How To Murph, as told by Head Coach Becky Wickes
Hey guys! Coach Becky here, wanting to chit and chat about one of CrossFit’s most notorious workouts on the Hero WOD list: Murph.
Never done Murph before? Well let’s make a plan of attack! Been there, done that? Let’s think through how to be smart anyway. Injury doesn’t play favorites.
First things first: What is Murph? (And possibly: What is a Hero WOD?)
For Time:
1 Mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Air Squats
1 Mile Run
RX: Wear a 20# weighted vest
You can also do the entire thing straight through without a vest, most people would still say that’s prescribed but who cares about that anyway because that’s not why we do it. We do it for fitness and fun and to honor the women and men who have fought for our country.
What’s that? For FUN, you say? That’s right. It should be fun. So, let’s talk about how to make it fun. Because making it not fun is to try to be the hero yourself, go straight through, do 100 kipping pull-ups one at a time, wormy pushups because your arms fell off 100 pullups ago, unable to bend your arms for a week and wince every time you sit down on the toilet for five days.
The possibilities are endless. Some options:
Partition it! Run your mile, then do 20 rounds of Cindy (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 air squats) and then run your second mile.
Do a “Smurph” version of Murph! Half of Murph. You can still run the whole mile if you looooove running, or cut all of it in half. So in case you can’t divide by two, it’d look like:
Run ½ Mile
50 Pull-ups
100 Push-ups
150 Air Squats
Run ½ Mile
I would recommend partitioning this as well, though, so ½ mile, 10 rounds of Cindy, ½ mile. Still think this is too much volume for you? Cut it into thirds. Or quarters. Again, we want you to have fun, while still getting in a good workout. So consult a coach, not your amped up gym buddy, on how you should scale the reps.
Wanna Murph but can’t run? There’s an alternative cardio source for that.
Modify your pullups! If you’ve never done 100 pull-ups before, today is not the day to start. This year we’ll be modifying to jumping pull-ups or ring rows. Heck, you can do a combo of them if you want, switching back and forth between jumping pull-ups and ring rows each round of Cindy you do.
Modify your push-ups! Do them on a box. The higher the box, the less of your own weight you are pushing so keep flipping it to a taller height if you’re struggling.
The day before, during the workout, after the workout. This is the time to grab an electrolyte drink and add that in to your normal water intake. If you forgot what foods are packed with electrolytes or what drink variations you can bring that isn’t a super sugary sports drink -- search “Hydrate” in the Renew Crew and click the comments of the first post from this year’s Open workout 19.5. Sades lays it out.
Remember, nobody is gonna have the breath or brain cells to be thinking about what you’re doing (besides me if your technique is garbage) because they’re more worried about themselves. So don’t do something you shouldn’t be doing just so your friends think you’re cool. Be smart and have fun! Thanks and good day.
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