Burn the Ships: May 2026

MFEMF’R. BTMFS.

It’s the first Friday of the month—which means it’s time to Burn the Ships.

On the first Friday of every month, we publish a new Burn the Ships workout for Members only.

If Two Percent is a cult, these Burn the Ships workouts are our Kool-Aid.

Members of the Two Percent community do the workout every weekend—a bunch of us satellites, spread out across the world, all sweating and improving together as one extended network.

Burn the Ships workouts are hard, safe, and effective. They improve your strength, cardio, movement quality, and mindset—and, in turn, your life.

We’ve provided scaled versions and exercise swaps, so anyone and everyone can do them. That is to say, you.

• We’re pushing edges and improving safely. It’s easy to be hard but hard to be smart.

Burn the Ships: May 2026

We’re six hits into our My Favorite Exercises series. These posts feature one exercise from my two-decade file of truly great exercises I’ve found in my role as a health and fitness writer.

Find all six parts of the series here.

Now that we have a decent backlog, this month’s Burn the Ships brings some of my favorite exercises together into a splendid session.

It’ll improve your strength and make you more durable heading into summer activities. It backs a lot of excellent movements into a single workout.

The result: Efficiency. You’ll get more benefits in less time.

I’m calling it MFEMF’R. Which … you can surmise what that stands for.

Here’s our roadmap:

• First, we’ll cover the science of why one tough weekly workout is the non-negotiable sweet spot for both physical and mental health.

• Then, we’ll unpack the story behind MFEMF’R. You’ll learn why it’s so effective when time is limited.

• Finally, I’ll give you the complete MFEMF’R workout, with exact steps, full videos, scaled versions, and exercise and equipment swaps to get it done.

Thanks to our partners

• Burn the Ships with Janji, an independent running brand making gear built for ultra-distance pursuits. They’re the only brand making gear specifically for 200-plus-mile adventures—my favorite kind. The 7” Multi Short 2-in-1 is my go-to. Find Janji at Janji.com and at REI stores nationwide.

• Momentous made me feel good about supplements again. Vitamin and mineral insufficiencies are also linked to sports injuries. Supplementation helps us cover our bases. And if you’re going to supplement, use Momentous. Every product is heavily tested because Momentous has contracts with professional sports teams and the U.S. military. I use Momentous’ Plant Protein Powder, Multivitamin, and Creatine daily.