More Than a Workout: What the Murph Teaches Us About Life

Every Memorial Day, my family takes on the Murph workout together. The Murph is a workout created in honor of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005. The workout became known throughout the CrossFit community as a way to honor sacrifice, resilience, and service. Traditionally, the workout includes a one-mile run, followed by 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, and then another one-mile run. For many people, just reading the workout can feel overwhelming. It is physically demanding, mentally challenging, and carries a certain emotional weight because of what it represents. Over the years, it has become much more than exercise for our family. It has become a tradition centered around challenge, discomfort, gratitude, and remembering that growth often happens when we choose to keep moving forward despite difficulty.

This year feels especially meaningful because my 12-year-old son will be participating for the first time. As Monday gets closer, I can see the nervousness building in him. Honestly, I think many adults feel the exact same way when approaching difficult challenges in life.

Before hard things begin, our minds often start creating stories. “What if I fail?” “What if I cannot finish?” “What if I embarrass myself?” “What if I am not strong enough, prepared enough, or knowledgeable enough?” These thoughts are incredibly common, and many of them are examples of cognitive distortions that quietly pull us away from growth before we ever take the first step. All-or-nothing thinking, catastrophizing, self-doubt, and comparison can become louder than the actual challenge itself.

The Murph is a great example of how overwhelming goals can teach us something important about life. When you first look at the workout as a whole, it can feel intimidating. But nobody completes the Murph all at once. It happens one pull-up at a time. One push-up at a time. One squat at a time. One step at a time. The same is true for many of the things we want to accomplish in life. Health goals, fitness goals, emotional healing, career changes, difficult conversations, parenting, relationships, and personal growth often become overwhelming when we stare too long at the entire mountain instead of focusing on the next step directly in front of us.

One of the most powerful ways we overcome distorted thinking is by challenging a single thought and slowly building evidence that we are capable of more than we originally believed. Confidence rarely arrives before action. More often, confidence is built through repeated experiences of showing up, struggling, adapting, and continuing anyway. Sometimes growth starts by simply proving to ourselves that we can begin.

What I hope my son learns on Monday has very little to do with finishing time or performance. I hope he learns that nervousness does not mean weakness. I hope he learns that hard things can be done imperfectly. I hope he learns that courage is often simply taking the next step despite uncertainty. Most importantly, I hope he begins building evidence that he is capable of more than the voice of self-doubt would have him believe.

At Storm & Harmony Wellness, we believe growth rarely happens all at once. It is built one decision, one challenge, one healthy habit, and one small step at a time. Sometimes the greatest victories in life are not found in perfection or performance, but in simply refusing to let fear make our decisions for us.