4:30am Sunday MURPH

The Reason Why

Adam Profetto
Aug 8, 2017 · 4 min read
4:30am Sunday morning

This morning in the gym, I was walking around, pretending to stretch for the 9am class. It was a busier than usual class as it was a holiday Monday and there were only two classes running that day. Jay Rhodes came up to me and said “Can I ask you a question?”

“Hit me” I responded as the wheels in my head suddenly churned wondering what trouble I may have gotten myself into.

Jay smirked and said “Why are you doing MURPH all the time, is your hope that you’ll get better at it?”

I appreciated the question, and even more, I appreciated that someone stopped to ask me just what the hell I was up to. I had been meaning to explain it in a short write-up — so what better timing.

MURPH as you know is the following workout, done for time.

  • 1 mile run
  • 100 pull-ups
  • 200 push-ups
  • 300 air squats
  • 1 mile run

The most common practice (I think anyways) splitting the 100, 200 and 300 reps into 20 rounds of 5, 10 and 15 reps.

Another option, is a weighted vest. I recently got my vest from One to One in Stoney Creek and I have vowed to use it whenever possible, MURPH being no exception. I like it, I’ve gotten used to it. In some weird, twisted way, it almost becomes my suit of armour as I ready myself for battle. I’ve even adorned it with my patch.

My One to One weighted vest with Bear patch

Now, right off the bat, I must make it known — I’m not doing MURPH to get better at it. But then why MURPH?

When we first did MURPH this year, I fell in love with the story behind the workout. A fallen Navy Seal, Mike Murphy, was actually known for doing this workout on a regular basis. That is so cool I thought to myself, and it makes sense.

Travelling a lot, constantly being stationed around different parts of the globe, I imagine a Navy Seal does not want to let their fitness suffer. The movements in MURPH almost seem methodically chosen, for both their macro-specific target on the basic body muscles and their simplicity. This makes it an excellent candidate for a workout given limited supplies to equipment.

I am, like many of you, at a stage where the three movements in this workout, the pull-up, the push-up and the air squat, aren’t anything troublesome for me. The 20 rounds of 5/10/15 reps of said movements respectively, is JUST enough, that my mind must play a vital role in me finishing this workout.

This workout, like no other, has had a more significant impact on building my mental strength. When I hit round 14, or 15, and my body is begging for me to stop, to just go back inside the door of my house that is just ten feet from me, to go in and take a hot shower, I close my eyes, flex my mind, whisper just loud enough that I can hear “let’s go Adam, jump back up on that f***ing bar”.

That moment, the moment where I’m not at the gym, the moment where nobody is yelling at me to finish, the moment where no clock is counting down, the moment where I’m not chasing someone, or someone is chasing me, the moment where I realize I’m all alone, the moment where I realize NOBODY will know if I quit, the moment that just begs for me to stop, the moment where I’m bent over with hands on my knees, breathing heavily as sweat pours from my brow and lands between my feet. That’s the moment I live for. That’s the moment that makes us better. It’s the moment that hones our mental stability and makes us stronger than we’ll ever know. All you have to do is fight back.

Now do me a favour. Re-read the previous paragraph.

Done?

Now imagine all of this, at 4:30am on a Sunday. I rest my case.

-The Bear

Adam Profetto

Written by

Father of twin toddlers, CrossFitter, writer for fun.

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