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Studio & Lounge

Activities

Proposed

Move · Relax · Connect

A wellbeing studio addressing the practical barriers to exercise — privacy, childcare, cost and confidence — with a full women's-only programme and coaching suited to every level.

Overview

Participation in exercise among Muslim women in Wales remains low, and the reasons are largely practical.

Mixed changing facilities, open-fronted studios and timetables that conflict with the school day are matters of design, and design can resolve them.

The studios are private, the women's-only programme forms the largest block in the timetable, crèche provision is available on the floor below, and sessions are scheduled around school hours and evening prayer.

The Studio is not a women's-only facility. Martial arts, family fitness, open gym and health programmes are open to all, and the timetable is written to suit every age.

Referral welcome

The diabetes prevention and cardiac rehab support programmes take GP and health board referrals, and those places are free to the participant. If you are a clinician and want the pathway details, the wellbeing lead will send them over.

What we run

Eight strands, one timetable.

Each strand includes a beginner entry point.

Women's-only fitness

Covered rooms, female instructors, no shared access during sessions. The largest single block in the timetable.

Pilates

Mat and reformer-style work for core strength, posture and back pain. All levels, including pre- and post-natal.

Yoga

Breath, mobility and stillness, taught without spiritual framing.

Strength & conditioning

Free weights, rigs and coached small groups. Programmes for people who have never lifted, not just for people who already do.

Mobility

Joint range, hip and shoulder work, and the sessions that make prostration comfortable again after forty.

Martial arts

Boxing, wrestling and karate for children and adults. The most reliable way we know to get teenagers through a door.

Community wellbeing

Diabetes prevention, cardiac rehab support and mental wellbeing groups, run with local health partners and open to referral.

Family fitness

Weekend sessions where parents and children train together, with cover for younger siblings.

Weekly timetable

Find a class, book a place.

Filter by day, instructor or women's-only sessions. Booking opens two weeks in advance, and 48 hours earlier for monthly members.

