All American Workout

  Remember the Murph Challenge I did on Memorial Day? That workout is named in honor of SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy. The workout consists of a 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 push ups & 300 squats, followed by another 1 mile run. In addition, you want to try to use a weighted vest. Lt. Murphy did this workout before deploying with a 25 lb - 40 lb vest! There was also a 4 mile run in his hometown in Long Island, NY in his honor this past Saturday.


    Well this past Sunday , June 28th, marked the 10th anniversary of Operation Red Wing. It was this mission, made famous in the movie "Lone Survivor", where Lt. Murphy earned the Medal of Honor, posthumously sad to say. Also, coincidentally, June 27th was the birthday of Martin County resident/SEAL Aaron Vaughn. He was a member of SEAL Team 6. His helicopter was tragically shot down in Afghanistan in August 2011. There's a swim named in his honor held in Jensen Beach every year on June 27th weekend.

    If you recall, on Memorial Day I did the Murph Challenge with a 10 lb dumbbell in my old backpack. It took over an hour. Well , this past Saturday, rather than just doing the swim or a run , I decided to do my own "triathlon".  In a tribute to both men , I swam a half mile, ran 4 miles, then did the exercises in the Murph Challenge, this time with a 20 lb dumbbell in my backpack! And I did it at Pepper Park, the home of the UDT/SEAL Museum. A true all American workout!

    I wont lie, none of it was easy. The swim, which I did with fins, took about 27:00. The run , this time without weight, took over 43:30. I was dragging . No excuses, it happened. The exercises were tough, especially out in the hot sun, but surprisingly I was able to do the exercises in pretty good form & hold a pretty good pace. I definitely did shake it out in between sets but the rests weren't super long. And because I used 20 lbs this time, I did 25 sets of 4 pull ups, 8 push ups, & 12 squats. Total time; 1:11:50! Believe me, I was glad to be done!

     A few points. As I always emphasize, this isn't a beginner workout. However, this can be a goal to work towards. For those of you already well conditioned ( tri -athletes, emergency personnel, athletes,etc), especially those of you who want to join the military, this is something to try, with good form ( especially on the pull ups). But do so cautiously. And don't worry if the first few times things aren't by the book. Examples include using  little or no weight, low reps per set with many sets, using sneakers not boots. Few of us can run a couple of miles in boots, do pull ups, push ups & squats with 40 lbs & boots with high reps & low sets. It's best to do half of your maximum reps per set.If you can do this all with 40 lbs however, please send me a video, you beast!

    On a more serious note, I just want to say, these guys, Michael Murphy & his men of Operation Red Wing & Aaron Vaughn & his fellow SEAL Team 6 members, should never be forgotten & remembered every day. These are true American heroes.