Doctors issue warning over CrossFit challenge as South Carolina woman’s biceps ‘EXPLODE’ from doing so many pull-ups

A South Carolina woman claims her biceps in both arms ‘exploded’ after attempting a CrossFit challenge. 

Jessica Johnson, 25, had just started training for the intense Murph Challenge last month, which involves completing two one-mile runs and hundreds of push-ups, pull-ups, and squats. 

Her arms were ‘super sore’ and swollen after completing 50 pull-ups in preparation for the challenge, but she put that down to how hard she had worked them.

Within four days, however, the healthcare worker said she felt ‘like the Hulk’ as her arms ballooned and she lost feeling in her hands. 

Her muscles had actually begun to break down and die from a condition called rhabdomyolysis. This caused a large amounts of chemicals like potassium to spill into her bloodstream and attack her kidneys and liver, which can cause potentially fatal organ failure if left untreated. 

Ms Johnson’s arms swelled (pictured here) so badly that she struggled to brush her teeth or take a shower. She spent four days in the hospital receiving IV fluids and electrolytes

Additionally, she noticed that her urine had become much darker than normal, appearing almost orange due to excess toxins and waste. 

‘I was definitely shocked and didn’t know that this could happen,’ Ms Johnson said in a TikTok video. ‘Getting hospitalized with rhabdomyolysis was definitely not on my 2024 bingo card.’

The Murph Challenge is a workout regime that involves two one-mile runs, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats. This generally takes about 40 minutes to an hour.

Ms Johnson had just started the challenge the week of her injury, focusing on 10 sets of five pull-ups first. 

‘I left the gym pretty tired. I was like “Oh man, I’m going to be so sore tomorrow.” I hadn’t worked out my arms like that in a while,’ she said. 

When she woke up the next morning, she noticed her arms were so swollen that she struggled to brush her teeth or take a shower. 

‘I thought “Oh my god, my arms don’t want to work correctly,”‘ she said. ‘I couldn’t straighten my arms all the way.’

‘There was visible swelling. I looked like the Hulk. Everyone said “We just thought you were super jacked or something.”‘

Meanwhile, the strain had caused the fibers of Ms Johnson’s muscles, which form muscle tissue and control function, to stretch out and weaken. 

Without this structure, the fibers started to unravel, leading to muscles breaking down lead to the muscles breaking down and beginning to die.  

Despite the fact that she stayed hydrated throughout the day, ‘I wasn’t peeing much during the day. I thought that was kind of weird,’ Ms Johnson said.

‘I was a little nervous because I didn’t know what was going on.’ 

Four days after working out, Ms Johnson rushed to her local urgent care, who immediately sent her to the emergency room and confirmed rhabdomyolysis. 

‘The doctors were very certain that it was the pull-ups that caused it,’ she said. ‘They almost had to cut my arms open to release tension out of my arms.’  

Ms Johnson, pictured at the gym, had initially thought nothing of her swollen muscles, but doctors warned she suffered kidney and liver damage

Ms Johnson said that she no longer plans to complete the Murph Challenge and will instead focus on less intense exercise like pilates. Her doctors advised her to get back into exercise slowly

Doctors were thankfully able to stabilize Ms Johnson’s condition with IV fluids and electrolytes over the course of four days. 

While rhabdomyolysis manifests as innocent symptoms like tender and swollen muscles, it can spell danger for organs like the kidneys. 

As muscles deteriorate, they release large amounts of chemicals like potassium, phosphate, and creantine into the bloodstream.

Normally, the kidneys filter these out in urine, but in large quantities, the kidneys struggle to keep up.

That leads these chemicals to accumulate, resulting in kidney damage and failure.

This could explain why Ms Johnson’s urine turned orange. 

‘They were mostly concerned about my organs. In rhabdomyolysis your cells are basically exploding in your muscles. Your muscles are bursting,’ she said. 

Ms Johnson suffered damage to her kidneys and liver, though she fully recovered and was released from the hospital four days after being admitted. 

Though the condition seems extreme, rhabdomyolysis is fairly common, affecting about 26,000 Americans a year and killing roughly one in 20 of thsoe. 

In most cases, it is caused by traumatic injury, high-intensity exercise, severe dehydration, long periods of inactivity, and substance use disorder.

Those with more severe damage may need dialysis to filter out toxins as the kidneys normally would. 

‘They’ve had people die from this in the past. I’m definitely grateful that I did not end up having any of those issues,’ she said.

Ms Johnson also noted that doctors warned her to stay away from ‘crazy workouts’ and slowly ease back into more mild exercise like walking and Pilates.  

‘I decided I’m not going to be training for the Murph. It’s not worth another hospital stay,’ she said. 

‘It was definitely a wake up call that I don’t have my high school, teenage body. As we age we have to take care of our bodies.’

‘Listen to your body and take it easy. Yes, it’s very good to work out our bodies. It’s healthy to do that. But I think it’s important to share with people now more than ever.’

‘Working out too much and doing too aggressive of a workout is not good for you and not healthy. I think some people need to hear that.’