If You’re Nervous About This workout…Good.
I’m writing this article for anyone and everyone in the Crossfit world.
Gym owners, coaches, competitive athletes, weekend warriors…it doesn’t matter, it’s all relevant and we’re all in this one together.
Crossfit is hard any day of the week, but when a Hero WOD is coming up, you know there's going to be a different level of suffering involved.
If you haven’t yet heard of Murph, I’m going to assume one of two things.
- Your head has been under a rock
- You’re brand new to Crossfit
Hero WODs are special. They are so much more than just a brutal workout, they create a movement.
They bind the community in a special way…even people who don’t train Crossfit will join in for the hero wods.
1 mile run + 100 pull-ups + 200 push-ups + 300 air squats + 1 mile run
All while wearing a weighted vest.
Hell yeah…If I told my mom about this workout, she’d ask how many days we have to complete it!
Murph is one of the true classics, and basically a recipe for rhabdo.
Aside from following a specific training block to get prepared for it, our main goal at Primal Mobility will be to reduce the likelihood of pain and discomfort, while increasing recovery rate.
This workout is a beast, and the last thing you need is for your knees, low back, or shoulders to start flaring up on you halfway through.
Of all training methods, the importance of mobility in crossfit can not be understated.
The combination of gymnastics, olympic weightlifting, and traditional lifts, all while under immense fatigue…
Yeah, we gotta make sure you’re moving well!
In this article we’re going to break down some of the specific mobility demands that will be placed on your body during murph, and I’ll give you some exercises to help you prepare and warmup for the workout!
Understanding the Demands of Murph
One of the main challenges of the Murph workout is that it’s a true test of Crossfit endurance. We need to make sure that your joints aren’t only moving well, but that they’re also feeling solid under the repetitive stress that they’ll be placed under.
For this section of the article, let’s break each individual component of the workout down to see where the body might start to fatigue quickly, and how we can minimize the setbacks.
1️⃣ 2 Miles of Running
Listen, 2 miles of running is not something that is likely concerning for you in any way, but there’s a few things to consider here. The first mile is at the beginning of the workout, and depending on how you approach Murph this year, it can really set you up for rapid fatigue.
For those of you with knee issues, the first run, followed eventually with 300 weighted squats and another run could be a recipe for knee disaster. To keep the knees feeling smooth, we’ll want to make sure we address the ankles and hips in our warmup. The second run is generally just an all out blitz to get the sh*t done, but the body will be hurting at this point. The goal will be to help make sure the body is feeling well enough to not allow pain be something that holds you back.
Main areas to focus on with mobility work:
Ankle Plantar flexion (and general ankle stability) & Hip Extension
2️⃣ 100 Pull-ups
Here is where the shoulders could get a lil’ cranky. Now, some of you will be doing them strict, but I’m going to talk more about the kipping movement here to make sure we really get everything moving appropriately. With the kipping movement, we’re basically moving the spine in and out of deep extension with the arms overhead, repeatedly. This specific position will require efficient movement from the thoracic, scapulas, shoulders, and hips, to make sure that we’re not early fatiguing the low back area and the biceps.
While most people will spend the majority of their time warming up their shoulders for this part (which is definitely important), don’t sleep on the fact that hip extension goes a long way for improving the efficiency of the kip, which will provide two main benefits:
- Reducing the stress placed at the low back area by allowing the hips to take more extension than the lumbar spine.
- It will allow for more explosive power to come from the lower body to support the kipping motion which will help reduce the amount of work that the upper body needs to do.
Main areas to focus on with mobility work:
Hip Extension, Thoracic Extension, Full Scapular Freedom
3️⃣ 200 Pushups
The pushups are sneaky as hell. Everyone seems to think that the pullups are going to wreck you, but those pushups will slap you right across the face without even apologizing (frankly, it’s pretty rude).
Where things get dicey here is that the pushups are brutal enough on their own, but moving from high volume pull-ups immediately into pushups is rough on the arms. While the arms are getting smashed, the shoulders might start to scream as a result, but considering that pushups aren’t highly demanding on shoulder ROM, getting them moving through deep ranges as part of the warmup isn’t the main intention here. Rather, it will be important to address the scapulas and make sure they’re doing their part to support the movement.
Something to keep in mind here is that the low back may also be a problematic area during the pushups. Depending on when technique starts to fall apart, the low back might start to “droop” slightly which might place some stress on that area. To help avoid this, we’ll want to make sure that the hips are prepared to offer as much extension as possible. This will help to make sure that the low back isn’t moving into extension and causing the erectors to fatigue.
Main areas to focus on with mobility work: Hip Extension & Full Scapular Freedom
4️⃣ 300 Air Squats
Whether you’re partitioning or not, that’s a lot of squats. For many people, this level of volume is enough to create high fatigue and cause movement compensations that will increase stress to the knees, hips, and low back. While we always want to have gorgeous technique, that often gets thrown out the window once the heart rate elevates and we resort to doing anything and everything to be as efficient as possible.
