CrossFit gym hosts Memorial Day “Murph” challenge
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Across the country, many fitness enthusiasts chose to recognize Memorial Day through a special fitness challenge – “The Murph.”
Members of CrossFit R837 in Bowling Green were among the participants.
“It means that you have to think about somebody else first,” said Derrick Mason, owner of CrossFit R837.
Sacrifice comes in many forms, but none greater than giving one’s life protecting their country.
“We appreciate our troops,” said Shaunna Mason, member of CrossFit R837. “If it wasn’t for them and how hard they work and how much they sacrifice, we wouldn’t be able to live in the great country that we live in.”
To honor the servicemen and women who have paid the ultimate price, members of CrossFit R837 participated in the Murph challenge.
“The Murph” is named after Navy Lt. Michael Murphy, who gave his life trying to save members of his team during combat in Afghanistan in 2005.
“The story is that he sacrificed his life in an effort to save the guys in his unit,” added Mason.
“There’s self-sacrifice, but there’s also sacrifice for a team which is what Murph is kind of about,” said Tyler Jackson, a member of the National Guard and WKU ROTC. “Sacrificing what a team did for you and what teams do for you every day.”
The challenge includes the following, done as fast as possible with as little of rest needed in between:
- 1 mile run
- 100 pull-ups
- 200 push-ups
- 300 air squats
- 1 mile run
The biggest challenge of all of that, though, is wearing a 20 lb. weighted vest during the entirety of those exercises.
“I don’t know what it’s like [to be a soldier], but this kind of gives you a sense of what they go through every single day just so we can have our freedom,” said Shaunna Mason.
Some take under an hour to complete the challenge. Others take longer. But in the end, people push themselves to the brink to ensure they finish the challenge.
“You’re wanting to quit and you’re like, man, [Lt. Murphy] didn’t quit when his life was on the line,” said Zak Wallace, a member of CrossFit R837. “I know I’m going to survive this. It takes you an extra step.”
The challenge pushes you both physically and mentally, especially with the heat, but the temporary pain these participants endure pales in comparison to the sacrifice made by so many soldiers.
“Sacrifice is putting people above yourself,” said Jackson. “It’s about looking at the greater good. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Stuff like that.”
While the challenge itself is individually-based, it’s the sense of community and family that helps push these competitors to finish every last push-up, pull-up and squat.
“To be here together and to have the vast majority of our folks here on the same day working out at the same time, it really means a lot,” Mason said.
