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SuccessMark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg shares his rigorous Memorial Day ‘Murph challenge’ workout with his daughters

Orianna Rosa Royle
By
Orianna Rosa Royle
Orianna Rosa Royle
Associate Editor, Success
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Orianna Rosa Royle
By
Orianna Rosa Royle
Orianna Rosa Royle
Associate Editor, Success
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 31, 2023, 6:25 AM ET
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg waves in front of US flag.
Zuckerberg's grueling workout involved running two miles and doing 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, and 300 squats.Andrew Caballero-Reynolds—AFP/Getty Images

There are two types of people in this world: those who get excited by the idea of working out and those who feel exhausted just by watching. 

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It seems Mark Zuckerberg falls firmly in the former camp.

The Meta CEO has been sharing his fitness journey with his fans, from running a 5K in under 20 mins to smashing his first jujitsu tournament.

But his most recent workout kicks it up a notch.

“I try to do the Murph challenge with the girls every Memorial Day as a tradition to honor those who defended us,” the tech tycoon revealed on Facebook and Instagram (where else?).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck)

The Murph Challenge was named after Navy SEAL Lt. Michael P. Murphy, who was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2005. When he died, the founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, posted Murphy’s “body armor” workout on its website—and it’s pretty grueling.

“One of Lt Murphy’s favorite workouts was running a mile, then doing 100 pull ups, 200 push ups, 300 squats, and then running another mile—all while wearing a 20lb weighted pack,” Zuckerberg wrote, adding that he got the task done in under 40 minutes. Impressive.

Zuckerberg also enlisted his daughters, Maxima and August, in the challenge—and snapped them doing pushups. “The girls did a quarter-Murph (unweighted) in 15 mins!” the proud dad added.

But mostly, people were impressed that on top of running the Meta empire, the hugely successful entrepreneur has time to kill it in other areas of life like fitness.

“Bro can you leave one kind of success for us” was the most popular comment on the Instagram post, attracting over 1,600 likes at the time of writing. 

“It’s amazing how busy you are but still well spent time with your family,” another commented on Facebook.

Not only did Zuckerberg squeeze in time for a workout, but having completed the entire circuit in 39 minutes and 58 seconds, he would actually rank at around 206th place on the event site’s worldwide leaderboard among tens of thousands of participants. 

Not bad for a busy CEO.

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About the Author
Orianna Rosa Royle
By Orianna Rosa RoyleAssociate Editor, Success
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Orianna Rosa Royle is the Success associate editor at Fortune, overseeing careers, leadership, and company culture coverage. She was previously the senior reporter at Management Today, Britain's longest-running publication for CEOs. 

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