A High-Octane Men's Group · 10 Weeks · Outdoors
ELITE SUMMER
TRAINING
Physical training. Embodiment coaching. Men's work.
Free intro Thursday, July 16 · Cohort begins July 23 · Capstone Sept 19
Most men train alone. Fewer still have men who actually know them.
Headphones in, going through the motions, no one holding the standard with them. This is the opposite of that — hard training and real brotherhood, in the same ten weeks, with the same men.
What it is
Nine Thursday-evening sessions, a full bodyweight training program to run in between, and a final challenge-and-celebration capstone. A small group of eight to ten men, training to a standard none of them could hold alone.
You get a complete bodyweight strength and conditioning program — no gym required, built to progress across the ten weeks. You'll be coached. You'll have benchmarks at the start and the end. And every Thursday the group meets outdoors: hard conditioning, partner work, nervous system training, and a closing circle where men say true things to other men.
The training drives the body. The circle makes it matter. Neither is the add-on.
How the week works
What you're actually training
The body
Real strength-endurance, conditioning, and control. Programmed in three blocks that build on each other.
The nervous system
Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT) — the protocols built for military operators. Staying present under load, on and off the field.
Presence & capacity
What you build here shows up everywhere — how you parent, how you lead, how you handle the hard conversation.
Brotherhood
Circle isn't therapy and it isn't a confession booth. It's a skill — checking in, telling the truth, being known by other men. Like everything here, you train it.
The arc
Establish the standard. Baseline numbers in week two, movement quality, and the first honest conversations.
Difficulty climbs. Circle work deepens. The men start to know each other.
Hardest training, most demanding work, deepest conversations. You find out what you've built.
A final challenge day against where you started, followed by a closing ceremony and celebration.
What you get
- A full bodyweight training program — no gym needed
- Nine coached Thursday sessions plus a Saturday capstone
- MMFT-based nervous system tools you'll use for life
- A weekly accountability partner and a small group of men who know your word
- A printed training manual to train from
- Benchmarks at the start and retests at the capstone — real measurement
Who this is for
Men who want to train seriously and be coached. Men who are tired of training alone and going through the motions. Men who are ready to be known by other men. Men who can commit to the full run — three training days on their own each week, one with the group, and the capstone — and mean it.
Eight to ten men get in. Application and a short conversation required.
5:00–6:30 PM at the Lincoln baseball field. One open workout and circle. Meet the others, feel what this is. No commitment. If it's a fit, you're in for what follows.
The investment
$800 ($80/week)
For the full program. Paid in full at signup. Cohort begins Thursday, July 23.
This isn't about the money. The price is here so that when it's late and you don't want to come, you've already decided.
About the coach
I'm James Nepenthe — a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, men's work facilitator, and MMFT trainer based in Lincoln, Vermont.
The nervous system training in this program isn't borrowed from a weekend workshop. It's Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training — the protocols developed under U.S. Department of Defense funding and tested with combat troops deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. I served as a lead MMFT trainer under its founder, Dr. Elizabeth Stanley, training military psychologists and first responders, including work bringing MMFT to people at and near the front lines in Ukraine. What I teach these men on a Thursday evening in Vermont is the same material I've taught to people operating under real fire.
The rest comes from fifteen-plus years of the same work from other angles: certified in Somatic Experiencing and Dynamic Attachment Re-patterning, ordained as a Buddhist monk in Sri Lanka, 500-plus days of silent retreat, and more than a decade running men's circles and initiatory trainings — from the ManKind Project to Fleet Maull's The Initiation to justice-impacted men through All Kings.
Physical training, nervous system regulation, and men's work aren't three things I dabble in. They're one body of work I've spent my life inside. This program is where they meet.
Questions? james@jamesnepenthe.com
Thursdays 5:00–6:30 PM in Bristol & Lincoln, VT · Capstone Sat, Sept 19 · If it rains, we still train.