March 1, 2025 • 20 mins
Each and every day, Jake Prusha, a member of the US Coast Guard stationed in Boston, takes part in a grueling challenge called the "Murph" workout, which honors a Navy SEAL who was killed in Afghanistan back in 2005. Prusha's doing this for 100 days - not to get fit, but to raise awareness of members of the military and first responders who are grappling with mental health challenges. Jake talks with Nichole about his story, why this challenge means a lot to him, and how you can help him raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. (Find Jake on Instagram at @jakeprusha.)
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together, we
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. As always, so happy to be
back with you this week. I'm Nicole Davis. Getting into
a workout routine is not always all that easy, but
when you're doing it for a special cause, that tends
(00:27):
to make it a bit more approachable. In this case,
we're about to talk about one of the most grueling
workouts I have ever heard of. The thing is, it's
meant to be that way because it's a memorial workout.
It's called the Murph Workout. And we're going to learn
more about this in just a few minutes. But a
local member of the Coast Guard, Jake Prusia, has embarked
on a brand new challenge. He is doing this workout
(00:48):
for one hundred days and the aim here is to
raise money and awareness to help first responders and military
members struggling with their mental health. Let's learn all about
Jake's mission here. Jake, it's really good to have you
on the show with us. You're a member of the
Coast Guard. You're stationed here in Boston, But tell us
a bit more about your story to get here.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I'm originally from New Jersey. Growing up, I was always
interested in emergency services and ways that I could help people.
So after high school, I thought I wanted to be
a cop. Originally I was a nine to one to
one dispatcher, and during that time I also got my
National Registry EMT Emergency Medical Technician and became a volunteer fireman.
(01:31):
I also worked for my dad doing some HVAC stuff
and just realized that I wasn't fully ready to stay
settled in my hometown and to continue the mission or
you know, passion of helping people. I started to look elsewhere,
different opportunities that I could travel and you know, pursue
(01:55):
that that passion that I had with helping people. So
in twenty twenty one, I enlisted in the Coast Guard
boot camps in Cape Maine, New Jersey. So I was
there for eight weeks and then out of boot camp,
I got stationed in Petaluma, California, which is just north
of San Francisco and Sonoma County. Beautiful area, right near.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Napa, the beach, the city.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It was awesome, and there I worked for actually the
fire department on base, so I continued to be a
firem of an AMT. We responded to calls on base,
off base, in the community. So it was a really
cool opportunity for me. And then I in March twenty
twenty three, I went to what we call Health Service
(02:42):
technician a school, and to give you an idea of
what that is, it's kind of a mixture of a
medical assistant, paramedic position assistant, kind of all thrown in there.
And so that is a six month course. I graduated
that and then was stationed in Boston, Massachusetts, right in
(03:03):
the North End here, and I got here July of twenty.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Three, a little while at this point, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, almost two years. I'll be honest, I hated Boston
when I moved here. I know, this is a Boston show.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
But typical Jersey guy thing to say, I get it.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It's all good. We're used to it. It was it
was interesting for me.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I never lived in a city, so I live in
the North End and drive a truck, so you know,
the challenges of parking and grocery shopping was new. And
I'll be honest, it was hard to make friends here.
It was hard to go out and find people. You
can imagine in the military kind of getting stationed in
different areas and the group of people that you meet
(03:45):
in one you know, two years later, now you're taken
away from that and dropped somewhere completely new. So challenges
with with that, you know, building relationships with new people.
The classic Boston you know, I would go out and
try to make friends, and I would get you know.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Who do you know here? And what do you you know?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
What do you want? I just was like, I just
want to make friends. Still great time here in Boston,
and I love it here now. But to give you
a little bit of background of where this inspiration for
this challenge came from. So throughout my life, I've had
some anxiety depression, you know, undiagnosed, just kind of living
with it, and I tried all these self helped things
(04:27):
like journaling, meditating, you know, everything you can think of,
and I thought, you know, I was just kind of
stuck with it.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I would didn't want to tell anyone.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
About it, especially being a guy in the military working
in healthcare.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
I'm supposed to be that strong helper.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
And so, you know, I think there's still a little
bit of a stigma around it, and people don't want to.
