Done The CrossFit Hero Workout "Murph" As Prescribed


"In his final act of bravery, he continued to engage the enemy until he was mortally wounded, gallantly giving his life for his country and for the cause of freedom. By his selfless leadership, Lieutenant Murphy reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."
--Official Medal of Honor Citation for
Lt. Michael P. Murphy
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Taken An Ice Bath


"How many women have the courage to start properly with a cold, cold bath early in the morning? I jump in, throw the water, cold as ice, and after the first plunge I am happy."
--
Anna Held
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Done A Fireman's Carry


"Firemen can do almost everything. You already trust them in life-threatening situations; why not let them help you with your everyday problems, too?"
--
David Hunt
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Done A Maltese Bench Press


"Everyone gets scared, and everyone falls. The key is to get right back up and try again"
--
Shannon Miller
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Done Grasshoppers And Parallette Passthroughs


"Gymnastics uses every single part of your body, every little tiny muscle that you never even knew."
--
Shannon Miller
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Done Barbell Pullovers

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"If you love life, don't waste time, for time is what life is made up of."
--
Bruce Lee
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Squatted For Five Minutes

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"I was built to squat."
--
Tom Platz
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Run On A Woodway Curve

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"I have a punishing workout regimen. Every day I do 3 minutes on a treadmill, then I lie down, drink a glass of vodka and smoke a cigarette."
--
Anthony Hopkins
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Done Barbell Rows

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“Get your deadlift up to 500 pounds and then you’ll have your own opinions.... F*** barbell rows.”
--Mark Rippetoe,
Mean Ol' Mr. Gravity
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Run With Compression Sportswear

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"We're men, we're men in tights (TIGHT tights),
Always on guard defending the people's rights."
--From Mel Brooks' 1993 Film
Robin Hood: Men In Tights
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Done Weighted Push-Ups

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"Dogs are forever in the push up position."
--
Mitch Hedberg
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Defined Myself Through Things I've Never Done

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"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."
--
George Bernard Shaw
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Gone To The CrossFit Games

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"Be patient. Your fitness level is something that is going to generally take a long time to get to where you think you want it. And when you are there, you will want it higher. Don’t define yourself by your numbers and your times. Define yourself by who you are and what you are about. CrossFit is something that you do, it is not who you are. That can help keep things in good perspective."
--
Chris Spealler
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Done Jump Rope Triple Unders

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"I came to get down, I came to get down,
So get out your seats and jump around"
--
House of Pain, Jump Around
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Done A 20 Foot Rope Climb

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"That is a babe. She makes me feel kinda funny, like when we used to climb the rope in gym class."
--Garth Algar (as played by
Dana Carvey in 1992's Wayne's World)
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Shouldered An Atlas Stone

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"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."
--
William Faulkner
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Become A Certified CrossFit Trainer

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"The CrossFit prescription is 'constantly varied, functional movements executed at high intensity.'"
--
Greg Glassman Read More...
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Done A Log Clean And Press

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"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. "
--
Eleanor Roosevelt
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Done A 300 Pound Farmer Carry

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"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it."
--
Lou Holtz
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Carried A Yoke

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“The yoke you wear determines the burden you bear.”
  --
Edwin Louis Cole
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Done Sandbag Getups

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“The beauty of strongman training is that there's no one way to perform the exercises.”
  --
Joe DeFranco
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Swum At The Presidio YMCA

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“You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.”
  --
Michael Phelps
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Gone To A CrossFit Regional Competition

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"You can't do these workouts unless you're driven by purpose. Purpose is ultimately the well spring of all happiness."
  --
Greg Glassman, founder of CrossFit
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Bench Pressed 200 Pounds

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“The bench press is the best exercise for absolute strength in the upper body.”
  --
Mark Rippetoe
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Pushed A Prowler

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"I am thoroughly convinced that the Prowler is the answer to most of our world’s problems: debt, overpopulation, drugs, obesity, etc."
  --
Jim Wendler
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Completed A 100 Day Burpee Challenge

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"I have incredible self-discipline. But see, I think it’s obviously a form of stupidity."
  --
John Malkovich
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Run A Mile Barefoot

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“In minimalist running, you can't overtrain or overstride, because your feet will stop you. When you run barefoot you're not really pushing off, you're just tapping the ball of your foot down.”
  --Christopher McDougall, author of
Born To Run
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Taken A Hydrostatic Body Fat Test

