WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Palm Beach County gyms once again participated in a special workout this Memorial Day to honor service members who gave their lives serving our country.
The fitness challenge is named after Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy, a Medal of Honor and Purple Heart recipient who was killed in combat in Afghanistan in 2005.
Murphy's heroism was portrayed in the 2013 film "Lone Survivor."
Veteran Luis Reyes said the "Murph Challenge" is a way to remember friends who he has lost and those still overseas, like his brother Jose.
"I just picture him doing it next to me the whole time," Reyes said. "It was horrendous. It was a lot of effort, very hard, a lot of wanting to stop and just take off the vest."
The "Murph Challenge" has become a staple of the Crossfit community and involves:
- 1-mile run
- 100 pullups
- 200 pushups
- 300 squats
- 1-mile run
The workout is all done while wearing a 20-pound vest or body armor.
"For us to self-select to put us through this punishment is a way of us commemorating that, that people have done things that we can't imagine doing, and we're thanking them for that," Derek Bishop, co-owner of CrossFit Squad in West Palm Beach, said.
On a day that remembers those that died for our freedom, this workout honors them.
“People forget that Memorial Day isn't just one day," Kate Bell, who completed the challenge, said. "For the families who have lost somebody in a war, Memorial Day is every day. You spend every day missing that person and honoring their sacrifice."
Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor by then-President George W. Bush on Oct. 22, 2007, during a White House ceremony.
He became the first American awarded the Medal of Honor during the Afghanistan War.
The Navy later named a guided-missile destroyer the USS Michael Murphy, which was dedicated on Oct. 6, 2012, in his honor.
CrossFit Delray Beach also held classes Monday for participants to take part in the challenge.