You don't know what's gonna happen with your job, you know,
are you're going to get questioned?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Are you able to complete your job? You're able to
help people?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Still, So for a while, you know, through California and
until I got to ball and I kind of just
dealt with it on my own and thought, you know,
this is I'll just have to deal with it. And
once I started seeing patients here in Boston and seeing
how many other people are struggling with with mental health
(05:14):
yor just having conversations with people, realizing that, you know,
I'm not the only one experiencing this and maybe I
should talk about it too. So it's probably a year
ago now. I went to my primary carreer doctor and
explained what I had been feeling, and started seeing a
therapist and really started gathering some tools, you know, coping
(05:37):
mechanisms and other things.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Like that that started to work for me.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
And so I actually started writing down everything in a
journal and I called it my Bag of Tricks. And
since then I've kind of expanded it and and I
guess I've I've found that there's more ways than one
to help people and in my mind, I thought helping
people was, you know, being a doctor or a paramedic. Sure,
(06:03):
but realizing through my own journey that I can help
people through my story and what I experienced and maybe
help at least one person not feel so alone, because
I can tell you.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Know, I did it as well. I did feel alone
as well.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I voiced my concerns, got help, and I kind of
took it as a blessing in disguise as you know what,
maybe I experienced this to use what I learned to
help others. So, as I guess, got more confident in
it and able to talk about it. And my girlfriend
(06:40):
Gianna is obviously very active on social media, and she
kind of inspired me to be vulnerable. And so a
few weeks ago I just kind of talked about my
own story briefly and put it on Instagram, and I
got tons of responses from people I grew up with,
people I work with, saying, you know, this really resates
with me.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
How did that feel being vulnerable like that for the
first time, especially for somebody you were talking about how
you had to essentially have that shield on in order
to do your job, in order to live your life.
Being a member of the military. When you did take
your story out to social media, were you scared, were
you nervous or did you think like this is the
right thing to do?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Well, you know, of course at first I was scared.
I was nervous. A lot of thoughts of you know,
people are going to see me a certain way, you know,
or when they see me, are they going to think?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Is that all they're going to see?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Because of course all of us have many, you know, qualities,
and just because I have I struggled with like a
nervous you know, anxiety. That doesn't mean that that's the
only thing that makes me who I am.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So you know, there was some.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Worry that that would become my identity or people would
see that as my identity. But I what what really
motivated me to do it was I thought, when I
was going through it, if someone else, if appear, you know,
someone I knew, someone I looked up to, trusted, did that,
(08:07):
I think that it would be beneficial to me in
my journey. And I think that it would have really
inspired me to work on my myself. And and I
try to advocate too. I mean, nobody's perfect. We don't
all have anxiety. But there's always room for improvement, right,
Living a life worth living, living a life that you
want to live doesn't mean you have to be.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Diagnosed with anxiety depression.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
But just knowing that, Hey, other people have bad days
and that's what inspired me to do it. So definitely nervous,
you know, I remember posting it and literally turning my
phone off for two hours because I don't want to
look at it.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
And then of course you turn it back on like
bling bling, blink blank, You're like, oh.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Whoa, yeah, and uh, you know, I've to be honest
with you.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I didn't have one person message me and say you know,
what are you doing or what's wrong? There is nothing,
not one bad, one negative comment. Whoever maybe didn't like
it didn't say anything, or whoever liked it said something.
So and that's what I've realized too, is you know,
just being myself is healing in itself, right, accepting me,
(09:13):
accepting the flaws that I have, but continuing to I
guess you know, it's acknowledging it without accepting it. I
can acknowledge I'm not perfect. That doesn't mean I have
to accept not being perfect. I can still strive to
be better. But I can acknowledge. You know, I have flaws,
I have discrepancies, and.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Well don't we all, I mean, nobody's perfect. Yeah, we
you know, but I appreciate the fact that it's all
about striving to make our lives more whole and making
us feel more comfortable in our own skin, you could
say literally and physically, because you know, we are getting
into this challenge of yours. I want to talk about
the background of the challenge as well, because I am
(09:52):
not a gym person. I do not know what a
murph is. We will talk about what a murph is.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
But you are.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Essentially taking this to the next level by combining your
time at the gym and honoring members of the military.
