Hollywood stars John Krasinski and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson just teamed up to take The Murph Challenge on Memorial Day to raise money for a worthy cause.
Guardians Of The Galaxy actor Chris Pratt challenged Krasinski and Johnson to participate in this annual Memorial Day tradition to honor a fallen soldier.
“It is a tradition that helps push us, humble us, and allows us the opportunity to dedicate a bit of pain and sweat to honor, LT. Michael P. Murphy, a man who sacrificed everything he had for our freedom,” the caption on Instagram read.
The challenged is named after Lt. Michael Murphy, an athlete and star student from Penn State who turned down law school offers to become a Navy Seal. Fox News reported that he was tragically killed in 2005 in a firefight in Afghanistan that killed three other Seals as well. After his death, Murphy was given the Medal of Honor “for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life.”
“Michael did this CrossFit regimen, which he called Body Armor during his five years as a Navy SEAL as a training program, and he would do it with a 20-pound armor vest,” Michael’s father Daniel said. “His normal time would run about 32 to 33 minutes, but his best overall time was 28 minutes and change.”
The Murph Challenge is a CrossFit workout that involves a mile-long run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats and a final mile run, all while wearing a 20-pound vest or body armor. It’s no easy task, but Krasinski and Johnson were all too happy to do it for this cause.
The regimen was officially dubbed the Murphy Challenge by the CrossFit community in 2007 after it was created by Dr. Josh Appel, an emergency room physician in Tucson and para-rescue soldier who is the person who recovered Murphy’s body.
“‘Murph’… is a workout performed on Memorial Day to remember all who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service to our country,” Appel said. “It’s a way of honoring lives lost with effort, sweat and pain. If it makes you feel miserable and exhausted — you’re doing it right.”
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