E-Mail This Article to a Friend A LEG UP ON THE COMPETITION Thighs on the prize BY CHRIS WRIGHT

To step inside the Madison Club — the New York gym owned by "wellness guru" David Kirsch — is to take one’s ego into one’s hands. Frequented by such paragons as Linda Evangelista, Heidi Klum, Naomi Campbell, Bridget Hall, and Liv Tyler, the gym sees somewhere in the region of three ounces of excess body fat pass through its portals on any given day. And then there’s Kirsch, whose ability to spot physical beauty — or the lack thereof — is legendary. Next week, Kirsch will bring his discerning eye to Boston, where he will judge Legs of a Goddess, a 10-city, waist-down beauty contest sponsored by Gillette. We spoke with Kirsch from his office in New York.

Q: You spend every day looking at lovely legs. Who has the best you’ve ever seen?

A: I’m not going to say that! You think I’m crazy? They’re all gorgeous. They all have beautiful legs.

Q: What makes you such a great judge of legs?

A: I have an amazing eye. It’s a blessing and a curse, because there is not one person I meet that I don’t instantly size up. So people don’t want to see me anymore. It gets tedious, I guess. But goddess-like beauty is not only external. Last week in San Diego, the winner was 36. She beat out women that were 18, 19 years old. I spotted her straight away. She gave me a huge smile.

Q: So? I thought this was about legs.

A: If you have amazing legs and you’re looking like a sourpuss — if her legs say, "Come to me" and her face says, "Fuck off" — where are you going to go? If she’s got Naomi’s legs and a good attitude, she’s got my attention.

Q: Doesn’t it get to the point where one leg starts to look much like another?

A: No. What’s exciting to me is that every city presents a different situation — going from Dallas to Chicago to Boston — these different sensibilities. I have a book and a video, so it’s interesting to me to get the grassroots reactions from people who have read the book and seen the video.

Q: Nice segue into the book and the video.

A: How’s that for smooth? But no, I’m a New York–based trainer. I’m known in big cities, that’s the demographic breakdown of people who have bought the book and video. My next goal is to reach out to cities where I haven’t had that exposure.

Q: Okay, okay, what are the book and the video called?

A: The book’s Sound Mind, Sound Body, and the video’s "David Kirsch’s Sound Mind Sound Body Ultimate Fitness Boot Camp."

Q: Right. So have these contests been competitive?

A: Oh, yeah. I gotta tell you, some woman last week came over to me, she’s absolutely lovely, a real beauty. She said, "Is there anything I can do to get in with the judge?" She didn’t win.

Q: Any backbiting, or ankle-biting?

A: Um, I think girls have tried to psyche each other out, definitely, yeah, yeah. But it’s more psychological. I haven’t seen any scratching or clawing.

Q: Any surprises?

A: We had a woman in Miami and I’m sitting there saying, "My God! What legs!" She’s dumping water on her body — she thought she was Jennifer Beals in Flashdance — she’s out there soaking wet, shaking her thing. I thought she was beautiful, perfect. Then someone sitting beside me said, "That’s a guy."

Q: A guy can’t be a leg goddess?

A: No.

Q: Because I’ve been told I have decent legs.

A: No, sorry.

Legs of a Goddess will take place on August 15 at Faneuil Hall. Registration starts at 1 p.m. For information, go to www.gillettevenus.com