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“I’m not fat, I’m big boned.”
  --
Eric Cartman
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Done A Handstand Pushup

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"Now I don’t allow my body to break at all. Boom—that’s the position." --Carl Paoli
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Done A Steinborn Lift

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The Steinborn Lift was originated by Henry “Milo” Steinborn, an old time strongman in the 1920’s.  He was one of the first men ever to squat with 500 pounds, which is even more impressive from the standpoint that he loaded and unloaded the barbell onto his shoulders unassisted.
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Squatted 350 Pounds

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Back when I started doing CrossFit, I knew nothing about doing squats.  My first time doing 1 rep max back squats, I lifted 175 lbs.  That was in June of 2009.  Today, I doubled it.  It’s also double my bodyweight.
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Worn A 30 Pound Weight Vest For A Day

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I tried an interesting experiment today.  I decided I wanted to put on the weight I used to have at my heaviest and wear it for a day.  Back at the end of 2008, I weighed over 200 lbs, which for my height put me in the obese category on the Body Mass Index (BMI)
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Done A Zercher Lift

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Inspired by last week’s continental clean and press, I decided to find some other odd barbell lifts.  One of the ones I found is called a Zercher lift, named after its creator, Ed Zercher, an old time strongman from St. Louis.  He could deadlift 536 lbs. at a weight of 155. 
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Done An Axle Continental Clean And Press

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I like to think of San Francisco CrossFit as an outdoor playground for people that want to be fit.  Instead of jungle gyms, there are pullup bars.  Instead of slides, there are weights and barbells.
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Done An Inverted Burpee

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Happy Ash Wednesday (and Lent)!
Back in April of 2009,
CrossFit.com posted a workout of 100 inverted burpees.  At the time, I was nowhere near being able to do something like that.
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Done A Burpee Double Under

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Back in January, I did 50 unbroken double unders (jump rope where the rope passes beneath you twice).  Today, I wanted to combine everyone’s least favorite body movement, the burpee, with a double under. 
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Cleaned A Water Filled Keg

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If you know me, you are probably aware that I enjoy lifting weights.  J and I have been doing CrossFit training for a good amount of time now, and amazingly, we are still quite enthusiastic about it.
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Ran Up The Lyon Street Steps

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The city I live in is famous for its hills, and some of these hills have steps, really steep steps.  A year and a half ago, on our first anniversary, J and I climbed up the Filbert Street Steps on the way to the top of Coit Tower.  Another well known set of steps are the Lyon Street steps, and luckily, for me, they are within walking distance from work.
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Drunk A Gallon Of Milk In A Day

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For years, powerlifters have used the method of drinking a gallon of milk a day (GOMAD) to gain weight.  Basically, a gallon of milk is 2400 calories and has a high amount of both protein and fat content.
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Run From Home To Work

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This morning, I ran to work.  While it’s not what I’d consider a super long run, it’s a little hilly in parts.  I live in between the Castro District and Twin Peaks areas of San Francisco, almost directly in the center of the city.  I work in the Presidio at the Letterman Digital Arts Center (LDAC), near the Golden Gate Bridge.
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Sprinted Uphill With A 50 Pound Sandbag

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Back on January 11, I built a training sandbag.  Since then, I have not had the opportunity to take it for a test spin.  I picked today to do it.
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Done Fifty Unbroken Double Unders

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The subtitle for this post should be “persistence pays off... and a friendly push doesn’t hurt either.”
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Read "The 4-Hour Body" by Timothy Ferriss (Cover To Cover)

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I must admit that I don’t finish many books, fiction or non-fiction.  In fact, I can’t tell you the last time I read a book from cover to cover.  I use a lot of books for reference, but I almost never read books for pleasure.
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Done Clapping Pull-ups

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When J and I were thinking about getting equipment for our garage gym, one of the pieces we were really looking at was the Stud Bar, a gym-quality pull-up bar made from 14 gauge steel.  I really liked a video they made to show the uses of the bar. 
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Built a Training Sandbag

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Happy 1/11/11!

About two years ago, I really got into
CrossFit, the core strength and conditioning fitness program.  Last year, I bought a ton of equipment for our garage gym.

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Finished a Sub-8 Minute Fran

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Fran is THE CrossFit standard workout.  It’s a workout that produces a ton of power output (lots of work in a little amount of time).  The workout as prescribed is:

Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups

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