Leixlip to LA - One Kildare personal trainer's 2023 journey

Life comes at you fast, and for 48-year old Denise Murphy big changes started four and a half years ago when she moved onto her current career path, personal training. The Leixlip-based trainer began her new career venture offering a more affordable, and one-to-one, alternative to online or group personal training.

However, it would be away from her studio that the big shift would come, after being approached by Martin Spence of the Northern Ireland Fitness Models Association (NIFMA).

“He (Martin) runs the competitions and asked me if I would like to enter...I was unsure initially and thought I was too told but he said no, are you having a laugh. So I went away to think about it,” Denise recalled.

After scoping out the competition by attending the event in 2022, Denise decided to proceed and uttered the three words that all good Irish adventures begin with “Sure why not.”

“I thought, I’m a personal trainer, it’s not like I need somebody to show me how to do exercises. Even if you are a trainer, you should really have a preparation coach because it's totally different. But I said I’d do it myself and see how it goes,” Denise explained.

“It took me 12 weeks of training and being very rigorous with my food. I ate the same thing every day for 12 weeks and that wouldn’t bother me, some people couldn’t do that. I ate a lot of turkey, broccoli and egg whites.”

Of course everyone reading that just had their eyes involuntarily widen at the prospect of little to no variety in their diet for three months. But then again, we all might be more committed if there was an event on the horizon where we were going on stage in a bikini.

“You are going to keep at it because you know you are going to be up there (on stage). You’re not going to break from the diet or start drinking because you know that's not going to get you where you need to be.”

Denise’s efforts and giving the competition a go DIY style was successful too as she stood on the podium in two categories, scoring a win in one and second place in another.

The whirlwind would continue following success in the North of Ireland as Denise was approached by a fitness magazine and an opportunity that she thought was maybe too good to be true.

“One of these fitness magazines asked me if I wanted to come over to LA and do a photo-shoot and I kindof wondered if this was a scam or something,” Denise laughed.

The journey so far for Denise will culminate in October as she heads to Los Angeles for two nights before venturing on to an international shoot for fitness magazine American Curves with over a dozen models. A whirlwind year for the Leixlip trainer that will see her being photographed by the same man behind the camera for the likes of Baywatch and Pamela Anderson shoots.

If Denise’s year of adventure can tell you anything, it is that there is a lot that can be gained just by saying, “Sure why not.”