YOMP 60 Cohort 2: 60 Days, Starting 21 September
YOMP 60 Cohort 2 starts on Monday 21 September 2026. Sixty consecutive days of weighted rucking, daily training, structured nutrition and no alcohol — run through a British autumn. Sign-up closes Friday 18 September. Miss a day and you restart from Day 1.
Cohort 2 starts on Monday 21 September 2026.
Sign-up closes on Friday 18 September. After that the list is shut and the next chance is the following cohort.
Before anything else, the numbers from last time.
Cohort 1: 47 Started. 9 Finished.
We are not going to dress that up.
Thirty-eight people did not make it to Day 60. Some withdrew injured, which was the right call. Most stopped because the challenge did exactly what it is designed to do — it found the day where the ruck was inconvenient, and the pack stayed by the door.
The nine who finished got the YOMP 'Sixty' patch and a certificate. More to the point, they got two months of evidence that they do what they say they will do. That is the actual prize. Everything else is just something to put on the wall.
If a 19% finish rate puts you off, that is useful information about whether this is for you. If it does the opposite, keep reading.
Cohort 2 Runs Into the Dark
Cohort 1 ran March into May. Every week got lighter, warmer and easier. Cohort 2 runs 21 September to 19 November. Every week gets darker, wetter and colder.
The clocks go back on 25 October, which is Day 35. From that point, most of you will be rucking in the dark on both ends of the working day, in British November weather, for the final three and a half weeks.
We know exactly what that does to a finish rate. We are running it anyway. A 60-day discipline challenge held in good conditions is a walking holiday. This one is the real version.
It is also the version this country is actually built for. Rucking in the UK means soft ground for most of the year, short daylight from October, and a pack that never quite dries out between sessions. Sixty consecutive days through that is a genuine test — of you, and of your kit.
The Rules
Unchanged from Cohort 1. Every requirement, every day, for 60 consecutive days.
Follow a structured diet. Any defined nutritional framework you commit to. No cheat meals, no cheat days.
45-minute weighted ruck, outdoors. Rain or shine. A proper rucking backpack, load carried high and close. Recommended minimum, scale as you see fit: men 20–30lbs, women 15–20lbs. New to rucking? Start lighter and build.
45-minute workout, separate from the ruck. Strength, conditioning or mobility. It has to be intentional training.
Read 10 pages of non-fiction. Physical reading, not audio only.
Drink at least 3L of water. Aim for 3.5–4L.
No alcohol.
Take a daily progress photo. Same time, same lighting where you can.
Miss any requirement and you restart from Day 1. No substitutions. No doubling up. No make-up days.
The ruck cannot be split. Forty-five continuous minutes, outdoors.
If you get genuinely injured, withdraw, recover properly and come back for the next cohort. Pushing through an injury is not discipline. It is just a slower way of stopping.
Sixty Days Is a Gear Test
Forty-five minutes a day for sixty days is roughly 45 hours under load, most of it in rain and darkness. Kit that is fine for a Sunday walk starts failing somewhere around week three.
The pack is the thing to get right before Day 1, not during. What goes first, in order: stitching at the shoulder strap anchor, then the hip belt, then the zips. A day sack borrowed from the cupboard will carry 20lbs happily for a fortnight and then start digging into your shoulders, because there is no structure holding the load off them. That is where people stop — not because they lost the discipline, but because rucking became unpleasant in a way it never needed to be.
What a UK rucking backpack needs to survive this: 1000D Cordura rather than lighter nylon, a hip belt that genuinely transfers weight off the shoulders, a sternum strap to stop lateral sway on uneven ground, and a dedicated plate pocket that holds the load high and tight against your spine instead of letting it swing. Everything else is preference.
If you are choosing a pack for this, we wrote the long version: the best rucking backpack in the UK, and what to look for under load. It covers what separates a purpose-built rucking backpack from a hiking pack, and why that gap widens the longer you carry.
Key Dates
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Sign-up closes | Friday 18 September 2026 |
| Day 1 | Monday 21 September 2026 |
| Clocks back — Day 35 | Sunday 25 October 2026 |
| Day 60 | Thursday 19 November 2026 |
Day 60 lands nine days before DEKA London on 28–29 November at Farnborough International. If you want a finish line beyond the finish line, the Ruck wave is right there.
What Day 60 Gets You
- The YOMP 'Sixty' patch
- A digital certificate
- Your name on the Cohort 2 finishers list
Cohort 1 finishers were featured across our channels, and the same applies here. Post your daily check-in to #YOMP60 and we will repost the ones worth reposting.
Posting publicly is optional. It also measurably improves your chances of finishing, which is why we keep suggesting it.
Before Monday
- Decide. Remove the word "maybe" from this entirely.
- Prepare. Clear the alcohol out of the house, plan the first week of meals, load and fit your pack, pick your book.
- Schedule. Choose the exact time you will ruck and the exact time you will train. Every day. Put it in the calendar as a fixed appointment, because at some point in week four it will be competing with something you would rather do.
- Declare. Tell one person who will ask you about it.
- Begin.
No waiting. No perfect timing. No negotiation.
Most people won't finish. That's the point.
Closes Friday 18 September. You'll get a Day 1 prep checklist by email before the start. If you still need a pack that will survive sixty days of British weather, sort it this week.
YOMP 60 is a voluntary physical and lifestyle challenge. Participants are responsible for ensuring they are medically fit to undertake daily exercise, dietary changes and alcohol removal. If you have any pre-existing medical conditions, injuries or concerns, consult a qualified healthcare professional before starting. Progress responsibly. Scale appropriately. Prioritise form and recovery. YOMP is not liable for injury, illness or adverse outcomes resulting from participation.
