Sarasota resident takes baby steps toward fitness

Every journey beings with a single step, or so the cliche goes.

In Ashley Murphy’s case that step involved

dance, and her journey was to fitness.

She struggled with her weight since she was young, but in 2008 her weight reached an all-time high. That’s when she decided to make a change.

Murphy, 31, started going to a local Jazzercise class taught by Patti Horvath, who would become a close friend and mentor. Fiercely motivated, she lost 50 pounds in her first six months and gained a community of like-minded women.

“They embraced me, and it was a life-changing experience for me because it was the first time I had actually found a fitness program that I wanted to stick with,” Murphy said.

Murphy’s life changed again when she became pregnant with her son in 2013. But she didn’t quit her Jazzercise habit. In fact, she maintained her fitness routine until she was 38 weeks pregnant. After her son was born, Murphy said the mommy-guilt set in.

“I worked full time … I just didn’t have the capacity at night to go away from my son any more than I already was during the day,” Murphy said. “I kind of let it fall by the wayside, and that broke my heart, because that was one of my biggest joys before having a kid.”

Once her son turned 2, she said she felt comfortable taking Jazzercise classes in the evenings. That’s when Murphy found out she was pregnant again.

“I figured this is going to be my last shot to hang out with these people and really enjoy it, because I knew what was going to happen,” Murphy said. “If it happened with one it was certainly going to happen with two.”

She didn’t want to leave her children. Nor did she want to give up her fitness routine, either. So Murphy set out to solve her own problem. That’s when Mama’s Got Groove — a dance fitness program for pregnant and baby-wearing moms  — was conceived.

Like most wild ideas — Google, the personal computer, Mickey Mouse — Murphy nurtured her concept for a mommy-friendly aerobic business in a garage.

Her workspace is cramped. Her desk faces a wall cluttered with inspirational quotes. A ballet bar stands on the concrete floor. There’s no air conditioning in Murphy’s makeshift workspace, just a small fan to help her fend off the Florida heat. It has its flaws, but what her office lacks in amenities, it makes up for in location.

It’s mere feet from her children’s rooms, which is convenient because all of Murphy’s exercise classes are B.Y.O.B. — bring your own baby, that is.

She’s choreographed dozens of routines, many while pregnant with her now 4-month-old daughter.

Although dance fitness helped Murphy lose weight, she said she is not personally motivated by a number on a scale. Instead, after having two children, Murphy set her sights on health.

“I cannot go back to who I was (before I was pregnant),” she said. “I can become a better version of myself, and I think that’s even more important to aspire to.”

She taught her first class on Jan. 2 in Arlington Park gym, and she said she hopes her classes will offer what she found in Horvath’s Jazzercise class eight years ago — community.

“The idea is that (moms) can come and lose weight if that’s one of their goals, but it doesn’t have to be,” Murphy said. “If they want to come and just work out with other moms and just have a healthy environment to make new relationships, that’s awesome, too.”

As the first two women filed into the gym on that first day, Murphy saw her dreams come to life. 

It was the beginning of a community.

Her journey could have been easier. She could have joined an existing franchise, like Jazzercise, where the routines are choreographed and the marketing burden is lighter. But Murphy said she had a vision and the ambition to make it a reality.

“That girl’s got drive,” Horvath said of her former student. “If she wants it done, she will, by golly, get it done.”

Murphy has come a long way from practicing routines in her garage.

“I’m still on a journey,” Murphy said. “I will be a journey for the rest of my life.”