Hayes-born Lennox McCurdy’s journey from struggling within conventional education to leading an award-winning complementary healthcare business.
Growing up in Hayes
For Lennox, Hayes is where the story began. He attended Yeading Primary School before progressing to Barnhill Community High School.
At the age of nine, following concerns raised by teachers around aspects of his learning and behaviour, Lennox was assessed and subsequently diagnosed with ADHD. From an early age, it became apparent that he did not always respond to conventional classroom-based learning in the same way as many of his peers.
While Lennox is proud of where he comes from, he remembers growing up in an environment where some young people faced pressures extending beyond the classroom. Crime and antisocial behaviour were visible within parts of the wider area, while tensions between adjacent local communities could sometimes influence where young people felt comfortable going, who they associated with and how strongly they identified with the area they came from.
Lennox stresses that those experiences should not define Hayes or the many families and communities within it. Instead, they formed part of the wider environment in which he and many other young people of his generation were growing up.
“There were pressures around you growing up that probably aren’t always obvious when people look back from the outside. Where you were from, who you knew and even which local area you were associated with could sometimes matter more than it should have.”
“I don’t say that to portray Hayes negatively because I’m proud to be from Hayes. But those pressures existed, and when you combine them with a young person already struggling academically and trying to understand where they fit, it can become very easy to start limiting what you believe your future might look like.”
Support to find his passion
Throughout those years, Lennox says his parents remained supportive and continually encouraged him to find something he genuinely cared about rather than allowing difficulties at school to define his future.
“My parents were always supportive. Even when I was struggling at school, they encouraged me to keep looking for something I was passionate about. They didn’t necessarily know what that would eventually be, and neither did I, but they always encouraged me to find something I could put my energy into.”
Uxbridge College and discovering a different learning style
After leaving Barnhill, Lennox continued his education at Uxbridge College, where he initially studied Sports Science.
It was during this period that he began to recognise something that would ultimately change the direction of his life. Despite having struggled academically throughout much of his earlier education, Lennox found that anatomy and physiology came naturally to him.
Understanding how the human body worked captured his attention in a way that many traditional classroom subjects previously had not. More importantly, he discovered that he responded particularly well when theoretical knowledge could be connected directly with practical application.
“Anatomy and physiology was one of the first times I remember thinking, ‘I’m actually good at this.’ I’d spent a lot of my earlier education struggling, so when I found a subject that genuinely interested me and seemed to come naturally, it changed how I viewed my own ability.”
“I started to realise that I wasn’t someone who couldn’t learn – I simply had a different learning style. When I could understand the theory and then see how it applied practically to the human body, things started to click.”
Years of training and practical development
That discovery became the starting point for years of further development. Lennox went on to complete multiple vocational qualifications spanning Levels 2 through to Level 5, alongside numerous professional courses, specialist training and continued professional development within complementary healthcare and Soft Tissue Therapy.
Formal qualifications, however, represented only one part of his education. Determined to gain experience at a high level, Lennox deliberately sought opportunities that would place him around professionals with extensive knowledge, skill and experience.
Before establishing himself as a paid practitioner, he spent approximately three years volunteering across different organisations and professional environments, accumulating extensive practical hours and using those opportunities to observe, practise and learn.
“I knew qualifications alone weren’t going to make me the practitioner I wanted to become. I needed practical experience and hours, and I wanted to be around professionals operating at the highest level I could gain access to.”
“For somebody who struggled so much within education when I was younger, I eventually became somebody who actively wanted to keep learning. I had just needed to discover the subject and learning style that worked for me.”
Professional experience at a high level
More than a decade later, Lennox’s professional experience has included opportunities within environments involving Queens Park Rangers (QPR) and London Irish, as well as work across various athletics coaching environments.
His latest athletics role is with West London Track & Field, led by former Great Britain sprinter Laura Turner-Alleyne – a Beijing 2008 Olympian, Commonwealth Games gold medallist and multiple British champion.
