TriFit’s Break Fast Club: Keeping the Tribe Active During Ramadan

The Ramadan Shift

Every year Ramadan approaches, and as a fitness club catering to a majority Islamic member base, we are faced with an opportunity to identify strategies that will keep our community engaged.

For those who are not familiar with what Ramadan is about, it’s a 30-day period whereby Muslims fast between the hours of sunrise and sunset. Why this is relevant to fitness comes down to three major health pillar:

1. We rely on food as our primary source of fuel, which creates challenges in sustaining energy levels, let alone following through on a training routine.
2. Hydration is also restricted, and with exercise causing fluid loss, this can make the experience increasingly uncomfortable.
3. Sleep routines are flipped on their head, as individuals manage daytime responsibilities while also waking during late-night and early-morning hours to fuel up.

Adapting the GX Experience

As Head of GX at TriFit, my role is to keep our community engaged and active within our brand through optimized group class scheduling and events.

We further honor the Ramadan practice by not playing music within the clubs or group fitness classes. This places close to 20% of our schedule variety into hibernation, many of which are also our highest attended classes during regular operating seasons.

I personally look forward to this period. From first-hand experience instructing during Ramadan, it gives our trainers an opportunity to focus on their actual coaching skills such as cueing, coaching, and engagement; understanding that music is only ever a tool.

A Personal Starting Point

After being exposed to all the HYROX craze and attending a fitness convention in Dubai last October, I decided to venture into uncharted territory and take on running. The mere thought of doing it alone, however, gave me very little confidence that I would follow through. What can I say? GX is basically engrained into my DNA.

So I got our senior fitness team involved and positioned it as a team-building activity. Most of us had little to no experience with running, but we committed to starting somewhere. Our Saturday runs kicked off mid-October 2025, and we have been running a 5km almost every Saturday since.

The Break Fast Club

Circling back to how this all ties in Ramadan. How do we keep our Tribe active this time around?

My inner voice answered quickly: The Break Fast Club.

If you know, you know. A subtle nod to the iconic 80’s movie The Breakfast Club, a group of individuals from completely different backgrounds coming together. Tell me that doesn’t fit.

Now that we had a concept, the next step was simple. What would the activity be?

If you’ve been reading along, it’s pretty clear , start a running club.

The reality is, not everyone finds their place in the gym with ease. As our mission at TriFit is to steer people towards a healthy lifestyle, this felt like the perfect opportunity to take group fitness a little outside the box. Literally.

So the Break Fast Club was a go.

We invited our Tribe to join us for a 5km community run or walk, one hour prior to sunset, across three Saturdays. Dates and water were provided, and each session concluded by breaking a 12+ hour fast together.

More Than Just a Run

What stood out most wasn’t just the run itself, but what followed. Watching participants gather, connect, and come together for prayer was something special that alone could be a group fitness class.

Three weeks later, we closed out with 63 participants, but more importantly, 63 individuals who chose connection over convenience, movement over stillness, and community over isolation.

The Break Fast Club became more than just a run, it became a reminder that even in a month of pause, we can still move with purpose. Together.

And as for the TriFit Running Club… this is only the beginning.