So tell me about this challenge that you have launched,
one hundred day fitness challenge essentially.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Absolutely, So I'll start off by saying, yeah, it's one
hundred days consecutively I will be doing. It's called a
Murph workout or Mrph challenge, very popular in like CrossFit.
But what it is It's named after a Navy coel
lieutenant named Michael Murphy. He gave his life for this
(10:33):
country and he lost his life and supposedly, you know,
this was a workout that he had done and it
was stemmed from It's called a workout of the day
or hero hero workout of the day, and oftentimes military members,
first responders who lose their life and the line of duty,
there's like a workout or something that will remind, you know,
(10:56):
people who want to remember and keep their name alive
by doing this workout. And it's usually a pretty gnarly
hard workout to kind of be like, you know, this
is an honor of you, and I'm gonna sacrifice some
of my sweat and time for, you know, in honor
of this member.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
So that's where the origin of the workout is.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
And it consists of a one mile run, one hundred
pull ups, two hundred pushups, three hundred squats, and another
one mile run. And this is all to be done
with a twenty pounds weight vest. Yes, it's a pretty
brutal workout. It hits you know, full body obviously, but yes,
(11:37):
so I will be doing that one hundred days consecutively.
And the Murph workout is something that I've done since,
you know, before joining the military. It's usually done a
Memorial Day. That's kind of the for people who do it,
you know, that's when they do it. And I thought
of what is what is painful, what will bring me
(12:01):
some struggle, and what will get this message noticed, what
will give it more visibility. So I originally said fifty
days in my head, and I thought, you know what,
I'm going to do it for one hundred and so
one hundred days to get you know, visibility and make
people really take a second look at.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
What I'm trying to raise awareness for.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
And then for my own sake of putting myself through
a little bit of misery each day to remind myself that,
you know, it's okay to not be okay like the
cliche saying. And so yeah, the goal is to just
raise awareness and funds for military first responder suicide, the
(12:43):
struggles of mental health that specifically those who serve go through,
and of course everyone in you know, it's not just
military or first responders, it's it's really everyone. And every day,
seventeen to twenty veterans take their life, and annually five
hundred six hundred service members active duty to take their lives.
So I saw statistic recently it's supposedly every sixty two
(13:07):
seconds the veteran takes their life. So this is, you know,
something that affects many people. I'm sure if you asked,
you know, random people on the street, if they knew
anyone who or connected anyone who had had completed suicide,
they would probably say yes. Unfortunately, so you know, realizing
that this is a widespread, you know issue, it seems
(13:32):
to be getting worse, and I think, you know, spreading
the idea and even if this sparks the conversation right
at work like this, you know, we're just the fact
that we're talking about this, yeah, you know, raising that
awareness like hey, maybe maybe this is on the front
of my mind. And next time my friend, you know,
I'm with my friend hanging out and they say something
(13:52):
that you know doesn't sound right, like I've just been
so tired or you know, I don't know how long
much longer I can do this? And you think about
this challenge, and you know, maybe that triggers you to ask,
and what's going on?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
How how are you.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Really I think, you know, with social media and everything,
it's great, but you know, how often are we in
person asking our friends and family how are you really doing?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You know, everyone says I'm fine.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
But are you really you know, and how truthful are
you really about it on social media? I mean, people
say all the time, oh, we lie about our relationships
and all this, so whatever, But how truthful do we
really feel like we can be in our in person
lives and our online lives. It's it's it's tough to
be vulnerable, as you found out for yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I think it's easy to hide behind
the screen, right. I think, you know, it's a lot
easier to be crying and say I'm having a great
day on the phone.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Everything's fine.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
We've all been there exactly versus you know, me and
you talking face to face and I'm crying.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Obviously you can tell something wrong.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So yeah, I think prioritizing those in person conversations, checking.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
It on your friend and.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Just I really, you know, I'm not perfect, like I said,
but I really just love the idea of, you know,
just living that that life of I feel like I
did what I could. I did my best today, and
I'm going to check in on my friends and make
sure they did their best. I actually I built this
little routine for myself, and in the routine daily and
in the routine is checking with three friends at the
(15:24):
end of the day, Like, you know, I want to
check in with those people I haven't talked to recently,
whether it's a text to call and just so they know,
you know, I'm still thinking about them. So little things
like that that I think we can incorporate and just
bring to the forefront of our minds to you know,
make sure that we're we're all taking care of each other.
