That’s how long it took me to do the scaled version of Murph.
For those that might not have heard or might not know or might not have seen the 8 million posts from fitnessters around the country/world/universe Murph is a Hero WOD. It’s named after Lieutenant Michael Murphy who was killed in Afghanistan on August 18, 2005. Lt. Murphy was an avid fitnesster and this was his favorite workout. He had originally named it Body Armor but when he died, fitness named it Murph in his honor.
The workout is as follows: 1 mile run followed by 100 pull ups, 200 push ups and 300 air squats. That is then followed by another mile run. Oh.. and a 14 lb. weighted vest is worn typically. Why the vest? That’s how much the gear that our soldiers have to wear into battle weighs.
The scaled version was a 1 mile row (1600 meters), 100 ring rows, 200 push ups from a bar on the rig, 300 air squats followed by a 1 mile fast walk. I split up the ring rows, push ups, and squats into rounds – 10 rounds of 10 – 20 – 30. Because I’m 243 lbs., I didn’t wear the weight vest. Maybe I’ll do that next year.
This is, by far, the hardest WOD I have ever done. This is probably the hardest WOD ANYONE has ever done. There was fear and anxiety, sure… but there was never a question as to whether or not I would do it. I knew I could. I knew I needed to challenge myself. I knew I wanted to give myself that benchmark so that next year, when I do it again, I can see where I came from.
I was concentrating so hard during the workout counting reps and making sure my wife and bestie cheerleader were ticking off my rounds that all I could think about was making sure I didn’t miss a rep, making sure I was drinking water, making sure I was paying attention to my body if I needed to breathe for a second… and I kept thinking about our soldiers who don’t get to come home ever again. My pain was nothing compared to theirs. My aches were nothing compared to their families aching hearts. My son is an Army veteran. He was never deployed but he came close a few times. I can’t imagine the pain of him not coming home. It’s unbearable to even think about.
This puts it all into perspective, doesn’t it? When we challenge ourselves to be better, to do better for our bodies and our health it all trickles down to our brains, our hearts, our overall psyche. When we workout we FEEL better in general. We get rid of the bad and breathe in the good. Our soldiers challenge themselves just by signing up to defend our country voluntarily. When they come home safe from a mission they FEEL better, they feel good. Accomplished. They’ve helped make our country a safer place. When we finish a workout, we feel sort of the same, don’t we? We’ve helped our bodies be a safer place for us to live in. We’ve gotten rid of extra calories and weight. We’ve made ourselves stronger. WE are our own little towns. Our own little cities living amongst other cities. It’s our responsibility to ourselves to clean it up, right?
So… let’s do that. Together. You and me. Let’s make ourselves feel accomplished so we can go out and conquer the world. I know that Lt. Murphy is smiling down on all of us right now. He’s thankful for our continued support. He’s thankful that we honor him for his service and sacrifice. Let’s keep that up with honoring ourselves, too.
See you at the box.
#fromcouchtofitness #mystandardsmyway #murph2020 #seeyouonfiddlersgreen #thankyouforyoursacrifice #13stripesfitness