Just before the pandemic hit, 75 Hard entered the fitness industry.
Created by motivational speaker, author and supplement company chief executive Andy Frisella, 75 Hard was a 75-day mental toughness programme with five daily rules: follow a structured diet with no alcohol or cheat meals, complete two 45-minute workouts – one of which must be outdoors, drink 3.7 litres of water, read 10 pages of a non-fiction book, and take a photo each day to track your progress.
If you missed a task, you had to start the entire challenge from the beginning.
Although extreme, it was an extension of the trend towards hardcore fitness – such as boot camps, Ironman contests, CrossFit, F45 classes and Hyrox training – that the industry had become accustomed to.
But in the years since, space has been made for a gentler approach to all things wellness – be it slow living or joining running clubs – that is more about making friends than mileage.
The notion of physical and mental health and fitness has widened, and the gentler 75 Grow has emerged on social media as the antidote to pushing yourself beyond your limits.
What is 75 Grow?
The programme was conceived on TikTok by psychiatrist Margaret Duncan, who describes it as “challenges based on actual behavioural change, science, whimsy and self-compassion”. She adds: “75 Grow is a 75-day challenge I made for myself based on wanting to change three small habits in my life and to get off the extreme transform-or-else rollercoaster.”
“It is less about punishment and more about growth through self-defined consistency,” says Dr Christian Perrin, a psychologist at Thrive Wellbeing, Dubai. “Where 75 Hard demands discipline and toughness, 75 Grow encourages curiosity and personal meaning.”
The wellness ideology is deliberately loose, with Duncan using the acronym “map” for its three main pillars: movement, avoid avoidance and practise creativity.
“Move each day according to the weekly plan of your choosing,” she says. “Avoid avoidance, setting a timer for 15-45 minutes most days to do something that’s been hanging over your head. Practise creativity, making something more beautiful, more engaged with your community, or more interesting, big or small.”
Benefits of gentle wellness
“Exercise should enhance your life, not make it harder,” says Olympian and founder of Roar Fitness, Sarah Lindsay. “The key is to find something you enjoy and stick with it. Play sport, train with a friend, or meet pals for a walk. Human connection is more important than ever.”
In their Future of Wellness research released in May this year, consulting firm McKinsey valued the current global wellness industry at $2 trillion and noted: “Even though younger demographics may be pushing the industry forward, older consumers too are becoming more interested in an expanding definition of wellness.”
Traditionally, the definition of healthy living was about time spent at the gym or achieving results through restriction or a set of rigid rules.
“Militant, punishment-oriented regimes may work brilliantly for some, but only if they align with their values and motivational style,” says Dr Perrin. “For others, those same regimes may backfire because they are built around someone else’s values, not their own.
“When our actions are aligned with personal values, habits are far more likely to endure. This is probably because we find more enjoyment and meaning in the process itself.”
Gentle wellness also means not berating yourself if you don’t achieve the day’s or week’s goals, but to see your aims as something to work towards continuously, as opposed to within a set time frame.
“The ‘all or nothing’ mindset can also foster guilt and burnout rather than long-term behaviour change,” says Dr Grace Fabrizia Graziani, a specialist in family medicine at the Aster Royal Clinic in Arabian Ranches, Dubai.
“Gentle wellness programmes like 75 Grow emphasise progress over perfection. They nurture mental health, hormonal stability, and adherence, which are the real keys to lifestyle transformation. Evidence shows that consistent moderate exercise, mindful eating and restorative sleep are more effective than short, intense challenges in reducing inflammation and preventing chronic disease.”
Finding a balance
Irrespective of your approach to health, experts agree that discipline and goal-setting are important for forming good and lasting habits.
“Consistency is what truly matters,” says Lindsay. “If a gentle walk every day feels achievable, that will have a greater long-term impact than one intense workout a week.”
Dr Graziani adds: “If goals are too vague or unstructured, motivation may drop. The balance lies in combining kindness with accountability – a core principle of lifestyle medicine coaching.”
75 Hard and 75 Grow may appear to be at opposite ends of the wellness challenge spectrum, but there are areas where they agree: fitting a workout into your daily life and engaging in something mentally stimulating.
“The idea that it takes 21 days to form a habit is a myth,” says Dr Perrin. “Research from University College London found that on average, it takes 66 days for a new behaviour to become automatic.
“Importantly, missing a day or two does not erase progress. A study in Frontiers in Psychology demonstrated that occasional lapses had minimal effect as long as participants resumed the behaviour soon after. Consistency over time matters more than perfect streaks, so forgive slip-ups and recommit.”
Value-driven wellness is a good way to find the type of physical exercise, mental stimulation and creative output you enjoy, making it much easier to stick with. If showing up is important to you, team sports are a great way to fulfil that personal value, leading to feelings of positivity around the exercise.
“We can redefine ‘pushing limits’ as expanding capacity, not punishing the body,” says Dr Perrin. “Growth occurs in the zone between comfort and chaos, where challenge exists, but recovery and self-compassion are equally prioritised.”
