ADTC: Online Fitness for Muslim women.

ABOUT

Atheleas Daughters Training Club

As Salamu alaykum, I’m Saf - founder and head coach at ADTC. I’m going to share a bit about myself and how ADTC came about.

I actually come from a very health-conscious family where sport was just part of life. Growing up, everyone seemed to excel at something. On my mum’s side we’ve got ballet and classical dancers, and all-round field sport champions. On my dad’s side there are martial artists, ABA boxing champions, BJJ national champions… the list goes on.

And then there was… me…Saf.

For a while, I was the one who didn’t like exercise.

I was decent at swimming, but because of my asthma the combination of sprint swimming and repeatedly dunking my head in water often felt less like sport and more like trying not to drown.

I played tennis too, but if I’m honest… my younger brother was much better.

For a long time, I just felt like I hadn’t found my thing.

Looking back now, after learning so much about the female body and how women should train, I probably would have given my younger self a bit more grace.

Women’s bodies change.Growth spurts happen.
Energy levels shift.

Sometimes you simply haven’t discovered the type of movement your body thrives in yet.

Eventually, after a few awkward teenage growth spurts, something clicked.

I realised I had a bit of a knack for endurance training, lifting, and plyometrics.

Exercise finally started to feel… fun.

I began pushing myself just to see what I could do.

The box jumps got stacked higher.
The deadlifts got heavier.
I’d play around on the gymnastic rings just for the joy of movement. I signed up for a half marathon and for the first time, I genuinely loved the feeling of being physically strong and capable.

Then, everything changed.

I started practising Islam, alhamdulillah. But with that beautiful change in my life came an unexpected challenge. Finding somewhere suitable to train as a modest Muslimah wasn’t easy. The women-only spaces I could find often had very limited equipment and uninspiring workouts. I went from enjoying HYROX-style training, functional movement, lifting and gymnastic rings…to being plonked in ‘CURVES’ women’s gym, where the workout involved air-resistance machines arranged in a circle. Every time a bleep sounded, you’d stand up and shuffle to the next machine. Round and round. Honestly…I felt like a hamster in a wheel. The workouts lacked energy, creativity and freedom of movement - and I really missed that feeling of training in a way that made you feel alive.

So I decided something needed to change.

After qualifying as a personal trainer, I began offering exercise classes specifically for Muslimahs.

The goal was simple.

Create workouts that were:

• Effective
• High energy
• Fun
• And held in a halal environment

No music. No men. Just motivation.

From the very beginning, I wanted the sessions to feel uplifting and empowering, not intimidating. Workouts are properly designed and structured, but they’re also scaled so nobody feels left out. If you’re new to fitness, you can start at a level that feels comfortable and build confidence. If you’re someone who wants to push harder and finish the session feeling like you’ve really worked…You absolutely can. Everyone trains together, just at their own level.

And that’s the beauty of it.