When Bobby Brannen started boxing with his younger brother Shay in the family garage, he had no idea it would lead to something far bigger. Shay has disabilities and had struggled to find fitness spaces where he felt comfortable and included.
What began as time spent together quickly grew into a viral video, a growing demand for inclusive fitness and eventually Fitness By Bobby, where more than 100 children and young people now train each week. But for Bobby, the journey has been about much more than building a gym – it has changed the way he sees himself, too.
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Where it all began
Bobby had always tried to be the best role model he could for Shay, wanting to look after his younger brother and give him every opportunity to thrive. The brothers have been close since they were young, and sport became something they could share.
Bobby had been involved in combat sports from the age of five, starting with kickboxing before moving into boxing at 14. He went on to win five world medals and earn his black belt in kickboxing before turning his attention to boxing. He had 45 boxing bouts and went on to win several titles. Shay watched his older brother compete and, naturally, wanted to do what Bobby did.
“That was a proud feeling for myself,” Bobby says.
At the time, Bobby was working on a building site, but quickly realised it wasn’t where he wanted to be. One day after work, he found himself in the garage with Shay, doing a boxing session together.
It was nothing unusual for the brothers. They trained together from time to time, and Bobby happened to record this particular session and post it online.
He had no idea what was coming.
When a garage became a starting point
The video took off, reaching far more people than Bobby could have imagined. Almost immediately, messages began arriving from families asking whether he could help their children or relatives.
The attention was unexpected, but the messages revealed something much bigger. Bobby had already seen how difficult it could be for Shay to find activities where he felt included. Now he was hearing from families across the country facing similar barriers.
“I think the day I posted that original video with my brother, I soon realised there were so many people out there being left out of things they wanted to do,” he says.
It wasn’t just about boxing or fitness. For Bobby, it was about giving people the opportunity to take part, challenge themselves and experience the pride that comes from discovering what they can do.
It wasn’t just about boxing or fitness. For Bobby, it was about giving people the opportunity to take part, challenge themselves and experience the pride that comes from discovering what they can do.
At first, though, he wasn’t convinced he was the person to provide it. “I didn’t think I was good enough at the beginning and was thinking about saying no due to nerves,” he admits.
Then he made a decision that would change the direction of his life. He said yes, quit his building-site job and put everything into the vision. “I thought, if there are that many people reaching out to me who genuinely need help, why can’t I be that person to make the difference?”
From the family garage to a growing community
What followed happened quickly. Bobby began working with families and building a community around inclusive fitness, with his own family helping him every step of the way.
Two years of hard work have transformed an idea born in a garage into a growing community of more than 100 children and young people with additional needs. For Bobby, the numbers are important, but they aren’t the reason he continues.
His clients and their families have become a source of inspiration in their own right. Many face significant barriers in everyday life, yet still arrive at the gym with a smile and give everything they have.
His clients and their families have become a source of inspiration in their own right. Many face significant barriers in everyday life, yet still arrive at the gym with a smile and give everything they have.
“My clients and their families are so strong. They inspire me every single day,” Bobby says. “A lot of my clients have been born with a disability which puts barriers in their everyday life. Barriers like not being able to walk or talk. These clients still turn up to my gym every week with the biggest smile and give it their all.”
Those moments have reinforced his belief that fitness can offer much more than physical strength. It can provide a place to belong, an opportunity to build confidence and a chance to discover that the things people once believed they couldn’t do may be possible after all.
Facing his own anxiety
There is an interesting contrast at the heart of Bobby’s story. He spends his days encouraging other people to push beyond the barriers in front of them, while privately dealing with one of his own. Anxiety has been one of the biggest challenges of his journey.
When he was offered his first radio opportunity with the BBC, he was extremely nervous in the lead-up to the interview. He wanted it to go well and couldn’t stop thinking about it. Then, live on air, he had a panic attack.
Fortunately, nobody noticed and Bobby managed to finish the interview. His family and friends told him afterwards that it had gone well, but he was still hard on himself. Over time, however, he began to look at the experience differently.
Rather than seeing the panic attack as something that had gone wrong, Bobby used it as something he could learn from. Each subsequent opportunity became a little easier. He has since appeared on live television – something that would once have seemed far beyond the shy, anxious child he remembers being.
“I never ever used to talk about it,” he says. “But recently I have begun to open up about my own experiences with anxiety. I have begun to do so very proudly and I really hope by doing so I might be able to inspire other people to open up as well.”
For Bobby, acknowledging his anxiety hasn’t made him feel weaker. Quite the opposite. “I realised every single person on this planet has their own things that they don’t really like about themselves,” he says. “But then I realised that these things are what make us unique and they are what makes us, us.”
His favourite way of putting it is simple: “Imperfection is my favourite type of perfection.”
What Shay started
The closer Bobby and Shay have become through Fitness By Bobby, the more meaningful the journey has become. They now work and train together throughout the week, building something that began with a shared interest in boxing.
But Bobby’s ambitions extend far beyond what they have created so far. He wants Fitness By Bobby to eventually be available across the UK – a place where anyone facing disability or other barriers can walk through the doors and feel that they belong. “A home for everyone,” is how he describes it.
And he isn’t thinking only about what the organisation can achieve while he is running it. He wants the work to have a lasting impact, so that future generations of children and adults with disabilities or other barriers can grow up believing in themselves.
“I’m truly certain that this is only the very start, and I will dedicate my life to this,” he says. “I really want to make a difference. A difference that when I’m not here one day, the impact will continue and generations of children and adults with disabilities or barriers in their life will truly be confident within themselves and believe in what they can do.”
“I’m truly certain that this is only the very start, and I will dedicate my life to this,” he says. “I really want to make a difference. A difference that when I’m not here one day, the impact will continue and generations of children and adults with disabilities or barriers in their life will truly be confident within themselves and believe in what they can do.”
That sense of purpose is what has taken Bobby from a building site to a gym, from a nervous young man reluctant to say yes to media opportunities to someone confidently appearing on live television, and from a boxing session with his little brother to a movement that is changing how people think about inclusive fitness.
The original video may have changed Bobby and Shay’s lives, but the reason he continues is much bigger than that one moment.
“I want people to understand and realise how truly amazing and beautiful they are,” Bobby says. “You will never ever be less if you have a disability or if you have anxiety, or anything. You are amazing and capable of everything you would ever want to achieve.”
Connect with Bobby via Instagram and Facebook.
