We did it, you guys! Hero Month is secured for 2025!!
The month culminated with Memorial Day “Murph” which is always a crusher and something that we look forward to in an excited but nervous way as soon as the weather gets warmer. But this year, as in previous Hero Month years, I feel like you guys all showed up ready to crush rather than be crushed. The efforts that people were putting out on Murph were incredible, and a testament to the hard work you all have grinded out all month.
Back to the beginning, with “Manion”. On April 29th we honored USMC 1LT Travis Manion with our annual tradition of 203 back squats and 1.75 miles of running. What a grueling experience that is, but you guys stepped up on a Tuesday and knocked it out. I think we were very prepared for it with the 20-rep back squat workouts that Mayhem has been throwing our way this spring too!
We hit a couple workouts that I’ve always personally avoided programming (or doing myself!) because of the tremendous volume of work – “Bull” and “Coffey”. With both of those, though, we took a page out of Coach Jess’s Saturday WOD playbook and made them partner workouts. I love that as a way of making longer workouts more accessible to everyone, and we’re still getting a ton of work done. The feeling of a partner workout is also sneakily intense, like a forced interval workout. You’re getting some rest, but as soon as your partner is done with their set you have to move, NOW!
Borrowing from Alicia’s awesome Insta post, by the end of the month we did 175 power cleans and 562 pull-ups, and ran 17,200m (10.6 miles). You try not to have programming biases, but sometimes they sneak out. But if you didn’t know I like cleans and pull-ups, then you might not be a member at CFKI. Oh and I still hate running, but part of Hero Month is getting tougher by leaning into hard things.
Can’t wait to get after it again with you all in Hero Month 2026. It’s never to early to send me your requests for Hero workouts to include next time, or for a Saturday session coming up!
Train hard, stay safe, have fun.
Ryan