hard’s 90 minutes of daily training and a gallon of water are a big jump for beginners, so check with a doctor first if you have any health condition.