(15:45):
Because at the end of the day, if you're pouring
out your cup, you know, doing your job. I like
to think of us having like a water cup, and
you pour out your energy and passion into your job.
You get home, your water cup's empty. You know, what
are you pouring to yourself?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Yeah, because you can't pour anything out of that cup
until you.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Fill it up right correct exactly, And who's going to
fill the cup? You know?
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Can you fill it yourself every day after you're exhausted,
or maybe that text message from a friend just adds
a little bit in there and gives you that energy
to brush your teeth and do the dishes and take
a shower and go to bed. So yeah, I think
that taking life, taking the small things and making them
a priority Uh, you know, we all talk about our
(16:30):
goals that we want to accomplish, or how many times
I remember saying, you know, once I get my driver license,
life will be good.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And once I you know, I'm twenty one and I
can drink, life will be good.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
You always have that next goalpost to meet. But you know,
what are we doing on it? What what wins are
we are we giving ourselves on a daily basis, So
those little things matter.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
They build it up.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
They totally do, absolutely and honestly, I'm hoping these donations
or the Wounded Warrior Project will build up as well.
And what I really appreciate is that you're working too
with small veteran owned brands to get the message out.
So if somebody is listening to this and they want
to donate, they want to follow you as you do
this grueling workout every day for this incredible cause. A
(17:15):
how can they find you be who are you working
with to get the message out about this and see
how can they donate?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Absolutely, So, first of all, thanks for asking. So most
of the videos I'm posting are on Instagram and Facebook.
Instagram is at Jake Prusha no spaces, and Facebook's the
same so I'm posting these videos daily obviously for one
hundred days to keep us accountable and hopefully maybe you
(17:43):
find some entertainment and seeing me show up every day
and maybe that's, you know, something that motivates you to
show up every day. The link to the donation pages
in my bio on Instagram and it is on a
veteran owned website aimed fund the First. This is kind
of like a GoFundMe page, but it is dedicated to
(18:06):
just military and first responder fundraisers to ensure that nobody is,
you know, making a fake fundraiser for you know, a
deceased member or anything. So completely checked on fundfirst dot
com and you can search one hundred days of merph
for mental health. I am also, you know, I'm working
(18:28):
with a company called rough Sea Sailors Club, which has
a very similar mission. I believe they're out of Long
Island and they provide daily newsletters and their their mission
statement I I can't tell you off, you know, directly verbatim,
but it is a you know, no, a calm day
(18:51):
on the water doesn't make a good sailor, right, So
their their mission is we all have to go through
rough seas and that's what makes us, you know, who
we are at the end of the day, so kind
of an interesting brand, very cool, veteran owned and they've
been very supportive. They sent out some some stickers and
shirts that we're going to be sporting throughout the challenge.
(19:11):
I do want to open up if anyone's listening that
knows somebody who lost their life to suicide, veteran first responder,
even anybody, I would love to hear from you, and
I would love to dedicate one of the workouts to
anyone who has lost their life to suicide. That's part
(19:32):
of what I want to do is recognize and dedicate
this challenge to those who you know, struggled and ultimately
succumb to to depression, anxiety, whatever, you know, mental illness
that they were experiencing.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, okay, well let's get you connected then, And so
this is on Instagram. You're at Jake Prusha. That's p
r U s h A. So Jake regular Jake Prussia
p r U s h A. And that is the
best way to get a.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Hold of you, right, yeah, absolutely all.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Right, phenomenal And I see the link here right in
your bio to donate and this is phenomenal work you're doing,
and congratulations to you for getting to this point and
putting this together. Jake. I wish you all the best
of the success and just take it easy and be
sure to rest okay because you've got a lot going
on right now.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Thank you have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join
me again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
From WBZ News Radio in Boston. This is New England Weekend.
