Ninjas and friends;

This is the perfect time of year to express and celebrate gratitude. Our communal sharing of gratitude and thanks is something we as a community at Mark Fisher Fitness do well. But certainly I think we can all agree, it’s a practice we would all be served by doing more of.

This post today will only touch the surface of my deepest emotions, as it is also a “goodbye” letter, one that will hopefully shed some light on a journey for which I am most grateful.

Grateful for These Two Guys

My gratitude starts with my friend Mark Fisher. We were friends long before MFF existed. I’ll save most of the stories for another time, but the first time we met in person was at a call-back audition for the national tour of Grease at Chelsea Studios in NYC. Luckily for both of us, neither of us got the job.

Years later, after many parties and lots of shared interests, I was about to start teaching college, auditioning often and bartending. Mark brought in his childhood friend “Mike” to hang out at my bar. It’s a 100% true story that we somehow ended up at a strip club and Michael Keeler told Mark in a cab ride back to Astoria that he should reach out to me about coming on board Mark Fisher Fitness. The rest is history.

I found the email from Mark where it all began:

Sat, Jul 16, 2011
5:18 PM

“No pressure of any kind. Do you have any interest in maybe working in the fitness industry. Mike and I were talking about how you would be fucking PERFECT for our last hire. Not sure what your life is as far as hours, prior commitments, long term goals. Just wanted to throw a feeler out!”

I still can’t quite grasp what Michael Keeler saw in Mark’s friend that night, but I sure am grateful he was able to convince Mark to reach out to me.

My deepest gratitude and love is to these men: bosses, mentors, colleagues, friends, brothers, for absolutely everything. They gave me a chance and believed in me more than I believed in myself.

Grateful for Brotherhood

Several months later, on a seemingly mythical night, I walked up from the subway and onto 75^th Street. It felt like a childhood nightmare when I saw “The Beast” for the first time. He seemed larger than anything I’d ever encountered. He couldn’t possibly be real, but he was way more than that. Kyle Langworthy and I were inseparable immediately. He was convinced he would hate me before meeting me, but those fears took less than two seconds to change.

In reality, the only thing “beastly” about Kyle is the size of his muscles and unmatched heart. Kyle opened my eyes and taught me more about fitness and the human body than any other source on earth. I bet most of the trainers at MFF can say the same thing.

I watched Kyle like a hawk and knew I’d never be as smart as him. Damn, he taught me so much. I am grateful for his patience, willingness to help, and his faith in me as a trainer and, more importantly, as a human. I love this man and am so grateful.

Grateful for Team MFF

In the last seven and a half years, I have made unbelievable friendships with the team at Mark Fisher Fitness. It would take all day to mention everyone and the specific things I’ve learned from them all. But they deserve it. These people CARE!

This team deeply loves and believes in the best of humanity. I am grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to show up to work surrounded by kind, loving, emotional, brilliant, empathetic, hard-working, understanding, challenging, supportive, funny and completely bonkers humans.

I’m grateful for the weird noises we yell at each other. I’m grateful for the conversations we have that don’t even require words, just knowing glances. I’m grateful for all the mistakes of mine they’ve fixed. I’m grateful for all the damn fun. It’s no wonder why reality TV has approached MFF numerous times, because it is a hilariously great show. (But thank god for us all the answer has always been “NO.”)

Grateful for the Ninja Army

But there is no MFF without YOU, the Ninjas. There have been thousands of you over the years and I’ve been lucky and beyond grateful to have unbelievably deep relationships with many of you.

With rare exceptions of the few who I’ve not had the pleasure to teach, sell memberships to or chat with around the Clubhouse, I’ve known most of you personally. I still remember things you told me the days we met, dates you told me about, shared musical interests, hilarious answers to name games, major life events, the PR weights you lifted, the body changes you’ve made and, most importantly, the emotional and spiritual transformations I’ve watched you go through.

I’m grateful you’ve chosen to see the best in me. I’m grateful you’ve continually showed up. I’m grateful to you for quite literally EVERYTHING.

Grateful for a New Adventure

Community is the foundation of everything MFF stands for and what has always made “us” special. It is because of this that I am moving on to the next chapter of my career.

A friendship and work relationship with Michael Littig turned into new business ventures. While working at MFF, a mutual mentorship started with the amazing Randi Zuckerberg and now we are joining together to start the newly formed Zuckerberg Institute.

None of this would be possible without the bedrock of MFF and its supportive, amazing community. I am tearfully grateful beyond words to the amazing community of our entire team, past and present, and the Ninja Army for living this most important value.

Most importantly, I am grateful for the support of my life-long friends and family. My best friends offered support and love when I told them I was joining a mad-man on a journey to change the world through fitness. My family has always believed in me throughout my different journeys around the world, in different careers. I am grateful I still have them and for their unending support.

For my wife Amy and son Dean Patrick, you are everything. I am grateful for the smiles, laughs and cries of baby Dean. I am grateful to Amy for her encouragement, support and confidence in me as I make the difficult but wonderful decision to move on from MFF at the end of the year. Without her, I would be a shell of the man I’ve become.

Grateful for Goodbye

But the goodbye comes now. December 2018 will be my final month at MFF and I’m truly blessed to have one more month to soak up every ounce of glory from our Ninjas in my remaining classes and training sessions.

I’ve always believed in the work we do to change lives at Mark Fisher Fitness. This belief hasn’t changed and I cannot wait to see what MFF has in store for the future. I have no doubt it will evolve and grow into something even more beautiful than it is now. #OHBUHLEEEEE

I have zero regrets about any moment of my time at MFF. It has been a remarkable journey for which I am grateful. Thank you so much for changing my life! I’ll always be part of MFF. And I know we’ll be seeing each other.

Brian Patrick Murphy, “The Mayor of Mark Fisher Fitness”
The Minister of BELIEF

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Brian Patrick Murphy is a co-founder of Zuckerberg Institute, Congregation Coaching and an IPEC certified coach (ICF). Brian has thousands of hours of coaching experience and continues to be highly sought-after by corporate leaders, high-level sales-people, managers, doctors, authors and various artists. Brian had a successful career as an actor for more than a decade in NYC and all over the world then followed his passion for teaching and leading by spending time as a college professor, and is co-founder and “Minister of Belief” at the world famous Mark Fisher Fitness in NYC. Brian believes in the transformative power of building communities of leaders. He is a graduate of The University of Mississippi, and if you like to smile, he can be found in the famous country music video “Giddy On Up”.