Murph - The Details

Memorial Day 2025

Monday, May 26

8:00 AM, 9:30 AM

The WHY BEHIND MURPH AND OTHER HERO's

If you've been around CrossFit for a year or so then you've heard the infamous name - Murph - thrown around. You get done with a long grind of a Saturday workout and someone might say, "That was Murph-esque". Or sure enough the week after Memorial day you'll hear some of the stories of what went on by the groans of someone holding their biceps with sad eyes exclaiming, "Murph got me."

Let's not forget... Murph's got us!

There are thousands of "Murph's"! These are people who have stepped forward voluntarily to fight for our freedom. However, these individuals have died doing their job and truly became a living sacrifice for our privilege's. This life you have, the comfort of our lives and abilities we have are not free. It takes many large organizations to protect us and these rights we have.

It's called freedom - but it's not free - and it's not cheap.

Murph is a workout. But Murph is a symbol and tribute before it is a workout. CrossFit has done an incredible job bringing to light the combination of movements and defining fitness as a measurable and repeatable process. By formatting workouts and then saying, "now do it as fast as you're able" brings out an entirely different intensity and quickly becomes a test of the body and mind. When we do a "Murph", a "Manion", or a "Jack" or a "Bert", this is not just a workout but a expression of gratitude towards the men and women just like them fighting every single day. Risking their lives. When you participate and wear your Murph Shirt... it's you saying, "Thank you. I see you. I support you."

Their sacrifice is our privilege.

So when we mention Murph and invite you to do this "workout"... understand that we are inviting you to pay your respects and suffer a small fraction of what suffering has been done for us. The fact that we can go to sleep and wake up in peace, have the option to go to the gym and spend time with our families is such a beautiful thing. I don't know about you, but one day per year to bow our heads and willingly go through a "tough experience" for an hour while enjoying the rest of the day off to remember and acknowledge our past and present military and armed forces... especially those who died serving, or spent their entire lives doing so... is a low price and an ABSOLUTE PRIVILEGE!

Prove you did it - buy a shirt

T-Shirts, Tanks, and Crop Tops available this year!

Click on the form to see all options.

Orders due by May 6th to be sure we have them in hand before Murph! This will be the biggest and best Murph yet! At the gym there is a Large T-Shirt and a Medium Women's Tank you can try on or use as sizing reference.

-- When you participate and wear your Murph Shirt... it's you saying, "Thank you. I see you. I support you."--

How-to Perform murph

Format, volume, and skill considerations.

You can go into Wodify NOW and reserve your spot for either of these two classes! If we need to introduce a 3rd class we want to know this ahead of time. Go! Reserve! Monday, May 26th!

Want to Drop-In and do Murph with us? Click the link and reserve before spots fill up.

Like any workouts, you need to "stay in your lane". Although running, pull-ups, push-ups, and air squats are relatively fundamental movements... this volume is 2-3x your typical Monday WOD. You should master fundamentals of each movement pattern and keep yourself in safe positions and volumes at all times when training... and doing your best is honorable so focus on doing that. We will start with the most advanced version of Murph and work out way backward.

OPTION 1 - Advanced

Murph

1 Mile Run

100 Pull-Ups

200 Push-Ups

300 Air Squats

1 Mile Run

*wear a 20/14 lb weight vest

Classic Murph is done straight through. Performing all 100 reps of pull-ups before moving on to 200 push-ups, before moving on to 300 air squats. You should be capable of doing sets of 10 pull ups and 20 push-ups and have done something close to this type of volume in the past. You should be actively resistance training 3-6x per week to consider this option. I'm not saying you will do sets of 10 and 20, but you should be able to demonstrate that you can do a set - vested is considered advanced.

OPTION 2 - Rx

Partitioned Murph

(example)

1 Mile Run

10 Rounds:

10 Pull-Ups

20 Push-Ups

30 Air Squats

1 Mile Run

All the volume, but broken up. Perform your mile run at the beginning and end like normal. But now you have the option to break up your volume into multiple rounds. You can do 5 rounds of 20 pull-ups, 40 push-ups, 60 air squats. Or you can do 10 rounds or 10, 20, 30. Or you can do "Cindy Style" which is 20 rounds of 5, 10, 15. Some even do 5 push-ups, 5 pull-ups, 5 push-ups, 15 air squats to break up their push-ups. But either way. To do this type of volume without a vest you should have been exposed to this volume before and actively training 3-6x per week. You should still be capable of doing a set of 10 pull-ups and 15-20 push-ups... NO WORMING your push-ups.

OPTION 3 - Fitness+

1/2 Murph

1 Mile Run

50 Pull-Ups

100 Push-Ups

150 Air Squats

1 Mile Run

Cut the volume of Murph but keep the skill levels the same. Many people can manage to run a mile. So an option is to keep the distance but then do "Half-Murph" in the reps. Or if there is someone at a similar level of fitness as you, you can partner Murph by running together and sharing the reps.

You can modify this as much as you need to (75/150/225) or (40/80/120) but the point is that you are exposing yourself to a volume that is a bit more than what you typically train. For example, I may do 50-75 pull-ups in any given workout no problem. And do 100-150 push-ups in a workout. So doing 100 and 200 is a stretch, but it's doable. If you've never done Murph then scaling the numbers back and breaking up the reps into multiple rounds is a safe and wise decision. YOU CAN ALWAYS DO IT AGAIN AND IMPROVE NEXT YEAR!

OPTION 4 - Fitness

modified Murph

800m Run

8-10 Rounds:

5 Ring Rows

10 Elevated Push-Ups

15 Air Squats

800m Run

This is considering the newer athletes who haven't conditioned themselves to the volume, intensity, or skills required to do the full run and the movements as prescribed. This is a great way to introduce yourself to Murph and do something challenging and set a benchmark!

Infinitely scaleable means just that. You can make the ring rows and push-ups as difficult as you need by adjusting the angle. You should be able to complete your reps in 1-2 sets. You can jog/walk to complete your 800m. And you can rest :30-:60s between rounds if needed. Or do 5 rounds and take a 2:00 break and then do another 5 rounds. Be wise, take breaks, join the party and log your score! You just did Murph!