Each and every week right here, we come together, we
talk about all the topics important to you and the
place where you live. As always, so happy to be
back with you this week. I'm Nicole Davis. Getting into
a workout routine is not always all that easy, but
when you're doing it for a special cause, that tends
(00:27):
to make it a bit more approachable. In this case,
we're about to talk about one of the most grueling
workouts I have ever heard of. The thing is, it's
meant to be that way because it's a memorial workout.
It's called the Murph Workout. And we're going to learn
more about this in just a few minutes. But a
local member of the Coast Guard, Jake Prusia, has embarked
on a brand new challenge. He is doing this workout
(00:48):
for one hundred days and the aim here is to
raise money and awareness to help first responders and military
members struggling with their mental health. Let's learn all about
Jake's mission here. Jake, it's really good to have you
on the show with us. You're a member of the
Coast Guard. You're stationed here in Boston, But tell us
a bit more about your story to get here.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
I'm originally from New Jersey. Growing up, I was always
interested in emergency services and ways that I could help people.
So after high school, I thought I wanted to be
a cop. Originally I was a nine to one to
one dispatcher, and during that time I also got my
National Registry EMT Emergency Medical Technician and became a volunteer fireman.
(01:31):
I also worked for my dad doing some HVAC stuff
and just realized that I wasn't fully ready to stay
settled in my hometown and to continue the mission or
you know, passion of helping people. I started to look elsewhere,
different opportunities that I could travel and you know, pursue
(01:55):
that that passion that I had with helping people. So
in twenty twenty one, I enlisted in the Coast Guard
boot camps in Cape Maine, New Jersey. So I was
there for eight weeks and then out of boot camp,
I got stationed in Petaluma, California, which is just north
of San Francisco and Sonoma County. Beautiful area, right near.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Napa, the beach, the city.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
It was awesome, and there I worked for actually the
fire department on base, so I continued to be a
firem of an AMT. We responded to calls on base,
off base, in the community. So it was a really
cool opportunity for me. And then I in March twenty
twenty three, I went to what we call Health Service
(02:42):
technician a school, and to give you an idea of
what that is, it's kind of a mixture of a
medical assistant, paramedic position assistant, kind of all thrown in there.
And so that is a six month course. I graduated
that and then was stationed in Boston, Massachusetts, right in
(03:03):
the North End here, and I got here July of twenty.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Three, a little while at this point, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, almost two years. I'll be honest, I hated Boston
when I moved here. I know, this is a Boston show.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
But typical Jersey guy thing to say, I get it.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
It's all good. We're used to it. It was it
was interesting for me.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I never lived in a city, so I live in
the North End and drive a truck, so you know,
the challenges of parking and grocery shopping was new. And
I'll be honest, it was hard to make friends here.
It was hard to go out and find people. You
can imagine in the military kind of getting stationed in
different areas and the group of people that you meet
(03:45):
in one you know, two years later, now you're taken
away from that and dropped somewhere completely new. So challenges
with with that, you know, building relationships with new people.
The classic Boston you know, I would go out and
try to make friends, and I would get you know.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Who do you know here? And what do you you know?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
What do you want? I just was like, I just
want to make friends. Still great time here in Boston,
and I love it here now. But to give you
a little bit of background of where this inspiration for
this challenge came from. So throughout my life, I've had
some anxiety depression, you know, undiagnosed, just kind of living
with it, and I tried all these self helped things
(04:27):
like journaling, meditating, you know, everything you can think of,
and I thought, you know, I was just kind of
stuck with it.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
I would didn't want to tell anyone.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
About it, especially being a guy in the military working
in healthcare.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
I'm supposed to be that strong helper.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
And so, you know, I think there's still a little
bit of a stigma around it, and people don't want to.
You don't know what's gonna happen with your job, you know,
are you're going to get questioned?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Are you able to complete your job? You're able to
help people?
