Few CrossFit WODs (Workout of the Day) test physical and mental fitness like the Murph Challenge and Murph Workout. This full-body workout takes place every Memorial Day. This year it is Monday, May 29. [Named for Navy Lt. Michael Murphy, who was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2005 and has been used by Navy SEALs for many years. Many CrossFit gyms offer "hero workouts," which are WODs that are much more intense than regular classes, and the Murph WOD is one such workout.

Every Memorial Day, CrossFitters and avid exercisers from around the world always challenge Murph in honor of Murphy. Check out 5 CrossFit workouts for beginners or read about my Memorial Day Murph challenge.

If you are a beginner, I do not recommend trying Murphy's workouts out of the blue.

You can read more about the Murph workout and how to modify it here. However, here are the details of the Memorial Day Murph Workout.

Murph can be performed with or without a weight vest. If you are a beginner, there are ways to modify each exercise, but the reps may still be too much. Perform at your own pace and share the work with a partner. If you experience pain, stop immediately and consult a physician.

Here is how it looks.

My first CrossFit class was the Murph WOD, and I was curious to see what had changed a year later.

I completed the Murph workout without a weighted vest and set off on a one mile run. There is a convenient park near the CrossFit gym that measures the same distance I need to run, which helped me keep track of my pace.

After running a mile, I felt good and ready to tackle my strength training. I would recommend using one of the best fitness trackers to measure distance, heart rate, and other metrics.

Pull-ups are one of my (my) least favorite exercises and one that I have to modify no matter how much I practice. I grabbed one of the best resistance bands for strength training, wrapped it around the bar, and stepped on the loop to assist with variations of pull-ups.

100 reps is brutal no matter how you tackle it, but I opted for 10 reps x 10 sets with a break in between. Afterwards, washing my hair was a challenge in itself.

I am confident in my pushups, but for 200 reps. I kneeled, aiming for 15-20 reps per set, and took my time. Started every new round without knees, and when my form broke down or I couldn't keep my chest close to the floor, I dropped to my knees to protect my form.

It had been a long time since I felt my upper body shake and I had to do several down dogs and child's poses along the way to give my shoulders a break.

By the 200th rep, my triceps were in shambles and I was relieved to give my upper body a break. If you have trouble with push-ups, concentrate on moving your hips and chest in unison so that your lower back doesn't sink in. If you need to scale up this exercise, you may want to wrap a resistance band around your shoulders.

Arguably the worst transition is to burn out your legs with 300 squats before a one-mile run. The SEALs should have known what they were doing. In this exercise, it is important to make sure that your thighs are parallel to the floor, as many people sacrifice squat depth for speed.

I tackled these reps all at once, afraid that if I stopped, I wouldn't be able to start again, and I found them strangely bearable until I hit 150 reps, when I realized that I was going to be able to do them again. If you are tempted to add flare and go through this one with a squat jump, I urge you to reconsider. Finally, I'm glad I live in a ground floor apartment with few stairs.

Unless you want to feel back pain for days, remember to keep your core engaged on every rep.

With the end in sight, I picked up the pace with a set of heavily fatigued legs. By interspersing weight-bearing strength compound exercises between runs, you can build muscular endurance and strength. Those training for a marathon will be familiar with this condition.

This time, I ran the last 200 meters as fast as I could, with all the vigor of someone who has just heard the call of happy hour.

Despite taking a few extra seconds to stand up and leaving the gym buckets of sweat, I love the feeling I get after a Murph workout.

The Murph Challenge is truly a challenge to your mental and physical resilience. You don't have to be an athlete to do the Murph WOD, but with some practice it is safe. It is a test of endurance, cardiorespiratory and muscular strength and uses nothing more than your body weight and your willingness to go through with it even if it gets painful.

I finished in 46 minutes, but modified the pull-ups; you can check the WODprep Murph completion times here, but a "good" time for the average gym athlete is 35-50 minutes without a vest and 45-60 minutes with a vest.