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What Is Murph?

If you’re not familiar with the CrossFit classic hero WOD Murph here’s the workout:

1 mile run

then

100 pull ups

200 push ups

300 squats

(partition pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as you see fit)

then

1 mile run

Competitive athletes may choose to wear a 20# weight vest or body armor for the workout.

History

The Murph hero WOD was originally posted on CrossFit.com on August 18th, 2005 by Lauren Glassman. The description read as follows:

In memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005. This workout was one of Mike’s favorites and he’d named it “Body Armor”. From here on it will be referred to as “Murph” in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is. Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you’ve got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it.

Tips And Tricks

For most of the population Murph’s 200 push ups are the limiting factor. Many athletes will bite off more than they can chew attempting to break them up in to sets of 20. By the time they’ve accumulated the first 100 push ups they are struggling to string three together at a time.

Push up burnout can be prevented by partitioning the workout wisely. Listed below are some rep schemes to consider:

5-10-15

The 5-10-15 scheme is probably the most common pattern people succeed with. This mirrors the rep scheme of the CrossFit benchmark workout Cindy:

20 rounds of

5 pull ups

10 push ups (If you are new to Murph, be smart and shake out your arms after five reps, from the very begining).

15 squats

5-5-5-15

If push ups are a particular challenge for you consider the following scheme

20 rounds of

5 push ups

5 pull ups

5 push ups

15 squats

5-5-5-10-5

Similar to the 5-5-5-15

20 rounds of

5 pull ups

5 squats

5 push ups

10 squats

5 push ups

What To Expect

Times vary quite a bit on Murph. The mile route will of course be a big factor in determining your time. As a rough guideline though consider the following for an athlete (male or female) completing the workout without a weight vest:

+70 Minutes Beginner

40-70 Minutes Intermediate

30-40 Minutes Advanced

30 Minutes or less Elite

Doing Murph Tomorrow?

Take a look at our post Doing Murph Tomorrow? Five Things To Do Today

More Information

If you’re interested in learning more about “Murph” the man you can check out Wikipedia: Michael P. Murphy.

The original post for Murph on CrossFit.com can be found here: CrossFit: Thursday 050818.

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