Honoring the Murph
Ten years ago, four U.S. Navy Seals were inserted 10,000 feet above the town of Asadabad deep in the Hindu Kush mountain range of Afghanistan. They were ambushed when their reconnaissance mission was compromised, and on June 28, 2005, Lt. Michael P. Murphy was killed while communicating their position back to base.
His actions enabled Petty Officer First Class Marcus Luttrell to ultimately be rescued, and the bodies of two fellow soldiers to be recovered. Lt. Murphy was awarded the Medal of Honor.
On Sunday, 12 men gathered to run the workout named in his honor and think about true heroism. Thanks to everybody who came out, especially the 2.0s.
Don’t forget to consider supporting Charlotte Bridge Home.
Thanks for taking us out, Iron Horse.
Pre-blast: The Murph for Lt. Murphy (6/28)
The pax of Day Zero/Area 51 will be hosting a running of the Murph on Sunday, June 28 — the date that marks 10 years since Lt. Michael P. Murphy was killed while serving in Afghanistan.
Lt. Murphy is said to have invented this workout, which he called “Body Armor.” He completed it while wearing a 25-pound flak jacket. It was later renamed in his honor.
We’ll launch from the South County Regional Library parking lot at 7 a.m. to begin the one-mile run down to McAlpine Elementary.
There, we will complete 100 pull-ups, 200 merkins and 300 squats.
To finish, we’ll trek one mile back to the library. Plan on dedicating an hour to the workout. Whoever finishes first will lead the early finishers in mary, tabata or more merkins, according to his discretion.
It’s become kind of a cliche to complete the Murph workout and it’s been written up in all sorts of magazines. We want this to be more meaningful. I hope you’ll consider donating to Charlotte Bridge Home, which helps veterans returning to this area transition to civilian life and employment.
They accept payments online, so please think about dropping in $10 or whatever you can. I’ll collect checks payable to “Charlotte Bridge Home.” If you’d rather bring cash, I’ll be glad to accept it and write a check on your behalf.
Sound off in the comments to HC. Hope to see you there.
Are you Army strong?
A robust 35 men showed up at the Vine parking lot, so we counted off, one and two, split up, and headed out into the soup.
Tha thang
Dear Abby Q:
Mosey across the street by the gas station for a COP:
SSH x 25
IW x 15
Windmill x 10
Low, slow squat x 20
Down to the lake for a version of the U.S. Army Physical Fitness Test.
2 minutes max pushups
2 minutes max full situps
2 mile timed run
Mary while we wait for everyone to finish the run
Find some wall for in-cadence exercises:
Dips x 10
Derkins x 10
Head back to base
Soft Pretzel Q:
Mosey to the Pei Wei lot for warm up: 15 IWs, 15 merkins, 20 SSHs, 10 diamond merkins, 15 squats, 10 wide arm merkins (all IC).
Mosey toward parking deck and stop at the low wall outside Moe’s: P1 plank walk on the low wall while P2 does peoples’ chair. Flapjack and repeat 3x.
Continue to parking deck. For each ramp, perform the called exercise at the bottom before running to the top.
Ramp 1: 10 burpees IC, sprint up.
Ramp 2: 10 jumps squats, backwards run up
Ramp 3: 10 burpees IC, sprint up.
On the way down, use the pillars as markers.
Ramp 3: lunge walk three pillars, jog down.
Ramp 2: backwards bear crawl three pillars, jog down
Ramp 1: lunge walk 3 pillars, jog down.
Partner up. Run to the top, stopping at each level to do partner decline merkins, same thing on the way down. Alternate at each level.
Back at the bottom, circle up for merkins and Mary. Merkins x 5, 10, 15, 10, 5 in between each called Mary exercise. Went around the circle for PAX choice and did:
Flutter x 20, Mason Twist x 20, Freddie Mercury x 20, Heels to Heaven x 20, knee ups x 10 (all IC).
Mosey back, stopping to wait for the 6 with burpees, planks, etc.
COT
Moleskine
The workout write-up is short but I think the pax came out of it feeling spent. I know I did. The APFT is simple but brutally effective and a good gauge of your physical and mental stamina. Here are the standards, which are on a scale according to age.