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Still, So for a while, you know, through California and
until I got to ball and I kind of just
dealt with it on my own and thought, you know,
this is I'll just have to deal with it. And
once I started seeing patients here in Boston and seeing
how many other people are struggling with with mental health
(05:14):
yor just having conversations with people, realizing that, you know,
I'm not the only one experiencing this and maybe I
should talk about it too. So it's probably a year
ago now. I went to my primary carreer doctor and
explained what I had been feeling, and started seeing a
therapist and really started gathering some tools, you know, coping
(05:37):
mechanisms and other things.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Like that that started to work for me.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
And so I actually started writing down everything in a
journal and I called it my Bag of Tricks. And
since then I've kind of expanded it and and I
guess I've I've found that there's more ways than one
to help people and in my mind, I thought helping
people was, you know, being a doctor or a paramedic. Sure,
(06:03):
but realizing through my own journey that I can help
people through my story and what I experienced and maybe
help at least one person not feel so alone, because
I can tell you.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Know, I did it as well. I did feel alone
as well.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
I voiced my concerns, got help, and I kind of
took it as a blessing in disguise as you know what,
maybe I experienced this to use what I learned to
help others. So, as I guess, got more confident in
it and able to talk about it. And my girlfriend
(06:40):
Gianna is obviously very active on social media, and she
kind of inspired me to be vulnerable. And so a
few weeks ago I just kind of talked about my
own story briefly and put it on Instagram, and I
got tons of responses from people I grew up with,
people I work with, saying, you know, this really resates
with me.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
How did that feel being vulnerable like that for the
first time, especially for somebody you were talking about how
you had to essentially have that shield on in order
to do your job, in order to live your life.
Being a member of the military. When you did take
your story out to social media, were you scared, were
you nervous or did you think like this is the
right thing to do?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Well, you know, of course at first I was scared.
I was nervous. A lot of thoughts of you know,
people are going to see me a certain way, you know,
or when they see me, are they going to think?
Speaker 3 (07:32):
Is that all they're going to see?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Because of course all of us have many, you know, qualities,
and just because I have I struggled with like a
nervous you know, anxiety. That doesn't mean that that's the
only thing that makes me who I am.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
So you know, there was some.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Worry that that would become my identity or people would
see that as my identity. But I what what really
motivated me to do it was I thought, when I
was going through it, if someone else, if appear, you know,
someone I knew, someone I looked up to, trusted, did that,
(08:07):
I think that it would be beneficial to me in
my journey. And I think that it would have really
inspired me to work on my myself. And and I
try to advocate too. I mean, nobody's perfect. We don't
all have anxiety. But there's always room for improvement, right,
Living a life worth living, living a life that you
want to live doesn't mean you have to be.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Diagnosed with anxiety depression.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
But just knowing that, Hey, other people have bad days
and that's what inspired me to do it. So definitely nervous,
you know, I remember posting it and literally turning my
phone off for two hours because I don't want to
look at it.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
And then of course you turn it back on like
bling bling, blink blank, You're like, oh.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Whoa, yeah, and uh, you know, I've to be honest
with you.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I didn't have one person message me and say you know,
what are you doing or what's wrong? There is nothing,
not one bad, one negative comment. Whoever maybe didn't like
it didn't say anything, or whoever liked it said something.
So and that's what I've realized too, is you know,
just being myself is healing in itself, right, accepting me,
(09:13):
accepting the flaws that I have, but continuing to I
guess you know, it's acknowledging it without accepting it. I
can acknowledge I'm not perfect. That doesn't mean I have
to accept not being perfect. I can still strive to
be better. But I can acknowledge. You know, I have flaws,
I have discrepancies, and.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
Well don't we all, I mean, nobody's perfect. Yeah, we
you know, but I appreciate the fact that it's all
about striving to make our lives more whole and making
us feel more comfortable in our own skin, you could
say literally and physically, because you know, we are getting
into this challenge of yours. I want to talk about
the background of the challenge as well, because I am
(09:52):
not a gym person. I do not know what a
murph is. We will talk about what a murph is.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
But you are.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
Essentially taking this to the next level by combining your
time at the gym and honoring members of the military.
