Today I completed a well-known CrossFit hero WOD for the first time. “Murph” is one of the workouts that has quite a big reputation and you hear it referenced all the time…mostly in regards to how brutal it is. It’s typical for CrossFit boxes to do Murph on Memorial Day weekend. The workout is in honor of Navy Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy of Patchogue, New York. He was killed on June 28, 2005 while serving our country in Afghanistan. He was 29 years old. This workout was his favorite way to prepare for deployment so it is now named after him and performed by CrossFitters across the country in his memory.
Our Director of CrossFit posted the story about Murphy on our blog along with the workout. He told us, “when you do this WOD, put everything in it that you have. It is for someone who died so we can live in freedom.”
I got to the gym right at 9 a.m. as class was starting. We did a quick warm up and then Sean took us through the workout.
– 1 mile run
– 100 pull ups
– 200 push ups
– 300 air squats
– 1 mile run
The rules are that you have to start and end with the one mile run but you can break up the pull ups, push ups and squats however you want.
We took a before picture and then got to work.
It was actually nice to start out with a mile run. It really helped me get warmed up for all the bodyweight work. I ran at a pretty nice pace but didn’t kill myself. I think I finished the first mile right around 8 minutes.
I came in from the run, grabbed some water and started to chip away at the pull ups, push ups and squats. I actually did online research before class to read about the best strategies for surviving Murph (yes, I’m a nerd and I was scared!). I decided to try the recommended approach of breaking it into 20 rounds of 5 pull ups, 10 push ups and 15 squats. I was able to quickly cycle through the rounds without ever facing complete muscle exhaustion. I took a break after 10 rounds for some water. For the record, I did kipping jumping pull ups and all the pushups on my toes.
The clock was at 31 minutes when I finished the body weight work. I realized I had a chance of finishing in under 40 minutes and booked it out the door for my last mile. My legs felt okay after all of the squats (I think because I broke them up).
I was thrilled to come in from the run and hear Sean call out “39:12.” Then I collapsed on the floor for about a minute to collect myself before heading back outside to cheer on everyone else that was finishing the run.
The aftermath. We are a group of foam rolling lovers! 🙂
The after shot. Sweaty, tired but proud of our effort! When can we do it again!? I was so scared of this workout but I really enjoyed the whole thing! I really might do it again on Monday with a few people. Yes, I’m crazy. We’ll see how sore I am tomorrow before I make that decision!
Who’s working out this weekend? How are you celebrating Memorial Day and those who serve our country?
