As a police officer, Sean Kelly’s passion for exercise came in handy. He blazed through fitness tests, and had an edge chasing down suspects.

“I had one person tell me: ‘You’re pretty fast for a big guy. I actually run track and you caught me’,” said the 35-year-old.

He loved helping people through his work in CID and serious crime, but longed to do more to improve health.

At the gym, he could not help correcting other people’s form; many came to him for advice.

“I wanted to help people, but I never had the time,” said Mr Kelly.

In November, he took a leap of faith, quit his job and started a company, Driven Nutrition and Fitness.

“I was with the police seven years and ten months,” said Mr Kelly. “It wasn’t a decision I took lightly. Everyone has a fitness journey whether it be weight loss, building muscle or performance. I took that concept and formed Driven. Driven is not just a name, it is a mindset. It means you are not going to be stopped from achieving your goals.”

He was finally following a passion that began when he was a “skinny” 14-year-old.

One day, he picked up his father’s weights and started working out. Seeing his interest, his mother signed him up for membership at Gold Coast Gym in Warwick.

Within a year he was bench-pressing 150 to 160lbs.

“My friends started noticing,” he said. “I loved the aesthetic of seeing muscle building. That intrigued me. I loved learning about nutrition, certain exercises and the proper form. I wanted to become a bodybuilder.”

He finally did that three years ago when he signed himself up for a bodybuilding competition here, Night of Champions.

“Leading up to it, I wasn’t sure if I would do it,” said Mr Kelly. “I wasn’t strict on my training and I was eating a whole bunch of junk. Then nine weeks before the competition I decided it was do-or-die and I would enter.”

He had to tap into all his fitness and nutrition training to prepare. Many of the other bodybuilders had been planning to enter for some time, and had weeks of training on him.

“I didn’t win, but I believe some people were impressed,” he said. “I got comments like, ‘Usually when Bermudians do it they don’t come out looking like that, and you look pretty good’. I was really happy that I finally did it. It was really a journey about myself — mentally, physically, spiritually.”

His background in nutrition is what makes him different from other personal trainers, he said. He gained his knowledge taking online courses with The Health Sciences Academy.

“Usually, when you go to a personal trainer, they just do personal training and fitness,” he said. “If you want the nutrition aspect, you have to find a separate body.

“I combine the two. Your fitness programme has to complement your nutrition if you want to reach certain goals. It is about portion size, timing and eating the right foods. A lot of people don’t do the research, they just train.”

His training incorporates items like cowbells, medicine balls and weighted baseball bats, which Mr Kelly believes can help prevent injury.

“That helps with the longevity and mobility of your joints and muscles,” he said. “What I do is I combine the bodybuilding aspect with the unconventional fitness.”

He charges $30 for 30 minutes’ training; $40 for 45 minutes and $50 for an hour.

He is mobile and will train a client where it suits them.

Look for Driven Nutrition and Fitness on Facebook or call 538-3786.