Memorial Day is right around the corner which for most people in the United States means time with families at the lake or pool enjoying BBQ and some adult refreshments while the kiddos chase each other around. Hopefully, too, it means spending a little time acknowledging and paying tribute to the men and women who sacrificed their freedom so that you and I could have ours. If you’re in the CrossFit community, it might also mean it’s that time of year again to perform the workout Murph.
In case your new to the CF community, or just unfamiliar with the workout or practice, Murph is a special class of workout designed by CrossFit HQ known as a Hero WOD. These workouts are created to commemorate men and women who have given their lives in the line of service for our country; the workouts are subsequently named after the fallen hero(es).
What’s the workout?
1 mile Run
100 Pull-Ups
200 Push-Ups
300 Air Squats
1 mile Run
*With a 20/14 lb Vest or Body Armor
The workout was actually one of Lt. Murphy’s favorite workouts to perform whenever, and he would often do so donning his armor (and for that reason he called the workout “Body Armor”). The addition of the 20 lb vest or body armor is an homage to this.
Hero WODs are performed with a sort of sanctity. They are typically long and grueling and purposefully physically, emotionally, and mentally draining and challenging. They give us a chance to learn, remember, ruminate, and give tribute to the story and sacrifice of these men and women.
This workout specifically commemorates Navy Lt. Michael Murphy who was killed in action in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. See below for more of his story, taken from https://murphfoundation.org/biography/:
On June 28, 2005, Lt. Murphy was the officer-in-charge of a four-man SEAL element in support of Operation Red Wing tasked with finding key anti-coalition militia commander near Asadabad, Afghanistan. Shortly after inserting into the objective area, the SEALs were spotted by three goat herders who were initially detained and then released. It is believed the goat herders immediately reported the SEALs’ presence to Taliban fighters.
A fierce gun battle ensued on the steep face of the mountain between the SEALs and a much larger enemy force. Despite the intensity of the firefight and suffering grave gunshot wounds himself, Murphy is credited with risking his own life to save the lives of his teammates. Murphy, intent on making contact with headquarters, but realizing this would be impossible in the extreme terrain where they were fighting, unhesitatingly and with complete disregard for his own life moved into the open, where he could gain a better position to transmit a call to get help for his men.
Moving away from the protective mountain rocks, he knowingly exposed himself to increased enemy gunfire. This deliberate and heroic act deprived him of cover and made him a target for the enemy. While continuing to be fired upon, Murphy made contact with the SOF Quick Reaction Force at Bagram Air Base and requested assistance. He calmly provided his unit’s location and the size of the enemy force while requesting immediate support for his team. At one point, he was shot in the back causing him to drop the transmitter. Murphy picked it back up, completed the call and continued firing at the enemy who was closing in. Severely wounded, Lt. Murphy returned to his cover position with his men and continued the battle.
As a result of Murphy’s call, an MH-47 Chinook helicopter, with eight additional SEALs and eight Army Night Stalkers aboard, was sent in as part of the QRF to extract the four embattled SEALs. As the Chinook drew nearer to the fight, a rocket-propelled grenade hit the helicopter, causing it to crash and killing all 16 men aboard.
On the ground and nearly out of ammunition, the four SEALs, continued to fight. By the end of a two-hour gunfight that careened through the hills and over cliffs, Murphy, Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class (SEAL) Danny Dietz and Sonar Technician 2nd Class (SEAL) Matthew Axelson had fallen. An estimated 35 Taliban were also dead. The fourth SEAL, Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class (SEAL) Marcus Luttrell, was blasted over a ridge by a rocket-propelled grenade and knocked unconscious. Though severely wounded, the fourth SEAL and sole survivor, Luttrell, was able to evade the enemy for nearly a day; after which local nationals came to his aide, carrying him to a nearby village where they kept him for three more days. Luttrell was rescued by U.S. Forces on July 2, 2005.
By his undaunted courage, intrepid fighting spirit and inspirational devotion to his men in the face of certain death, Lt. Murphy was able to relay the position of his unit, an act that ultimately led to the rescue of Luttrell and the recovery of the remains of the three who were killed in the battle.
Plans of Attack
Each year, we at CrossFit Northland perform Murph on the weekend of Memorial Day, and most often we will do it on Monday. 2022 will be no exception, and there will be various classes available with different workout strategies available as well.
I believe that anyone and everyone should be able to participate in these kinds of workouts, so keep reading if you’d like some thoughts about how best to approach this workout for you.
