Memorial day is like the biggest WOD day ever. For those of you unfamiliar with WOD, it's a Crossfit term and stands for Workout of the Day. One of the best-known workouts is Murph.

Murph is a mile run,  then 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 squats, and then run another mile. You can break the pullups, pushups, and squats however you want. It can be done with or without a weight vest on depending on your fitness level.

I did half Murph last year and was thinking about doing the full Murph this year. Then I thought "Why?" It's not like I'm not sure if I can do it. I know I can.

With all of the sh!t my body has gone through, what am I really trying to accomplish? Does doing Murph help me get there? The answer is an emphatic ''NO!"

My goals are to feel good, be strong, and look good in that order. Doing challenges like Murph actually put me further from my goals. The reason is I don't actually train for these types of challenges, so they jack my body all up.

With age has finally come a little wisdom. More importantly than what I can do is, what I can recover from. The heavy amount of pushups and pullups in one session would make my upper body in the best case scenario very sore. Worst case, I'd end up with tendinitis in my shoulders and or elbows. That would set my training back at least a week and most likely more.

Then there are the two miles of running. That would brutalize me also. First of all, I have no concept of pace. I just go! The impact is no good for my back and my shins don't love it either.

From doing a few challenges like this I have learned one thing, they mean nothing to me. Since doing some runs and challenges I know I can will myself through almost anything.

So if I'm not training for these challenges there's really no goal. And they do nothing to get me closer to my personal goals. Then there's the recovery issue to contend with.

Now I do want to stress this, I love what a lot of these challenges represent. Murph is to celebrate the life of Navy SEAL Michael Patrick Murphy who was killed in action. Rather than doing the challenge I will make a donation to a worthy veteran charity today.

Please take note, I am not telling you not to do these challenges. I'm simply asking you is the juice worth the squeeze? Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should.

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