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What Murph teaches you about your fitness (and yourself)
Every year, on or around Memorial Day(USA), CrossFit gyms around the world do Murph
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May 11, 2026
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Every year, on or around Memorial Day(USA), CrossFit gyms around the world do Murph.
1-mile run. 100 pull-ups. 200 push-ups. 300 air squats. 1-mile run.
For people outside the CrossFit world, it sounds extreme. For people inside it, it's one of the most anticipated dates on the calendar.
The reason isn't the workout. It's what the workout asks of you.
Who Murph is named for
Lieutenant Michael Murphy was a US Navy SEAL from New York. He was 29 years old.
In June 2005, during Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan, his four-man reconnaissance team was compromised. Outnumbered and under heavy fire, Murphy moved into an exposed position to get a satellite signal — the only way to call for help.
He made the call. His teammates survived. Murphy was killed in action on June 28, 2005.
The workout was one he created himself. He called it Body Armor. CrossFit named it Murph.
What the workout actually measures
Murph is not a fitness test in the conventional sense. What it really measures is this: what do you do when it gets hard and there's still a long way to go?
That question — answered in a gym, with other people around you, with a clock running — tends to reveal things about yourself that don't come up on a regular Tuesday.
Why scaling is not just allowed — it's the point
Ring rows instead of pull-ups. Knee push-ups. Half reps. A shorter run.
Every version of this workout, done at the level your body is at today, honours exactly the same intention as the prescribed version.
Murphy didn't make it back because he was the fittest person in Afghanistan. He made it back because he kept going. That's the point of every scaled version of this workout.
What first-timers always say afterwards
Almost without exception, the thing people say after their first Murph is a version of:
'I didn't think I was going to be able to do that.'
Not 'it was easy.' Just: I didn't think I could. And then I did.
That moment — that specific surprise at your own capability — is the thing people come back for every year.
Register for Murph at CFP here. May 25. All welcome. All scales. Nobody finishes alone
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