The Crossfit vest in Murph and other wods

What is Murph?

Murph is the most famous weighted vest CrossFit wod in the world. This Hero wod, a format in which some of the toughest workouts are named after fallen soldiers in their honor, is among the 10 most famous wods and has been included in the CrossFit Games in different modalities on more than one occasion.

The weighted CrossFit vest comes from the beginnings of this sport as a training widely practiced by security forces and military bodies. These types of units must wear a bulletproof vest, with the weight that this entails, and in the WODs we use very similar vests, but with non-ballistic weight plates.

These vests come in different formats depending on the sport we practice, although they are grouped under different names such as: tactical vest, weighted vest, plate carrier...

Weighted vests:

Normally, weighted vests are used more in calisthenics, due to their capacity to carry more weight, since the aim is not to do resistance or endurance exercises, such as running or jumping, but rather to do more pushing and pulling exercises (pull-ups, triceps dips, dips on the floor...). Also, because they have a more static function, they tend to be less ergonomic, since their main quality is to be able to hold the maximum amount of weight possible.

Tactical Vests:

On the other hand, tactical vests or plate carriers, whose names, as you can see, come from the terminology of the defense sector, are increasingly ergonomic and take comfort into account, since there are very long WODs with them and in which more rhythmic, impact movements are also performed... such as running or jumping.

And at the end of the day, all these weighted vests have the sole function of making things a little more difficult for us than they already are.

The tactical vest in Murph is a complement, the wod that includes running 3 kilometers, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 air squats is already hard in itself. Now add 9 kilos distributed between, and never better said, chest and back. Or 6 kg in the case of women.

The tactical vest has evolved as we said, with padded shoulder pads, more comfortable fastening systems (easy to put on and take off) thanks to Velcro. And in some cases, its size has been reduced to the famous plate carriers, which helps especially shorter athletes to do squats.

The weighted vest we use in CrossFit has a plate on the front and another on the back. These plates are usually made of laser-cut steel to prevent cuts and have rounded corners to cause minimal injuries to athletes during use and handling. They come in different weights to suit male or female athletes and fit perfectly into the vest to prevent them from moving and hindering exercises such as running or pull-ups.

Some things you should keep in mind when doing the Murph or any WOD with your weighted vest.

Adjust it to your body:

Spend, or rather, invest time in adjusting all the parts of the vest to your body. Shoulder pads, waist... and do exercises with it on, such as running, push-ups, pull-ups or squats. You don't need to add weight yet.

Insert the plates or ballasts:

Once you've adjusted, add some weight. If you have the option to start by climbing, that's the best. The change to carrying almost 10 extra kilos is very hard. If you have no choice but to add the official weight, take it easy.

Train with him:

Go for a walk or a light jog with the vest on and check that the adjustments hold the vest correctly to your body. That it doesn't bounce around on your chest or back or that it doesn't constrict you too much. Bear in mind that you don't breathe the same way during a light run as you do during a WOD after 300 repetitions and a mile and a half of running.

During the wod:

Make sure everything is in place before you start. Warm up with the vest lightly if it's summer, as it's very hot. When running or squatting, you can place your hands on the vest's shoulder pads or on its sides to rest and let the air pass through, relieving the weight on your chest.

Finally, you should know that weighted and tactical vests often come with a velcro surface so you can personalize it with your favorite patches. This is a source of motivation so don't hesitate to customize it!