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CrossFit ‘Hero WODs’ are workouts dedicated to men and women who lost their lives in the line of duty. Designed to honour sacrifice and encourage reflection, they’re typically tougher, heavier and longer than standard CrossFit workouts, making them infamous in the functional fitness world.
By far the best-known Hero WOD, ‘Murph’ is no exception. Dedicated to US Navy SEAL Lt Michael Murphy – later portrayed by Taylor Kitsch in the 2013 film Lone Survivor – the workout has become a Memorial Day tradition within the CrossFit community, with athletes around the world pulling on weighted vests to commemorate Murphy and honour his sacrifice.
The workout itself is deceptively simple: run 1 mile, complete 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 squats, then finish with another 1-mile run. Traditionally, it’s performed wearing a 20lb weighted vest or body armour, although scaling the workout is not only allowed, but encouraged. The idea is that everyone gives their own version of 100% effort.
The official Murph Challenge also acts as the annual fundraiser for the Lt Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation.
And it isn’t just CrossFit diehards taking on the brutal but rewarding workout. Plenty of celebrities, athletes and public figures have shared their Murph efforts too – from Hollywood actors to tech billionaires.
Chris Pratt
Chris Pratt is probably Murph’s best-known celebrity advocate. The actor has said he completes the workout every year and previously shared that he finished it wearing a 20lb vest in 58:17.
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He’s also filmed the challenge at Unbreakable Performance in Los Angeles alongside athletes, veterans and fellow celebrities.
John Krasinski
John Krasinski has tackled Murph multiple times, including sessions alongside Chris Pratt and later Dwayne Johnson.
Krasinski has used the challenge to encourage more people to get involved over Memorial Day weekend, helping push Murph beyond the CrossFit community and into the mainstream. No official time has been publicly shared.
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson
The Rock isn’t someone you’d typically associate with high-impact conditioning workouts like Murph – but he’s tackled it regardless.
Johnson completed the challenge at his Iron Paradise gym in Hawaii after being challenged by Krasinski, describing it as a day of ‘sweat, pain and a few miscounts’.
No official time was shared, and given Johnson’s considerable size, it probably wasn’t lightning fast. Still, finishing was never really in doubt.
Mark Zuckerberg
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted one of the most headline-grabbing celebrity Murph times, completing the workout in 39:58 while wearing a 20lb vest.
He said he tries to complete Murph every Memorial Day alongside his daughters, who reportedly completed an unweighted quarter-Murph in 15 minutes.
Whatever you think of the Meta boss, that’s seriously moving.
Taylor Kitsch
Taylor Kitsch has a closer connection to Murph than most, having portrayed Lt Michael Murphy in Lone Survivor.
Kitsch has publicly participated in the Murph Challenge and remained closely associated with Murphy’s legacy for years. No official time appears to have been widely reported, but this one clearly means more than a score on the clock.
Tom Hopper
The Umbrella Academy and The Terminal List actor Tom Hopper completed a modified Murph for Memorial Day, swapping the runs for rows.
His version consisted of:
- 5km row
- 300 squats
- 200 push-ups
- 100 pull-ups
- 5km row
A fairly loose Murph variation – but still a horrific workout.
No time was shared.
Jay Glazer
Sports broadcaster and Unbreakable Performance founder Jay Glazer has also been involved in celebrity Murph workouts, including Pratt’s group session.
Glazer has spent years training fighters, athletes and actors, so he’s no stranger to hard work – but Murph remains a different kind of test: simple on paper, savage in practice.
No official time was shared.
Honourable Mention: Tom Holland
Tom Holland hasn’t publicly posted a Murph time – but he still deserves a mention.
The Spider-Man actor previously told Men’s Health that he regularly performs CrossFit’s ‘Cindy’ workout:
- 5 pull-ups
- 10 push-ups
- 15 squats
…for as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes.
Holland has claimed a best of 27 rounds and has also said he sometimes performs 20 rounds EMOM while wearing a weighted vest.
Why does that matter? Because 20 rounds of Cindy is exactly the middle section of Murph:
- 100 pull-ups
- 200 push-ups
- 300 squats
Add a mile run before and after and, unless he’s a terrible runner, you’d fancy Holland to threaten a sub-50-minute Murph pretty seriously.
What Is a Good Murph Time?
Before comparing yourself to Hollywood actors, CrossFit Games athletes or billionaires in tactical vests, it helps to understand what actually counts as a good Murph time.
Because many athletes ‘partition’ the pull-ups, push-ups and squats, most people use the ‘Cindy’ format:
20 rounds of:
- 5 pull-ups
- 10 push-ups
- 15 squats
According to CrossFit tracking platform Beyond the Whiteboard, the average CrossFitter spends roughly 45-50 minutes in ‘pure exhaustion’ completing Murph, while even the top 1% still take more than 35 minutes.
That makes the standards fairly sobering:
- Under 60 minutes: solid effort
- Around 45 minutes: seriously fit
- Around 35-40 minutes with a vest: elite territory
CrossFit-focused training platform The Progrm suggests the following RX benchmarks:
| Level | No Vest | With 10kg Vest |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | 60-75+ min | Scale first |
| Intermediate | 50-60 min | 55-70 min |
| Advanced | 40-50 min | 45-55 min |
| Elite | Sub-40 | Sub-40 |
Björgvin Karl Guðmundsson won Murph at the 2015 CrossFit Games in 38:36 when partitioning was allowed, while Josh Bridges later completed it in 34:38.
Alec Blenis is widely credited with the fastest known weighted, unpartitioned Murph time: 32:41, set in June 2021. That surpassed Hyrox athlete Hunter McIntyre’s previous mark of 34:13.
To put it simply:
- Finishing Murph at all deserves respect
- Sub-60 is good
- Sub-50 is strong
- Sub-40 is excellent
- Sub-35 with a vest is genuinely ridiculous
MH says: Murph times can be controversial. Some athletes partition, others go unpartitioned. Some wear a vest, others don’t. Some run outdoors, others use treadmills. And that’s before rep standards enter the equation. So unless conditions are clearly stated and verified, treat all times as impressive – but not always directly comparable.
With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.