So tell me about this challenge that you have launched,
one hundred day fitness challenge essentially.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
Absolutely, So I'll start off by saying, yeah, it's one
hundred days consecutively I will be doing. It's called a
Murph workout or Mrph challenge, very popular in like CrossFit.
But what it is It's named after a Navy coel
lieutenant named Michael Murphy. He gave his life for this
(10:33):
country and he lost his life and supposedly, you know,
this was a workout that he had done and it
was stemmed from It's called a workout of the day
or hero hero workout of the day, and oftentimes military members,
first responders who lose their life and the line of duty,
there's like a workout or something that will remind, you know,
(10:56):
people who want to remember and keep their name alive
by doing this workout. And it's usually a pretty gnarly
hard workout to kind of be like, you know, this
is an honor of you, and I'm gonna sacrifice some
of my sweat and time for, you know, in honor
of this member.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
So that's where the origin of the workout is.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
And it consists of a one mile run, one hundred
pull ups, two hundred pushups, three hundred squats, and another
one mile run. And this is all to be done
with a twenty pounds weight vest. Yes, it's a pretty
brutal workout. It hits you know, full body obviously, but yes,
(11:37):
so I will be doing that one hundred days consecutively.
And the Murph workout is something that I've done since,
you know, before joining the military. It's usually done a
Memorial Day. That's kind of the for people who do it,
you know, that's when they do it. And I thought
of what is what is painful, what will bring me
(12:01):
some struggle, and what will get this message noticed, what
will give it more visibility. So I originally said fifty
days in my head, and I thought, you know what,
I'm going to do it for one hundred and so
one hundred days to get you know, visibility and make
people really take a second look at.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
What I'm trying to raise awareness for.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
And then for my own sake of putting myself through
a little bit of misery each day to remind myself that,
you know, it's okay to not be okay like the
cliche saying. And so yeah, the goal is to just
raise awareness and funds for military first responder suicide, the
(12:43):
struggles of mental health that specifically those who serve go through,
and of course everyone in you know, it's not just
military or first responders, it's it's really everyone. And every day,
seventeen to twenty veterans take their life, and annually five
hundred six hundred service members active duty to take their lives.
So I saw statistic recently it's supposedly every sixty two
(13:07):
seconds the veteran takes their life. So this is, you know,
something that affects many people. I'm sure if you asked,
you know, random people on the street, if they knew
anyone who or connected anyone who had had completed suicide,
they would probably say yes. Unfortunately, so you know, realizing
that this is a widespread, you know issue, it seems
(13:32):
to be getting worse, and I think, you know, spreading
the idea and even if this sparks the conversation right
at work like this, you know, we're just the fact
that we're talking about this, yeah, you know, raising that
awareness like hey, maybe maybe this is on the front
of my mind. And next time my friend, you know,
I'm with my friend hanging out and they say something
(13:52):
that you know doesn't sound right, like I've just been
so tired or you know, I don't know how long
much longer I can do this? And you think about
this challenge, and you know, maybe that triggers you to ask,
and what's going on?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
How how are you.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Really I think, you know, with social media and everything,
it's great, but you know, how often are we in
person asking our friends and family how are you really doing?
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You know, everyone says I'm fine.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
But are you really you know, and how truthful are
you really about it on social media? I mean, people
say all the time, oh, we lie about our relationships
and all this, so whatever, But how truthful do we
really feel like we can be in our in person
lives and our online lives. It's it's it's tough to
be vulnerable, as you found out for yourself.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I think it's easy to hide behind
the screen, right. I think, you know, it's a lot
easier to be crying and say I'm having a great
day on the phone.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Everything's fine.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (14:47):
We've all been there exactly versus you know, me and
you talking face to face and I'm crying.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Obviously you can tell something wrong.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
So yeah, I think prioritizing those in person conversations, checking.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
It on your friend and.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
Just I really, you know, I'm not perfect, like I said,
but I really just love the idea of, you know,
just living that that life of I feel like I
did what I could. I did my best today, and
I'm going to check in on my friends and make
sure they did their best. I actually I built this
little routine for myself, and in the routine daily and
in the routine is checking with three friends at the
(15:24):
end of the day, Like, you know, I want to
check in with those people I haven't talked to recently,
whether it's a text to call and just so they know,
you know, I'm still thinking about them. So little things
like that that I think we can incorporate and just
bring to the forefront of our minds to you know,
make sure that we're we're all taking care of each other.
