As an Athlete, I’ve always looked to find meaning in my workouts. Usually this motivation comes internally - working to get better or be the best I can for my personal or team goals.
With Memorial Day coming up this Monday, May 31st, I wanted to shed some light on a more widely known workout that has a great depth of meaning to our lost veterans. This specific workout is known in the tactical fitness community as a “Hero WOD”(Workout Of the Day).
That workout is 'The Murph Challenge' - found here on GMTM.
The Murph Challenge is an homage to medal of honor recipient and Navy SEAL - Michael Murphy. Murphy passed away tragically when taking enemy fire, while heroically moving to an exposed position to gain reception to call in assistance for his SEAL team.
A short recap of Murphy’s actions, according to the Navy as reported in Men’sHealth “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.
This deliberate and heroic act deprived him of cover and made him a target for the enemy. 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.”
The result of this mission was the unfortunate loss of Murphy and his teammates Petty Officers Danny Dietz, Matthew Axelson, and a helicopter of 16 Special Forces members. The 4th teammate on the mission, Marcus Luttrell, did in fact espace and the account is remembered in the motion picture film “Lone Survivor”.
What 'The Murph Challenge' Consists Of
In 2007, local crossfit gyms across the nation began honoring this mission in the only way CrossFit gyms know how - they made it a workout.
The Murph Challenge was born. This is a difficult workout for Athletes of all ages and skill levels.
The workout consists of:
- Run 1 mile
- 100 Pullups
- 200 Pushups
- 300 Squats
- Run 1 mile
Athletes can take different strategies to accomplish this workout, but we recommend finding a steady pace and taking your time through completion. Guidelines from wodtimecalculator.com show time expectancy for your relative skill level as follows:
- Elite Athletes - Under 30 minutes
- Advanced Athletes - Under 45 minutes
- Beginners - A good milestone is 60 mins to completion
Why GMTM Wants Every Athlete To Try The Challenge
We’ve partnered with the US Navy to help spread awareness of their initiatives and could not be more excited to have the official Murph Challenge, hosted on GMTM.
To participate in the Murph Challenge on GMTM, we recommend videoing the most challenging portion of your workout and why your motivation is carrying you through the challenge.
Stay hydrated and happy competing!
Joseph Grant founded GMTM in 2019 to help connect athletes to more opporunities in sports. In his own athletic career, Joey played college football at UCF, won the Fiesta Bowl in 2014, and served as a Recruiting Assistant to Scott Frost before the Knights' perfect season in 2017.