His wider work has also placed him in multidisciplinary environments alongside doctors, physiotherapists, osteopaths and other healthcare professionals.
“There have been moments during my career when I’ve looked around at the environments I’m working in and thought about how unlikely all of this would have seemed when I was younger. Being around highly skilled and experienced professionals has only made me want to continue learning.”
Building Obtainable Fitness UK
What began as Lennox developing his own career has grown into Obtainable Fitness UK, a reputable clinical brand operating from Denham. Lennox now leads the company as Company Director and Principal Sports & Remedial Therapist, with his role extending beyond patient care to developing the business and supporting other practitioners.
The clinic has treated more than 1,500 patients and accumulated around 580 Google reviews.
“Building that reputation has taken years. There wasn’t one moment where everything suddenly changed – it has been a gradual process of learning, treating people, gaining experience and trying to improve.”
The people behind the journey
Lennox is keen to emphasise that the development of Obtainable Fitness UK has never been an individual achievement.
He credits his fiancée, Courtney, with providing significant support as the couple have raised their young family while the business has gone through one of the most important periods in its development.
“Courtney has played a massive part in what we’ve achieved. There have been periods where she has taken on more at home so that I could continue working and developing the clinic. That support should not go unnoticed.”
Lennox is equally grateful to the practitioners who have worked alongside him during different stages of the company’s development. Some have since progressed further within healthcare, including going on to undertake degrees and advanced study in physiotherapy and osteopathy.
“I’ve been fortunate to work alongside some very good practitioners over the years. Some have since gone on to further their careers in physiotherapy and osteopathy, and I’m incredibly proud to have played even a small part in their professional journey.”
“The business has benefited from every practitioner who has contributed to it. People may eventually move on to the next stage of their careers, but what they contributed while they were here remains part of the story of Obtainable Fitness UK.”
Sports Therapy Clinic of the Year
That period of development coincided with Obtainable Fitness UK’s best-performing year to date and culminated in the clinic being named Sports Therapy Clinic of the Year – London & South East England by the Prestige Awards.
“Of course I’m incredibly proud that the clinic has received the award, but personally it represents something bigger. It represents discovering that there were other routes available to me, finding something I genuinely loved learning about and then committing years to developing within it.”
“For me, this recognition represents our patients, the practitioners I’ve worked alongside, the people who gave me opportunities earlier in my career, my parents who encouraged me to find my passion, and Courtney, who has supported me while we’ve been building both a business and a young family. That’s why I don’t see this as an individual achievement.”
A message back to Hayes
Despite the business now operating from Denham and his career taking him into different professional environments, Lennox says Hayes remains an important part of his story.
“I’m proud to say I’m from Hayes. Yeading Primary, Barnhill and later Uxbridge College were all part of my journey, and I don’t want the challenges that existed around us growing up to define the area.”
“If there’s a young person in Hayes today who is struggling within education, dealing with different pressures or beginning to narrow their expectations of themselves, I’d want them to know that they might simply not have discovered their route yet.”
“My parents always encouraged me to find my passion. Eventually I found it through anatomy, physiology and Soft Tissue Therapy, and it completely changed the direction of my life.”
“Sometimes you haven’t failed to find your ability. You just haven’t discovered where it fits yet.”
About Obtainable Fitness UK
Obtainable Fitness UK is an award-winning complementary healthcare business specialising in Soft Tissue Therapy and operating from Denham. Led by Company Director and Principal Sports & Remedial Therapist Lennox McCurdy, the clinic has treated more than 1,500 patients and accumulated around 580 Google reviews.
Lennox’s professional experience has included sporting environments involving QPR and London Irish, alongside various athletics coaching environments, most recently West London Track & Field.
Obtainable Fitness UK was named Sports Therapy Clinic of the Year – London & South East England by the Prestige Awards.
Media enquiries
Lennox McCurdy
Company Director & Principal Sports & Remedial Therapist
Obtainable Fitness UK Ltd
www.obtainablefitness.co.uk