Fitness By Bobby

Fitness By Bobby

Fitness By Bobby was founded and is run by Bobby, the older brother of Shay, who has additional needs. Growing up alongside Shay helped Bobby recognise the importance of inclusive fitness opportunities where everyone feels welcome, supported, and valued. This is what inspired Fitness By Bobby to be created.

Bobby runs a variety of classes each week designed to support people of all abilities, fitness levels, and backgrounds. His vision is to build something bigger than just fitness classes — a safe and positive space where anyone can come to have fun, build confidence, stay active, and feel truly included.

If you’d like to see how Bobby runs his classes or follow his journey, check out his social media pages.
He’s on a mission to build something truly special — a space where everyone feels included, empowered, and like they genuinely belong.


✨My Story ✨

My name is Bobby Brannen, and I am a 21-year-old disability-focused personal trainer and the founder of Fitness by Bobby. This is a short piece about my journey so far — the challenges, the growth, and the purpose that now drives everything I do.
Growing up, I was an extremely shy and anxious child. The thought of speaking in front of people or joining in with big group activities would often make me cry. Confidence was something I struggled with deeply. But at the same time, I always felt a strong sense of responsibility to be a role model to my younger brother Shay, who has multiple disabilities. Watching him navigate life with barriers that many people never have to face shaped my perspective from a very young age.
When I was five years old, my parents signed me up for kickboxing to help build my confidence. I nearly quit within the first year. The nerves, the pressure, and my own self-doubt almost pushed me away from it completely. But I stayed. Looking back now, that decision changed the entire direction of my life.
Through kickboxing, I slowly began to grow — not just as an athlete, but as a person. Over the years I was fortunate enough to win five world medals, represent England, win a European title, multiple English and British titles, and earn my black belt. With each year that passed, my confidence improved a little more. The shy kid who hated attention was slowly learning to believe in himself.
At the age of twelve, I made the decision to move into boxing. It was a huge step and massively outside of my comfort zone, but I wanted to push my sporting career further. School was still difficult for me socially, and I mostly kept myself to myself. But as my boxing and kickboxing careers progressed, my confidence began to grow outside of sport too. I went on to become house captain at school and even spoke in assemblies and classrooms about my journey — things that the younger version of me would have never believed possible.
My boxing career started in a tough way. I lost around half of my first twenty fights. But one thing I have never done is quit. I kept turning up, kept learning, and kept believing. Eventually the hard work paid off. I won the Elite Midlands Title, a silver medal at the biggest Box Cup in Europe, a gold medal at another international Box Cup, and fought in major bouts around the country.
Alongside boxing almost full-time, I completed a Level 3 Sports course at college while also working on a building site to earn money. But deep down, I knew the building site was not where I was meant to be. I strongly believe that if you truly dislike what you do every day, it is very hard to find meaning in it. Because of this, I decided to complete a Level 3 Personal Training qualification with the hope of working in the fitness industry.
Around this time, my brother Shay was also achieving incredible things in his own way. Growing up, opportunities for him were very limited because of his disabilities, and that never sat right with me or my family.
One day I filmed a short video of me training Shay outside in a small boxing session and posted it on Facebook. Training together was something we did all the time as brothers, so it felt completely normal to us. But the reaction to that video was something I never expected. People began messaging me and asking if I could train their children or family members who also had disabilities.
At first, I genuinely didn’t think I would be able to do it. The only experience I had was with Shay, and I had never even considered this as a career path. I spent weeks thinking about it.
Then one day, while on holiday in Türkiye with my family, everything became clear. On the final day of the trip I told my dad that I wasn’t going back to the building site. Instead, I was going to dedicate myself to helping children and adults with disabilities through fitness.
I used every bit of money I had saved and built a small home gym to train potential clients. I was completely out of my comfort zone. I remember how nervous I was before my very first sessions. I was sweating, my heart was racing, and the anxiety I had carried since childhood was very much still there. But I have always believed that the best things in life exist outside of our comfort zones.
One of my first clients was a young lad called Nathan. Nathan used a wheelchair and had extremely limited use of his right hand — to the point where he could barely lift it. Today, Nathan can drink independently, use a phone, and hold weights with that same hand. Watching that progress happen right in front of me was a moment that confirmed I had made the right decision.
From that very first week, I have been lucky enough to work with hundreds of individuals with disabilities in my small home gym. Something that once felt impossible has now become my purpose.
Within my first year of running Fitness by Bobby, I was nominated at the Rugby Sports Awards 2024 and was honoured to receive the Get Active Award for helping individuals overcome barriers through exercise and fitness. Shortly after that, I was invited to speak live on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire radio.
It was an incredible opportunity for both myself and the movement I’m building. However, moments before going live on air, I had an anxiety attack. It’s something I managed to hide well due to years of learning how to deal with them, and the team at BBC were fantastic. The interview went well, but on the way home I found myself beating myself up about the anxiety attack during such an important moment.
Over time, I’ve come to accept something important: anxiety has always been part of me, and it probably always will be. But it will never be the thing that stops me from doing what I believe in.
After the interview, I began opening up more about my experiences with anxiety on social media, hoping it might help someone else who is facing their own challenges. Since documenting my journey from the very beginning, I have been lucky enough to build a community of over 100,000 supporters who believe in the movement.
In October 2025, I launched group classes for the first time. This was a huge personal milestone for me. The younger version of Bobby would cry at the thought of joining a group class — yet here I was running my own.
Since then, I have built a weekly timetable of eleven classes held at a local primary school sports hall, alongside my one-to-one sessions in my home gym. These include SEN kids fitness and boxing classes, sensory kids sessions, kids boxing and fitness classes, SEN dance classes, and home-education fitness and dance classes. My goal has always been simple: to create a space where everyone feels welcome.
Looking ahead, my biggest ambition is to open my own facility — a place where I can run more classes, help more people, and create a true community built around inclusion, confidence, and opportunity.
Throughout this entire journey, I have also been dealing with a long-term boxing injury that has kept me out of the ring for nearly two years. I have travelled to Türkiye multiple times for treatment and even undergone surgery in England that unfortunately didn’t work. Another surgery may be ahead.
There have been many difficult moments. Boxing has been part of my life for as long as I can remember, and the thought of losing it has been incredibly hard. There have been times when I’ve broken down and felt lost. But not once have I completely given up hope.
Every day I continue pushing forward — for myself, for my goals, and for the people who now look up to me. My clients face barriers every single day and still show unbelievable strength and belief. I learn from them constantly, and their resilience is what drives me forward when things get tough.
This journey is still only just beginning. What started as a small idea in a home gym has grown into something far bigger than I ever imagined.
And I truly cannot wait to see where it goes next.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story.
— Bobby Brannen
Fitness By Bobby


⭐ Classes currently running ⭐️

🥊 SEN Juniors fitness/boxing class
🥊 SEN Seniors fitness/boxing class
🕺💃🏻 SEN Dance class
🥊 Home ED Juniors fitness/boxing class
🥊 Juniors fitness/boxing class
🌸 Ladies only fitness/boxing class
💪 Adult fitness/boxing class
🌟 SEN Play and Explore class


⭐ Membership Prices ⭐️

🥊 Monthly Membership – £30/£37.50 per month (depending on how many weeks in the month)
✔ Guaranteed weekly place
✔ Paid by standing order
✔ No contract – cancel anytime


⭐ Address ⭐️

Fitness by Bobby
Willoughby park,
Onley Grounds Farm,
Willoughby,
Rugby,
CV23 8AJ.