Workout of the Week: Advanced Challenge — Murph Plus

This is an advanced-level workout that is great for special ops-level candidates to consider during their journey to selection. If you are conditioned for this type of volume, you will find that it takes about 60-80 minutes to complete. If you never have done this many repetitions before in a single workout, do not consider it and cut the reps in half or more for starters.

Warmup with 1-5 burpee/pull-up pyramid/stretch: Run 25 meters between each set, doing dynamic stretches. This warmup requires a pull-up bar and a short place to run. If you have an outdoor section or a pull-up bar near an indoor track and field area, you will be set for this type of workout or longer PT/run workouts.

The way this looks is this: 1 pull-up, run 25 meters, 1 burpee or push-up, run 25 meters back to the pull-up bar; 2 pull-ups, run 25 meters, 2 burpees or push-ups, run 25 meters back to the bar. Repeat until you reach five and stop. This is a good warmup when you mix the 25 meters with a variety of dynamic stretches.

On a side note: If you prefer, you can make a full workout of the above section by simply going as high as you can up the pyramid -- failing -- then repeating in reverse order. However, that is not today. The following is what you do after the 1-5 pyramid/run warmup.

Workout note: You are allowed to count the reps of the warmup in your totals below.

This is what we call the Murph Plus. You may be familiar with the actual Murph Workout that is popular to do on Memorial Day (See Memorial Day Murph). This one adds a few more exercises and running elements, followed by a swim section.

• 100 push press (50 pounds)
• 100 pull-ups
• 200 push-ups
• 200 lunges (100/leg)
• 300 squats or kettlebell swing combo
• 300 variety of abs of choice
• *every set, run 100 meters
• *every 400 accumulated reps, run a mile

Here is how this works. You can make a circuit of the above exercises and accumulate repetitions any way you prefer. You can make a pyramid, super set, max-rep set or pick a few exercises and combine them in a back-to-back circuit until complete, and so one. 

Rules That Add to This One

Rule #1: Run 100 meters every set. With this one rule, it will behoove you to do the sets of your exercises in as few sets as possible (max reps). If you want to limit your running, the bigger the sets, the less running you have to do. You may find the 100-meter runs turn into a "recovery run" as this workout progresses.

Rule #2: Run one mile after 400-meter reps are accumulated. As you work through the workout, you can see your total reps of the six exercises is 1,200. This means you will run a total of three miles. For instance, say your first several sets net you 40 push presses, 20 pull-ups, 50 push-ups, 50 lunges/leg, 40 squats and 150 abs of choice. That totals 400 repetitions -- time to run a mile.

Swim PT Workout

After the PT/run, you may feel like you have nothing left. You will be surprised that a short time in the pool afterward will decrease your body heat, and you will feel a second wind building. If you like swimming or your future training requires you to swim (special ops, diver, rescue swimmer, ocean lifeguard, etc.), you need to add swimming anyway. This is a basic swim workout that works on conditioning and technique for future swim tests.

Swim warmup 500 meters

Repeat 10 times

• Swim 100-meter fast freestyle at 8-10 strokes/breath
• Swim 50-meter CSS (combat swimmer stroke) or breaststroke
• Also if you have reps from the above workout left on the table, see whether you can complete some of them on the pool deck between sets of 150-meter swims.

Stew Smith is a former Navy SEAL and fitness author certified as a Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) with the National Strength and Conditioning Association. Visit his Fitness eBook store if you're looking to start a workout program to create a healthy lifestyle. Send your fitness questions to stew@stewsmith.com.

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