Considering that the knees, hips, and lumbar are the common areas that will “flare up” during this portion of the workout, we’ll want to double down on the ankles and hips in our warmup. This will benefit the running and the squats, so it’s a no brainer. Thankfully, addressing the ankles will help with the knees, and addressing the hips will help with the low back. Prime those joints really well, and you’ll notice a massive difference in how your body responds to this marathon of a workout.
Main areas to focus on with mobility work:
Ankle Dorsiflexion & Hip Internal Rotation
The Role of Strength-Based Mobility
Don’t fall into the trap that 99% of Crossfitters do (not just for Murph, but in general) - just rolling and stretching out the tight spots…
When you show up to get ready for Murph, you’re naturally going to want to address the areas that are feeling “off”.
There’s nothing wrong with foam rolling and static stretching, they both have their place and can be valuable in their own way.
But, when it comes to preparing yourself for a workout with more volume than a Guns n Roses concert, you’re going to want to take a different approach.
We gotta focus on strength and movement control…you need your muscles ready to put the work in.
While this has a huge influence on your performance during the workout, it will also help to make sure you don’t injure yourself during Murph.
I want you to shift your perspective around mobility training from “stretching” to “strengthening in deep ranges of motion”.
This means it needs to feel challenging, not therapeutic.
While stretching may feel good in the moment (or not, depending on the intensity and your level of restriction), mobility training likely won’t.
This is how I see it for a warmup:
Stretching = feels good in the moment, but weak in the workout.
Mobility training = feels rough in the moment, but strong and smooth during the workout.
Let’s go about this one correctly.
In the next section I’m going to give you a full routine you can use as an ongoing mobility workout to prep for Murph, and also as a warmup for that day.
Pre-Murph Mobility Routine
Alright, I'll cut right to the chase here. This mobility routine for Murph consists of many great Crossfit warm-up exercises that can be used on their own, but are strategically organized to build off of one another.
Let’s dive in!
1-3 Sets; rest 30 sec between sets
A1. Squat & Reach: 6-8/side
A2. Eccentric Hip Flexor: 4/side
1-3 Sets; rest 30 sec between sets
B1. Primal Shoulder Checks: 4/side
B2. Shoulder Swimmers: 2 @ RPE 8
1-3 Sets; rest 3 sec between sets
C. Kneeling Scap CARs: 2 @ RPE 8
This workout will likely take you close to 30 minutes, which might feel time consuming in some situations, which is why I gave you the option to perform 1-3 sets depending on the time you have to allocate to this for that day.
Remember that the intention is always wildly important.
You’ll always get more out of a mobility exercise when you pay close attention to what it is you’re trying to achieve, and go after it with intensity.
Now, considering the volume of Murph, we’ll want to remain conscious of post workout recovery as well.
Next, I’ll throw you three exercises that will target the full body in a more passive manner to help promote recovery.
Recovery Strategies Post-Murph
For the warmup, it’s clear that we want to go with a more active-based approach to make sure we’re priming the muscles that surround the joints, and prepare our body to put in some work.
For recovery, we’ll want to approach things a little differently.
The last thing we need at this point is to apply more intensity to the nervous system and tax the muscles even further.
We’ll be addressing recovery with passive-based exercises that will help us in 3 main ways:
- To help reduce the onset of DOMS (delayed onset muscles soreness)
- Reduce the likelihood of post workout restrictions
- Allow you to feel ready to get back to the gym in less time
Here are three post-Murph recovery exercises that are also great to use as general Crossfit recovery techniques for any given workout.
1. Primal Press
2. Breathing Frog
3. Thread The Needle
For what it’s worth, post-workout is also a great time to use any SMR (Self-Myofascial Release) work as well. This would include muscle smashing, foam rolling, or even a theragun would work well here.
We All Know That Murph is a Beast, But So Are You
The purpose of this article is to help you bring out your best performance, and set yourself up to be able to actually enjoy the workout (as much as possible, it’ll always suck) without being concerned about pain or discomfort along the way.
If there’s one thing you take away from this article, aside from the exercises of course, it’s that your warmups should be active-based, and your recovery work should be passive-based.
I know that you’ll still continue to show up to the gym and try to stretch out the tightness.
But, remember that engaging your muscles and approaching your mobility with intensity and muscle engagement is going to reduce that sensation of tightness too, and it WILL prime your body for the work that’s about to come!
Now, get after it my friends!✊
P.S if you want our support to overcome your pain, discomfort, or mobility restrictions that are holding you back from the gym, we have your back (and ankles, hips, shoulders, etc.)
Check us out here: https://www.primalmobility.com/primalcoaching
