# 3 Tips to Crush Your First Murph
The Murph workout tests cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, and mental toughness in one brutal session. This hero WOD requires participants to complete a one-mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, and a final one-mile run, all performed as quickly as possible.
The creator of Men's Health's Military Muscle program offers three evidence-based strategies for first-timers. The first focuses on pacing. Murph demands strategic energy management rather than all-out effort from the start. Competitors who sprint the opening mile often hit a metabolic wall during the gymnastics movements. Smart pacing means running at a sustainable effort level and saving intensity for the pull-ups and push-ups, where form breakdown costs more time than steady output.
The second tip addresses movement efficiency. Breaking the 100 pull-ups and 200 push-ups into manageable chunks prevents muscular failure. Research on CrossFit performance shows that athletes completing sets of 20-30 reps maintain better movement quality and total volume compared to those attempting larger unbroken sets. Similarly, air squats performed in controlled sets of 50-75 reps preserve power and speed.
The third strategy centers on preparation. Training specifically for Murph's demands differs from standard CrossFit programming. Performers benefit from longer endurance runs combined with high-rep bodyweight movements in the same session. This trains the nervous system to maintain output when fatigued, directly replicating race conditions.
Completing Murph typically takes first-timers between 45 and 75 minutes depending on fitness level and prior gymnastics experience. Athletes with strong pull-up capacity finish faster. Those newer to high-rep bodyweight work should expect the longer timeline