Note: any time pull-ups are mentioned, jumping pull-ups or ring rows could easily be swapped in/out. The same is true for push-ups -> knee or elevated push-ups.
The traditional strategies for performing Murph are:
Option 1: The OG
1-mile run
100 Pull-ups (strict or kipping)
200 Push-ups
300 Air Squats
1-mile run
This is known as “unpartitioned” since it is performed without partitioning reps i.e. you have to complete all 100 pull-ups before moving on to push-ups, air squats, etc. All other
Option 2: Red, White, and Blue Tried and True
1-mile Run
20 Rounds of:
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Air squats
1-mile Run
This is the first version of “partitioned” or some style where the workout is not performed purely in order. The rest of the options will fall into the same category: partitioned.
Option 3: Quarter Pounder w/ Cheese
4 Rounds
800m Run
25 Pull-ups
50 Push-ups
75 Air Squats
Option 4: 2016 Games Format
1-mile Run
5 Rounds
20 Pull-ups
40 Push-ups
60 Air Squats
As you may be able to tell by the workout, the fully prescribed version of this workout is meant for those who are deep into training and physical fitness. It’s not for the faint of heart nor is it for the deconditioned. If you’re not used to working for 30+ minutes under moderate to heavy fatigue, we will likely modify the workout in one of the following ways:
Option 1: ½ Murph
800-m Run
10 Rounds
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Air squats
800-m Run
Option 2: Partner Murph
800-m to 1-mile Partner Run (or trading off every 400-m)
10-20 Rounds
5 Pull-ups (or ring rows)
10 Push-ups (or knee/elevated push-ups)
15 Air Squats
800-m to 1-mile Partner Run (or trading off every 400-m)
This workout has a range of distances/rounds because you and a partner can turn it into as much/long as you want to workout.
Option 3: Partner or Individual Time Defined
30-45 min AMRAP
400m Run
5 Rounds
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Air squats
This version could be perfect if you are unsure of how long the normal workout will take you, and don’t want to find yourself working more than 30-45 minutes.
Training for Murph
When it comes to training for Murph, there is a bit of hesitation on our ends. Murph is a benchmark test akin to any other benchmark workout we have in the CrossFit space. One of the beautiful things about CrossFit’s tests are that they are meant to be performed as a “check” of your fitness rather than the overall mark of fitness itself.
That may have been a confusing sentence to read. What I’m trying to say is that CrossFit benchmarks are NOT the ultimate in fitness and therefore shouldn’t be trained for in the same way you practice homework to get an A on the test. The “test” we’re training for is a stronger, fuller, longer, happier life where we have the freedom to do what we want unencumbered by physical or mental limitations.
And, I must admit, some of those freedoms allow for the training for events like Murph…so I might as well give you some direction if you’re going to do it!
We’ll be providing some guidance for those of you in our classes for some extra credit (outside/after class) Murph prep sessions as well as some extra running volume to get acclimated to pounding the pavement if that’s not something you normally do.
Here are some ideas for sessions you can perform in the next 3-4 weeks as we get closer to Memorial Day. This plan will assume you have been doing SOME sort of training leading into this 4-week prep. This is not intended to be a Couch-to-5k program (which we think is a great program for discussion another time).
4 Weeks Out
3 Rounds
200m Run
20 Feet Elevated/Challenging Ring Rows
-rest 1:1 b/w rounds-
3 Rounds
200m Run
20 Push-ups
-rest 1:1 b/w rounds-
3 Rounds
200m Run
30 Air squats
-rest 1:1 b/w rounds-
3 Weeks Out
4 Rounds
200m Run
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Air squats
200m Run
-rest 4-5 min b/w rounds-
2 Weeks Out
2-3 Sets
400m Run
Into…
2 Rounds
20 Pull-ups
30 Push-ups
40 Air Squats
Into…
400m Run
-rest 4-5min b/w sets-
1 Week Out
3 Rounds
600m Run
5 Rounds
5 Pull-ups
10 Push-ups
15 Air squats
600m Run
-rest 4-5 min b/w rounds-
All of the above workouts (and strategies for that matter) should be tweaked to fit your fitness level, appropriate training volume, and goals.
Whether or not you plan to do the workout or will be around on Memorial Day weekend, I challenge you to spend some quiet time to send up a prayer, some words of thanks, or whatever your particular way of showing gratitude to those who sacrificed themselves for our country might be.
Best of luck to any and all of you!