How To Break Down The Crossfit Murph Workout

The CrossFit Murph Workout itself is one-mile running, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, and another one-mile running, all done in sequence. The hardest part about the Murph WOD is the sheer volume and duration of the workout, so it takes some strategizing to get through it all. Jumping right into a workout like Murph with no workouts under your belt may not be the best idea, especially if you have not done this workout before. If you have done Murph, you know the mental and physical strength required to complete all of those runs, pulls, pushes, and squats.

Because of the high-rep nature of those various movements, you have to have really solid fundamentals for every single one of them in order to complete Murph and avoid injuries. Try to avoid complicated sets, and be honest with yourself early on, because however you slice it, you are going to have a long workout. If you know that you are only capable of doing 10 reps at a time on your squat, do not start out doing 15 reps when fresh, and adjust as you go.

If you are really trying to maximize time and you think that you cannot possibly complete 20 rounds of 10 push-ups without breaking, then you may want to break the push-ups around air squats. By splitting your push-up sets in two, you remove time spent standing around waiting for yourself to get fresh enough to finish a set. You could also do the AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible) — perform as many pull-ups as you can for one minute, and then take a break.

Sure, you may feel like a bunny when you go through the 150-rep switch in-between movements, but you are going to avoid complete failure (i.e., one-rep maxes with lots of rest between) in your pull-ups. Pro CrossFitters can handle 100 pull-ups in one go, but beginners should look at doing supersets on each movement to prevent getting so fatigued too quickly. In Murph Challenge, however, you are going to do 100 pullups – so you are going to need to break the reps into smaller sets, not only that, you are going to need to ensure that you are pretty proficient at the exercise, particularly if you are going to add a 20-pound weight vest into the equation later on.

All you will need for the Murph Challenge is a pullup bar, space in which you can safely perform the pushups and squats, a mile-long distance to run, and a 20-pound weighted vest if you are going to be doing a full version of the challenge. If this is the first time you have done a workout Murph, either with or without the vest, and you know the pushups are the limiter, then the 2/4/6 is a good starting point. If you are trying the Murph RX for the first time, but are not sure you can handle the amount of volume required, this is a strategy Murph workout to consider.

As mentioned above, these Murph strategies are about making smart choices in the portioning of prescribed repetitions. Below, you will find Crossfit-style workouts that test your strength and conditioning levels in such a way that you can compare them retrospectively, and see how far you are making progress, before giving Murph another go. Murph is an excellent workout for testing out your strategic skills, and Murph forces you to think about how to do a higher volume of reps the best way possible for you. For veteran athletes, the Murph Workout will help them to understand the pacing and strategies for getting the best possible times.

Murph may take most people some time to complete, but compared to workouts that have ridiculously heavy weights, complex skills that involve moving, and so on, it is something that you can slowly hack your way through. Do not let Murphs simplicity fool you; it is not jokey, and is considered to be one of the best conditioning tests out there. When CrossFit announced the Murph Workout at the CrossFit Games, Murph was directly performed with no break in the repetitions, however, when programs are featured on CrossFit’s main site, the partitioning of the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats according to the needs is the specified standard mentioned.

In Murph, a Hero Workout, although the running part is meant to be done in a sandwich style around the reps, athletes can choose to split up the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as they wish. The middle part of our annual Murph workout (pull-ups, push-ups, and squats) may be broken up as desired, and that may help alleviate the monotony of doing the same reps over and over again. Doing the Murph unpartitioned is the trickier strategy since the push-ups will be the portion with lots of rest in between sets.

If you are strong on pull-ups and know the 5-count is not an issue, then the build-up is a good choice, as long as you think you can keep your push-ups intact for the first 10-15 rounds.

Take it slow on the first few miles, as chances are that you will be using more time and energy on your push-ups than running anyway. You are going to feel really strange finishing the 600 total reps. When you start your second run, do not just try and finish it as quickly as you can, you are going to have slower times.

Another great idea is to begin Murph workouts building volume up slowly over the preceding weeks. Spending some time thinking about rep schemes can make the beginner lifter feel more confident when they try out Murph for Hero Workouts.