Basic (minimum) standards:
2 min Pushups: 34 (hate) / 30 / 25 (respect)
2 min Situps: 45 (hate) / 38 / 30 (respect)
2-mile run: 17:00 (hate) / 18:18 / 19:30 (respect)
Standards to earn the APFT Badge (worn only on PT uniform)
Pushups: 67
Situps: 72
2-mile run: 14:12
Maximum credit (perfect score)
Pushups: 75
Situps: 76
2-mile run: 13:18
Now y’all have something to shoot for. Plug your numbers in here to see how you did. You can read a 434-page manual on APFT here.
–Welcome FNGs Leia and Data. Fantastic to have you out, and hope you’ll be back.
–Great take-out by Hops. Also pretty good #mumblechatter from him earlier as he reminisced on his days in gym class during the windmills.
Announcements:
–Next week our Metro friends from SIB will converge with Swift. Should be a good time.
–Don’t forget the Calvary Church food drive. Details.
–We’ll be running the Murph on June 28. Details.
Thanks as always, gentlemen.
10 x 10
16 men paid homage to Royal H. Burpee at Centurion this morning. Here’s what we did.
The thang:
Mosey up the street to the shopping center for a quick COP:
SSH x 20
Mountain climbers x 20
Merkins x 15
Imperial Walker x 5
Head across 51 to Palantine Hill. Circle up for the 10 x 10:
Complete 10 burpees per minute for 10 minutes #crowdpleaser
On your 6 for mary:
LBC x 20
Heels to heaven x 20
Dolly x 20
Freddy Mercury x 20
The triple nickel:
Up the hill, 5 dry docks at the top, 5 jump squats at the bottom. Complete 5 times.
Native American run back toward base until a car zooms up behind us
Grab some bench at the front of the school
Dips x 15
Jump ups x 10
Dips x 14
Jump ups x 9
And on down until we got to Dips x 11 and Jump ups x 6
Mosey to the rock pile and grab a stone suitable for lifting
Curls x 10
OHP x 10
Curls x 7
OHP x 7
Curls x 5
OHP x 5
Back to the launch pad as time expired.
COT
Moleskine:
–Mermaid kindly filled us in on the history of the burpee somewhere between rounds three and four while the #mumblechatter was still fierce. He’s the resident expert and you can read up on Royal H. Burpee here. But the long and short of it is that everyone’s favorite exercise was invented as a test of physical fitness and the Centurion pax aced it this morning.
–Chelms led the way on the triple nickel as usual, but he came close to being disqualified for a false start. #oldmanstrong
–Our friends up in the Metro region are putting on #TheGoat tomorrow morning, launching at 6 a.m. from the top of the Muthaship. Be there for 3.5 hours of pain.
–Speaking of #CSAUP, save the date for Southern Discomfort on Aug. 1 for a tour of Area 51’s AOs. Look out for more info to come on that.
Thanks as always for the chance to lead.
Are you coming yet?
Today’s word problem: Two men met in the gloom to flex their muscles. Two more men joined them. Then two men left. How much pain was meted out?
Tha thang
Dear Abby Q:
Mosey over to the front of the school for quick COP:
SSH x 20
Merkins x 15
Mountain climbers x 20
Squat x 15
CDD x 20
Mosey down to the track and partner up
Partner chase around the track
Partner A runs around track. Partner B begins with 5 hand-release merkins, then goes to tag Partner A
Repeato with 5 jump squats
Grab a stone
Curls x 15
OHP x 15
Tricep extensions x 15
Curls x 10
OHP x 10
Triceps x 10
Back to the track for more partner chase
Partner A runs with the rock around the track. Partner B starts with 5 hand release merkins, then chases
Repeato with 5 burpees
Mosey out the backdoor. Handoff the Q
Hairball Q:
Mosey behind YR
Peoples Chair on wall. Hold while each pax runs to fire hydrant behind Yellow Rose and performs 5 HR merkins.
BTTW. Hold until each pax run 25 yds and performs 5 squats
Peoples Chair on wall. Hold while each pax runs to hydrant and performs 5 wide arm merkins.
Mosey behind shopping center back toward campus.
Triple nickel on Carswell Hill – CDDs at top, Squats at bottom.
Mosey back to campus to send off Radar and Dear Abby.
Supine pull-ups x50
Box squats x 40
Hanging knee ups x 30
High derkins x 20
Deck squats x10
Mary
LBC x25 IC
JLo x 10 IC
Freddy Mercury x20 IC
COT
Moleskine
One of the pax may have caught YHC sneaking a peek of my bicep during the stone work #curlsforthegirls There’s a perfectly scientific reason for it. The great Ah-nold says that you need to mentally get inside of the muscle you’re working to make sure you’re isolating it correctly. This member of the pax then pointed out that Arnold has said some pretty outlandish stuff in his day. Anybody seen “Pumping Iron”? If you need a hint check out the post title.
