First Gym for Muslim Women in North America opens in Toronto

North America’s first gym for Muslim women was recently launched in Toronto.

Sister Fit is a community-based gym dedicated to combat arts, professional training, and achieving results. 

The gym caters specifically to women who want to train in the focused environment of a private gym.

“Sister Fit is a mix of community (positive and warm people), experience (high-level coaching and attention), and results (physical and emotional change) that make a new fitness lifestyle so easy to adapt to,” says Fatima Lee Garsi, the Founder and Director of Sister Fit.

“It is my mission to deliver a service to you that surpasses your expectations and challenges you to see yourself in a different light.”

Sister Fit was founded in December of 2014 in a West Toronto mosque. 

Through word of mouth, Coach Fatima Lee Garsi’s boxing bootcamps and arnis sessions became a real hit and highlight for women in the community. 

Twice a week, women and girls learned how to keep fit through a dedicated boxing and self-defense practice that supported their growth as individuals and as a community. 

It wasn’t long before Sister Fit was asked to do over a dozen self-defense seminars for Muslim women in the Greater Toronto Area.

After four and a half years of community service, Sister Fit made the important commitment to open North America’s first gym for Muslim women.

“Deciding to dedicate my time to work with the Muslim community is deeply personal to me and can only be explained as a project I feel is part of my purpose in life,” says Fatima Lee Garsi. “I am someone who is committed – mind, body, and soul – to the work that I do.”

“I create my own path instead of following in other’s footsteps and value others who can think independently,” she adds. “Fitness and martial arts has become so infused with my life, that’s it’s hard to describe what it does for me now.”

“I can say, however, that when I do not practice or when I become unfit, my posture weakens and life feels very heavy.”

Upon entering the gym, a compelling bee and butterfly graffiti mural greets members in a vibrant splash of energetic colours and movement. 

The butterflies represent transformation while the bees represent consistent hard, purposeful work.

The Sister Fit gym feels like a home away from home. This ultra private boutique style space caters to the member’s wellbeing.

The main training floor of the gym is dedicated to small group training so members can reap the benefits of personalized attention. 

Featuring the best of everything for every dedicated fitness maven – heavy bags, a speed bag, double-end bags, medicine balls, sandbags, kettlebells, and more – the training space is made for intense action. 

According to the founders, “the Sister Fit gym feels like a home away from home. This ultra private boutique style space caters to your wellbeing and when you enter, you’ll always be met with a display of fresh flowers. A clear sign of a women’s only gym.”