75 Hard - 30 Murphs in 30 Days

The annual Memorial Day ‘Murph’ workout is grueling. There is no other way to describe it. If you are unfamiliar with the workout it consists of the following while wearing a 20lb. vest:

1 mile run.
100 pull ups.
200 push ups.
300 squats.
1 mile run.

(To learn the history behind the workout click here)

My plan, starting April 1st, is to do the Murph every day of the month. 30 Murphs in 30 Days.

On the surface this is patently stupid. Memorial Day 2022 I completed Murph and my body ached for two days; now I plan on doing this workout daily? Yup. That’s what I intend to do.

Why? Because why not? 

It’s going to suck. It’s going to hurt. It’s going to make me want to quit. Many mornings I will have internal dialogue if I should complete Murph for the day. 

Will I quit? I don’t know but I want to find out. And if I quit, how many days did I last? 

What if I don’t quit? Then what else am I capable of achieving? These are the questions I want to answer for myself and I believe the answers to these questions will go a long way in helping me find clarity to how I want to live my life.

I firmly believe there is a correlation between pushing your body and mind physically and performing at a high level in other aspects of your life. This challenge is about stacking daily small wins that will lead to much larger wins in life. 

How many times have I sat on the couch and not read material that was required for school or work because I was ‘tired’? How often have I eaten food that was trash, and I knew it was trash, but I didn’t have the discipline to not pick it up? How many times have I given my kids advice that I know is sound, but I don’t have the discipline to live by myself?

     Too many to count for each question.

This is why I’m doing 30 Murphs in 30 Days. I’m doing it because I don’t want to do it and hope I come out just a little better that I was when I started.

***A few things to note***

-Doing a workout 30 days straight can (and will) get monotonous. Knowing this I will change how I complete the Murph each day. Some days may be strict pull ups and other days kipping. Some days I may do chin ups rather than pull ups. Yes, I know the workout calls for pull ups…whatevs.

-Some days I will partition and other days I won’t. I may break sets into 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats and do that 20 rounds, other days may be 4 pull ups, 8 push ups, and 12 squats over 25 rounds,  or if I’m feeling frisky, I’ll do the workout as written with no partitioning.  

-I’ve battled tendonitis on the inside of both elbows in the past. It’s painful and makes doing a single pull up is excruciating. Currently my elbows feel fine. That said, I’m very cognizant of the need to massage and treat the tendons in my forearms/elbows, so they continue to feel ‘fine’. However, if the pain from the tendonitis returns, I’m subbing my 100 pull ups with 200 deep ring rows.