Great idea by Hairball to have some pre-workout kettlebell. Hopefully next time somebody who knows what they’re doing with a bell will show up because Hairball and YHC ran out of ideas pretty quickly.
Teddy was a monster on the track work and the Triple Nickel #noexplanationnecessary
Pleasure as always to work out at the most stimulating Saturday workout in Area 51.
It’s only 50 burpees
In the gloom of Good Friday, a pax 16-strong posted at Charlotte Catholic for a little fitness, fellowship and faith. Here’s what we did.
Tha thang
Run over to the aquatics center for COP:
SSH x 20
Imperial walkers x 10
Merkins x 15
Squats x 20
Mountain climber x 20
Partner up (size matters). Pause for the #disclaimer
Partner carry to the top of the hill
10 x partner declines, then swap.
Repeato with the other partner carrying
Partner push up the hill
15 x partner hand slap merkins
Repeato with the other partner pushing
Run to the tables at the front of the school
15 x Dips in cadence
15 x jump ups (a little slippery — watch out)
10 x Dips in cadence
10 x jump ups
5 x Dips in cadence
5 x jump ups
Quick Mosey over to Palantine Hill.
Plank to wait for 6.
More partner work. Partner A summits the west side of the hill and descends the south side. Partner 2 completes the called exercise. Swap until the target number is hit.
Jump squats x 100
Hand-release merkins x 100
Plank jacks x 100
Burpees x *ONLY* 50
LBCs to wait for the 6
Recovery mosey back to base
6MOM (well, four actually):
Dolly x 20
Heels to heaven x 20
Freddy Mercury x 25
1 minute elbow plank
Buzzer
Naked moleskine:
–There’s no real good way to simulate the #F3SuperBowl except to do it. But since we’re only a week out, we decided to try. Solid veteran crew. Great to see everyone out there. I’m still smoked.
–Pebbles showed off some leg strength accelerating up those hill runs
–Margo, who ran in and back as usual, went beast mode on the burpees and saved YHC’s butt
–A Centurion witnessed Jesus’s last breath on Good Friday, and exclaimed: “Surely this man was the son of God!” (see Mark 15:37-39)
Announcements:
–Pay for your mud run bus pass and sundries if you haven’t already.
—Support Operation Enduring Warrior, too.
–Pray for Bill, the brother of Chelms and Abacus
–A little boy in the Cameron Wood neighborhood is also battling brain cancer. There’s an event at Olde Meck brewery next Sunday in support. Details are in the updates section here.
–Support our F3 brother Zip-a-Dee. Details here.
–Thanks for the great takeout, Checkpoint
It’s always an honor to lead.
Under construction
13 men awoke to a pleasantly warm morning to get after it on the second day of 2015. The school is nice enough to be building us a parking deck but for now the construction is just an obstacle to get around. Anyway, we managed. Here’s what we did.
The thang
Quick up-and-back from the small parking lot to the road. #uturn
Circle up for a push-o-rama edition of a COP:
Merkins x 15
SSH x 20
Merkins x 12
Copperhead squat x 20
Merkins x 9
Mountain climbers x 20
Merkins x 6
Carolina Dry Docks x 10
Merkins x 3
Parnter up and mosey over to the rockpile to find a worthy stone.
Partner A runs up hill to the road and back
Partner B performs called exercise: curls, overhead press, squat.
Some planks worked in
Repeato
Say goodbye to our little friends and mosey to the parking lot
Bear crawl down, run back
Crab walk down, run back
Backwards bear crawl down (#crowdpleaser), run back
Reverse crab walk down, run back
Sprint down, run back x 2
Mosey up to the front of the school and grab some bench
Step ups x 10, Dips x 15
Rinse and repeat for three sets total
Mosey back to the parking lot for EXACTLY six minutes of Mary:
Dolly x 20 — Hold it — low slow flutter x 10
Freddy mercury x 20
LBC x 20
Rosalita x 20
COT
Moleskine:
Some real Larry Birds out there. Props to Chelms, Hops and Mermaid (and others I only saw the back of) for beasting it out there. And big ups to Margo who runs 1+ miles each way to and from the workout.
Announcements: Joe Davis run, Unbroken movie coming up, Bring your FNGs and Kotters to Ascent on Saturday
Thanks for letting me Q my first workout in the Southlands.