WOD: Monday, May 31

“Murph”

Doing “Murph” on Memorial Day is a tradition in the CrossFit world. Even though this is a grueling workout that we are going to suffer through together, I think it’s very important to remember the reason that we do Hero workouts.

Each Hero workout is named after a soldier, sailor, airman, marine, police officer, or firefighter who has died in the line of duty.

Lieutenant Mike Murphy was killed in action in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005. Murphy was the commander of a 4 man reconnaissance team on a mission to kill or capture a top Taliban leader.

Dropped off by a helicopter in a remote mountainous area of eastern Afghanistan, Murphy’s team was surrounded and attacked by Taliban fighters. Murphy and two members of his team, plus 16 US military personnel aboard a Chinook helicopter that was shot down during the fight, were killed.

Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions that day. He placed himself in the open and exposed himself to enemy fire in order to make a satellite phone call to get help for himself and his teammates.

Murph, as he was known to his friends, loved to do this workout, which he called “Body Armor,” as part of his regular training.

Today, we do this workout in his honor.