Murph is around the corner.
If you're not sure what Murph actually is, or you've heard of it but don't know the story, start here: What Is Murph? The Story Behind the Memorial Day Workout. For everyone else, let's talk about the part most people get wrong.
There's an old training adage: money's already in the bank. Meaning by now, the work is done. The strength is built, the conditioning is dialed, the deposits are made.
But most people spend the week before Murph trying to make big new deposits. Or they swing the other way and take the whole week off, scared to be sore, and skip the light body work that would actually have them peaking on Monday.
Neither one works.
Here's what the best do:
If your gym is already programming this for you, fantastic, trust the plan. If they're not, or if you just want a clearer picture of where you stand, here's the playbook.
You don't need to test all three movements. If you already know your bottleneck, or there's one piece you're nervous about, that's the one to test. Don't run a whole Murph. Just calibrate where you actually want the reassurance.
Set your target Murph time. Then test at 85% of it.
Run a mile at 85% of your target pace, twice. If you're shooting for an 8-minute mile on Monday, hit 9:12 the weekend before. Then do a light workout in between. Then run another 9:12 mile.
Both miles should feel like you've got more in the tank. If they do, your engine is ready.
Murph is 100 pull-ups. Test 85 of them at your planned Murph split.
If you're planning 5 sets of 20 on Monday, do 4 sets of 20 plus a set of 5 that weekend, same split. Your arms should not be melting at the end of that last set. If they are, your splits are too aggressive.
Murph is 200 push-ups. Test 170 of them at your planned Murph split.
If you're breaking them into sets of 50, do 3 sets of 50 plus a set of 20 the weekend before, same split. You should still feel fresh at the end.
If those numbers landed and felt easy, money's in the bank. You're ready.
If something felt harder than it should have, that's not bad news. That's information. Now you know your bottleneck and you've got a week to work on it instead of finding out the hard way on Monday.
These hit the three areas that break down most often during Murph: calves from the runs, lats from the pull-ups, pecs from the push-ups.
The whole point is to do them before your workouts. You're opening up the range you need, and then you spend the rest of the workout working into that new range. That's where the reward lives.
Stop. Read the above again.
If you only have time to do them after, fine, it's not bad. But you're skipping the actual value, because you're opening up range that your body has already finished using for the day. Order matters.
Loosens up the calves before you run, which is where most people seize up on the second mile.
Gets your shoulders ready to pull. Tight lats are the silent killer of pull-up volume.
Opens the chest so push-ups don't feel like you're benching with the parking brake on.
If you want a fuller pre-workout sequence that covers more ground, our Murph warmup guide walks through additional shoulder, hip, and back openers that pair well with these three.
This is the part people get wrong in both directions. Some try to squeeze in one more big session to prove they're ready. Others go completely cold and show up stiff. Neither one works.
The money is already in the bank. Your job this week is to stay loose and show up sharp.
Then walk in Monday knowing your splits, knowing your bottleneck, knowing you've done the work.
That's how the best do it.
If you don't have a home box for Memorial Day Murph, two of our favorite local gyms host great events every year:
Both run a fantastic morning, both are welcoming to people coming in just for Murph, and both are full of people who actually understand what the workout is about.
This is the part nobody talks about.
The week before Murph is when small issues start announcing themselves. A nagging shoulder. A calf that's been a little off. A wrist that doesn't love push-ups. You've been pushing it down for weeks, and now your nervous system is trying to flag it before you load 600 reps on top.
That is the signal to deal with it, not push through it.
A pre-Murph tune-up looks completely different than a long-term rehab plan. We're not trying to fix the root cause in a week. We're trying to get you to the start line moving well, and then we can figure out the bigger picture afterward.
Most pre-Murph appointments come down to opening up one or two restrictions, calming down whatever's flaring, and giving you a couple of things to do between now and Monday so it doesn't blow up mid-workout.
That's it. That's the job that week.
Whatever you do on Monday, don't skip the recovery on Tuesday.
The cumulative load from Murph (600 reps plus two miles of running) hits the same tissues you've spent the week prepping. Your calves, lats, and pecs will be torched. Going straight back to your regular training week without addressing that is how minor soreness turns into a real issue.
If you want a playbook for the days after, we wrote a full guide on the best recovery exercises after Murph that walks through what to do, when, and why.
Most people overcomplicate the week before Murph or completely under-prepare for it. The best athletes do neither.
They test at 85% to take the blindfold off. They use three simple prep exercises before each workout to keep the right ranges open. They keep the week of Murph light, deliberate, and boring.
And if something's nagging, they deal with it before Monday instead of hoping it holds.
Money's already in the bank. The week before is just about showing up sharp.
If something's cropped up and you don't want to white-knuckle it through Memorial Day, that's exactly what a Discovery Call is for.
You tell us what's going on, we tell you whether a pre-Murph tune-up makes sense, and if it does, we get you in fast. If it doesn't, we'll tell you that too.
Fifteen minutes. No cost. No commitment.
Book your free Discovery Call →