(15:45):
Because at the end of the day, if you're pouring
out your cup, you know, doing your job. I like
to think of us having like a water cup, and
you pour out your energy and passion into your job.
You get home, your water cup's empty. You know, what
are you pouring to yourself?
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Yeah, because you can't pour anything out of that cup
until you.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Fill it up right correct exactly, And who's going to
fill the cup? You know?
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Can you fill it yourself every day after you're exhausted,
or maybe that text message from a friend just adds
a little bit in there and gives you that energy
to brush your teeth and do the dishes and take
a shower and go to bed. So yeah, I think
that taking life, taking the small things and making them
a priority Uh, you know, we all talk about our
(16:30):
goals that we want to accomplish, or how many times
I remember saying, you know, once I get my driver license,
life will be good.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And once I you know, I'm twenty one and I
can drink, life will be good.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
You always have that next goalpost to meet. But you know,
what are we doing on it? What what wins are
we are we giving ourselves on a daily basis, So
those little things matter.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
They build it up.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
They totally do, absolutely and honestly, I'm hoping these donations
or the Wounded Warrior Project will build up as well.
And what I really appreciate is that you're working too
with small veteran owned brands to get the message out.
So if somebody is listening to this and they want
to donate, they want to follow you as you do
this grueling workout every day for this incredible cause. A
(17:15):
how can they find you be who are you working
with to get the message out about this and see
how can they donate?
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Absolutely, So, first of all, thanks for asking. So most
of the videos I'm posting are on Instagram and Facebook.
Instagram is at Jake Prusha no spaces, and Facebook's the
same so I'm posting these videos daily obviously for one
hundred days to keep us accountable and hopefully maybe you
(17:43):
find some entertainment and seeing me show up every day
and maybe that's, you know, something that motivates you to
show up every day. The link to the donation pages
in my bio on Instagram and it is on a
veteran owned website aimed fund the First. This is kind
of like a GoFundMe page, but it is dedicated to
(18:06):
just military and first responder fundraisers to ensure that nobody is,
you know, making a fake fundraiser for you know, a
deceased member or anything. So completely checked on fundfirst dot
com and you can search one hundred days of merph
for mental health. I am also, you know, I'm working
(18:28):
with a company called rough Sea Sailors Club, which has
a very similar mission. I believe they're out of Long
Island and they provide daily newsletters and their their mission
statement I I can't tell you off, you know, directly verbatim,
but it is a you know, no, a calm day
(18:51):
on the water doesn't make a good sailor, right, So
their their mission is we all have to go through
rough seas and that's what makes us, you know, who
we are at the end of the day, so kind
of an interesting brand, very cool, veteran owned and they've
been very supportive. They sent out some some stickers and
shirts that we're going to be sporting throughout the challenge.
(19:11):
I do want to open up if anyone's listening that
knows somebody who lost their life to suicide, veteran first responder,
even anybody, I would love to hear from you, and
I would love to dedicate one of the workouts to
anyone who has lost their life to suicide. That's part
(19:32):
of what I want to do is recognize and dedicate
this challenge to those who you know, struggled and ultimately
succumb to to depression, anxiety, whatever, you know, mental illness
that they were experiencing.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
Yeah, okay, well let's get you connected then, And so
this is on Instagram. You're at Jake Prusha. That's p
r U s h A. So Jake regular Jake Prussia
p r U s h A. And that is the
best way to get a.
Speaker 3 (20:01):
Hold of you, right, yeah, absolutely all.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
Right, phenomenal And I see the link here right in
your bio to donate and this is phenomenal work you're doing,
and congratulations to you for getting to this point and
putting this together. Jake. I wish you all the best
of the success and just take it easy and be
sure to rest okay because you've got a lot going
on right now.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Thank you have a safe and healthy weekend. Please join
me again next week for another edition of the show.
I'm Nicole Davis from WBZ News Radio on iHeartRadio.
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