Watch an Olympian Try the CrossFit Murph for the First Time
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The Murph, a CrossFit challenge named for its creator, the late Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, has become a popular way for CrossFitters to honor the lives of service members on Memorial Day Weekend—and in his latest YouTube video, record-breaking Olympic swimmer Cody Miller takes on the famously grueling workout for the first time.
The Murph consists of the following exercises:
1-mile run
100 pullups
200 pushups
300 squats
another 1-mile run
"When you do this workout you can break it up any way you want," explains Miller. "I'm going to go 5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats... I've been told that doing this in under an hour is a good benchmark, so that's kind of what we're going for."
For the workout to really count, it must be performed while wearing a weighted vest. And because he wants to do his first-ever Murph properly, Miller dons a 20-pound vest before embarking on the first mile-long run. Then, without breaking to rest, he starts his 20 circuits of 5 pullup reps, 10 pushup reps and 15 squat reps, and it isn't long before the fatigue starts to build, with his arms and legs beginning to shake and blisters forming on his palms from the pullup bar.
"Oh man, that hurts," he says, as he finishes his final round of reps and then heads straight back out for the final run. "Right now is generally when people want to quit. But we're not going to slow down, we're not going to quit. The last 20 percent is usually the hardest."
Miller completes his inaugural Murph in 47 minutes. And for his first-ever attempt, he's pretty damn pleased.
"There's a sense of satisfaction you get out of doing something that you know is insanely challenging, and a little questionable, and there's certainly a value in struggling, in struggling through something that is physically, mentally, and sometimes emotionally taxing," he says. "And today that was the case... I didn't really know what to expect, and I enjoy that stuff. I think it's good for the soul to do different stuff."
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