Join Us at one of our Murph Heats on May 29th:
7:30 AM
8:45 AM
10:00 AM
Preorder your Murph Shirt here. Closes May 14th.
WHAT & WHO?
Memorial Day is just a few weeks away (Monday, May 29th), and whether you’re new to CrossFit or not, you’ve probably heard about Murph at some point.
In case you have not, “Murph” is a classic CrossFit workout known as a Hero WOD. Hero WOD’s are made by CrossFit to honor the men and women that have fallen in the line of duty. This one is to honor Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, who was killed in action in Afghanistan on June 28th, 2005. This workout is said to be Michaels favorite workout to do. It was first posted to Crossfit.com on August 18th 2005 and has been completed annually all over the world since. Here is the workout:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-Ups
200 Push-Ups
300 Air Squats
1 mile Run
*With a 20 lb vest
WHY?
Hero WOD’s are common in the CrossFit community and new Hero’s are added yearly. This gives us a chance to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
Click here to read more about what actually happened the day the world lost Lieutenant Michael Murphy.
STRATEGY
There are two ways to complete Murph, unpartitioned and partitioned. You will always begin with a 1 mile run to start and 1 mile run finish, but the pull ups, push ups, and air squats can be partitioned.
The most common strategy is to partition the reps into:
20 rounds of “Cindy”
5 pull-ups
10 push-ups
15 air squats
OR
20 rounds:
5 pull-ups
5 push-ups
15 air squats
5 push-ups
Performing “Murph” in the un-partitioned manner is the most difficult of the two strategies. The partitioned option allows you to chip away, thus not burning out as quickly.
The final variation of Murph is that with a weight vest, or without. According to beyond the whiteboard, the average time of completion without a weight vest is around 49 minutes for Men and 53 minutes for Women.
SCALING
Anyone can do Murph, no matter your skill level or experience doing CrossFit! If this is your first Murph, we usually recommend completing quarter or half Murph:
400m run
25 pull ups/ring rows
50 push ups/knee push ups/elevated push ups
75 air squats
400m run
OR
800m run
50 pull ups/ring rows
100 push ups/knee push ups/elevated push ups
150 air squats
800m run
If you cannot complete banded or jumping pull ups yet, you can scale it to ring rows. If you cannot complete push ups, you can scale to your knees or elevate to a box or the wall. If you have trouble with depth on your air squats, you can always squat to a box as well. All of these workouts can be modified to YOUR fitness level. Once you level up, you can one day complete Murph using one of the strategies above.