24 classes
  • Monday

    09:30

    PilatesWomen's-only

    Sumaya Rahman

    50 min · All levels

  • Monday

    11:00

    Mobility for 55+

    Yasmin Ali

    45 min · Beginner

  • Monday

    18:30

    Strength foundations

    Idris Mahmood

    60 min · Beginner

  • Monday

    20:00

    Boxing

    Kareem Osman

    60 min · All levels

  • Tuesday

    09:30

    Women's circuitsWomen's-only

    Layla Hussein

    45 min · All levels

  • Tuesday

    12:30

    Lunchtime yoga

    Yasmin Ali

    40 min · All levels

  • Tuesday

    18:00

    PilatesWomen's-only

    Sumaya Rahman

    50 min · Intermediate

  • Tuesday

    19:30

    Wrestling

    Kareem Osman

    60 min · Intermediate

  • Wednesday

    09:30

    Post-natal PilatesWomen's-only

    Sumaya Rahman

    50 min · Beginner

  • Wednesday

    11:00

    Wellbeing walk & talk

    Dr Hana Sheikh

    60 min · All levels

  • Wednesday

    18:30

    Strength & conditioning

    Idris Mahmood

    60 min · Intermediate

  • Wednesday

    20:00

    Women's conditioningWomen's-only

    Layla Hussein

    45 min · All levels

  • Thursday

    09:30

    YogaWomen's-only

    Yasmin Ali

    50 min · All levels

  • Thursday

    17:00

    Teen girls' fitnessWomen's-only

    Layla Hussein

    45 min · Juniors

  • Thursday

    18:30

    Diabetes prevention

    Dr Hana Sheikh

    60 min · Beginner

  • Thursday

    20:00

    Boxing

    Kareem Osman

    60 min · Intermediate

  • Friday

    10:00

    Gentle mobilityWomen's-only

    Yasmin Ali

    45 min · Beginner

  • Friday

    18:30

    Open gym & coaching

    Idris Mahmood

    90 min · All levels

  • Saturday

    09:00

    Juniors karate

    Kareem Osman

    60 min · Juniors

  • Saturday

    10:30

    Family fitness

    Layla Hussein

    50 min · All levels

  • Saturday

    12:00

    Women's strengthWomen's-only

    Sumaya Rahman

    60 min · Beginner

  • Sunday

    09:30

    Women's PilatesWomen's-only

    Sumaya Rahman

    50 min · All levels

  • Sunday

    11:00

    Juniors wrestling

    Kareem Osman

    60 min · Juniors

  • Sunday

    16:00

    Family circuits

    Layla Hussein

    45 min · All levels

The team

Our instructors.

Six instructors, appointed for their experience in teaching beginners.

Sumaya Rahman

Head of Studio

Pilates, pre- and post-natal

Fifteen years in clinical Pilates and rehabilitation, most recently leading a women's programme in Newport. Sets the timetable and trains the team.

Yasmin Ali

Yoga & mobility

Vinyasa, restorative, mobility

Teaches breath and range of motion rather than shapes. Runs the over-55s and the back-pain sessions.

Idris Mahmood

Strength & conditioning

Barbell, beginners' strength

Coached in university sport for a decade. Specialises in people who are convinced the weights room isn't for them.

Layla Hussein

Women's fitness

Circuits, conditioning, teens

Runs the women's-only circuits and the teenage girls' block. Trained through community sport in Butetown.

Kareem Osman

Martial arts

Boxing, wrestling

Amateur boxing coach with two decades in Cardiff gyms. Runs the juniors on Saturday mornings.

Dr Hana Sheikh

Community wellbeing

Health referral programmes

GP with a special interest in prevention. Designs the referral pathways with local health boards.

Membership

Four membership options, each with a concession rate.

No joining fee and no minimum contract.

Pay as you go

£8a class

No commitment. Book what you want, when you want it.

  • Any class with a free space
  • Book up to two weeks ahead
  • Concession rate £6
Most popular

Class pack

£65for 10 classes

Cheaper per class, valid for four months, shareable with one family member.

  • 10 classes, £6.50 each
  • Valid four months
  • Shareable within a household

Monthly

£39a month

Unlimited classes and open gym. Rolling monthly, cancel with a month's notice.

  • Unlimited classes and open gym
  • Priority booking 48 hours early
  • Guest pass each month
  • Concession rate £29

Family

£69a month

Two adults and up to three children under 16, including all juniors sessions.

  • Two adults, up to three children
  • All juniors and family sessions
  • Crèche cover on daytime classes

Get started

Tell us what you would use.

The timetable is still being finalised, and responses will shape the opening programme.

Childcare, privacy, cost, timing, a health condition — anything that has stopped you before. It shapes the timetable.

Reflections

From our members.

Illustrative until real quotes are collected.

First time in twenty years I have exercised somewhere I did not spend the whole session self-conscious.
Fatima Osman
Studio member
The crèche is why I come. Without it I would have signed up and never turned up.
Zainab Malik
Studio member and parent

Questions

Common questions.

The rooms have no windows onto corridors and no through-traffic. During a women's-only session the door is held, the instructor is female, and nobody else has access to that part of the floor.

No. Roughly half the timetable is written for people who have never trained — strength foundations, gentle mobility, the wellbeing walk and the beginner Pilates blocks all assume you are starting from nothing.

Crèche cover runs alongside selected daytime classes, and it is included on the family membership. Evening sessions do not have cover.

Whatever you train comfortably in. Covered clothing is entirely normal here and nobody will look twice; equally, nobody will comment if you wear shorts to the open gym.

Yes. Martial arts, family fitness, strength and conditioning, open gym and the wellbeing programmes are open to everyone. The women's-only block is protected time within a shared timetable.

Yes. The diabetes prevention and cardiac rehab support programmes take referrals from local health boards, and those places are free to the participant.