When toddler Michael was just two years old he could swim. When he was eight he hit a game-winning home run and thanked his team mates for being on base. When in junior high he rescued a disabled student from a pack of bullies. When a high school senior he defended a back-alley picker being harassed by his teenager peers. When Lieutenant Michael Murphy was just 29 years old he was killed in action in Afghanistan.
Early morning on June 28th, 2005, a team of four Navy SEALS, which included Michael, was dropped at an altitude of 10,000 feet into the Hindu Kush Mountains for a mission concerned with guerrilla leader Ahmad Shah. When they were stumbled upon by a group of goat herders, the mission went sideways. Within a few hours the team was taking fire on three sides by a force of more than 50 anti-coalition militia members. Under such adverse conditions, and with all four SEALS seriously wounded and pinned against the cliffs, Michael’s last action on earth was to (unhesitatingly) move into an open area and manage the necessary distress call for backup. Michael and two other SEALS were killed that day. (The story of this mission is depicted in the non-fiction book and made into the movie, LONE SURVIVOR.)
Previous to his death in Afghanistan, June 28th, 2005, Michael had already been famous -- for his fitness regimen. While wearing a weighted 20-pound vest, Michael would run one mile, followed by 100 pull-ups and 200 push-ups and 300 squats, then, sequentially, run another mile. In elite training circles, Michael’s routine became known as “THE MURPH.”
Immediately after reading about Michael and his mission (and The Murph) in Men’s Health, issue May 2021, I called a nearby fitness supplier who happened to have just two weighted vests left in stock, MDBuddy brand, a 10 kg and a 20 kg. I bought them both.
I, who am six feet and 165 pounds, donned the 10 kg (22 pounds); while Baron, my favourite busk mate, who is six feet three inches and 240 pounds of solid muscle, donned the 20 kg (44 pounds). Together, we walked the five kilometre path around Wascana Lake.
Hard. Walk. Hard. Hard. Walk. (Baron took the picture of me wearing my MDBuddy is posted atop this blog head.) At the end of this 50-minute walk, my shoulders were sore, my thorax was aching, my legs were like jelly.
That was on Friday. The next day I donned my MDBuddy and took a 20-minute walk.
This time … Not. So. Bad. Later that same Saturday, Baron and I donned our vests again and took another walk around Wascana Lake. Not surprisingly, the weight was becoming tolerable.
And then on Sunday I donned my MDBuddy yet again and took a solo walk around the lake. This time -- easier.
I’m thinking that within a couple weeks I’ll be able to run the five kilometres around Wascana Lake while wearing my MDBuddy. Rather than do the original Murph of a one mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 hundred squats, and run another mile, mine shall be a three mile run (five kilometres), followed by 110 push-ups, and that’s it. On any given sunny day, I typically run the lake and do 110 push-ups immediately afterwards. But to make this a legitimate modified Murph, I need to don my MDBuddy vest.
Writing this blog post, I must mention that I wore my MDBuddy on my 10-minute walk to work this morning and again on my recreational noon walk. So now that is thrice on the weekend and twice so far for the week. And my reason for such an exercise dedication? Such an investment in cash and in energy and time is all preparation for my truly becoming the planetary that I have longed to be, as expressed for over a decade in this very blog. Seriously, if I am to hike about the planet slinging my guitar and/or art pack, I cannot be huffing and puffing and looking flabby (huffing and puffing reflecting my cardio, flabby reflecting my vanity).
Self-reflecting and introspecting, I know that in every action there is always YIN and YANG, and this would include, too, the donning of my MDBuddy. Admittedly, I’m a bit chary wearing it in public because my MDBuddy exudes a military posture. Wearing it suggests to some that I am, in the flesh, a military presence. This is the YIN.
However, my MDBuddy is in fitting harmony (pun intended) with my peripatetic nature. I love to walk and think, and think and walk. Thinking about busking and fitness and philosophy whilst I walk will no doubt override the tortuous thinking about the ache and pain brought about by my new best MDBuddy. This coping is the YANG.
As other newly formed exercise habits previous, the ab-wheel and Jacob’s Ladder in particular, I know that THE MURPH will charge and enhance my body.
MY MDBUDDY VEST IS MY VANITY PROJECT. Wearing my MDBuddy I have artificial steel abs. Hopefully, soon and without wearing my MDBuddy I’ll have real steel abs.
Marching in my CHAUCERIAN PARADE this week are my neighbours, Len, who lives across the hall, and Arrav, who lives two stories below.
