We have one mission
Strong body. Strong mind. Strong future.
Survival Fitness calisthenics benefits our children today and builds healthy habits for a lifetime.
Calisthenics is a natural, functional fitness based on bodyweight movement. Meaning, no need for heavy gym equipment. Think: squats, push-ups, pull-ups, and handstands which help your child improve focus, resilience, and coordination.
Parents love it because it’s a safe form of exercise that improves posture, agility, and self-esteem. Our kids love it because they feel real progress in their abilities while having the time of their lives.
Our team consists of only certified calisthenics coaches and personal trainers with enhanced DBS checks, and trained in Children’s Safeguarding and Protection. Your child will learn functional movement from the very best and build their confidence and body control for now and years to come.
Survival Fitness calisthenics benefits our children today and builds healthy habits for a lifetime.
What is Calisthenics
Calisthenics is a natural, functional fitness based on bodyweight movement. Meaning, no need for heavy gym equipment. Think: squats, push-ups, pull-ups, and handstands which help your child improve focus, resilience, and coordination.
Why parents (and kids) love it
Parents love it because it’s a safe form of exercise that improves posture, agility, and self-esteem. Our kids love it because they feel real progress in their abilities while having the time of their lives.
How it supports your Ninja
Our team consists of only certified calisthenics coaches and personal trainers with enhanced DBS checks, and trained in Children’s Safeguarding and Protection. Your child will learn functional movement from the very best and build their confidence and body control for now and years to come.
Every Survival Fitness coach is certified.
Certified. Background Checked. Child-Safe.
Certified Level 1 Calisthenics
Qualified Personal Trainer
Enhanced DBS checked
Trained in Children’s Safeguarding & Protection
Certified in Paediatric First Aid
Our story
Humble beginnings
Once upon a playground…
Kids ran wild. Climbed trees. Came home with scraped knees and brave stories.
Then came screens and loss of self-esteem. Movement stopped.
Survival Fitness brings back the courage. We run calisthenics classes that teach your child to move, fall and get back up. To laugh. To sweat. And to believe in themselves as the young heroes they are. One epic mission at a time.
It started in the pandemic. Dina was running women-only classes in Leicester gyms to keep people moving. But every time she asked her clients about their children, the same line came back: “They’re stuck at home. Glued to screens. They don’t move anymore.”
That hit different. So one day she stopped, looked around at the women training with her, and said: “Bring me your children.”
And they did. What started with women and kids gym sessions, then led to calisthenics. A healthy way to support children’s confidence, movement, and resilience.
At first it was just parks. Monkey bars, grass, fresh air. No equipment, no budgets, just curiosity and challenge. Kids pushed, pulled, climbed, crawled. They laughed, failed, and tried again. That spark, the joy of moving, was back.
Then the schools called to bring our cali classes to them.
What we found inside shocked us. Vending machines stacked with crisps and energy drinks. Kids queuing for chocolate at 8:30 in the morning. A culture of convenience feeding low standards.
At our first school assembly, we didn’t mince our words: “Your children are up against habits designed to make them weaker. Let’s not let that win.”
That honesty cracked the doors open. Leicester Grammar invited us in to run after-school sessions. We discovered calisthenics fit beautifully with PE. Calisthenics sessions built more than strength, it built belief.
In December, Dina opened her first gym where both kids and women had space. But within months it was clear: the future was in the kids. Adults stepped aside. Children became the mission for Survival Fitness.
Momentum built. Kids returned week after week, first for single sessions, then whole terms. 98% of families stayed with us because the difference was visible. Confidence was creeping back into their posture, their effort, their play.
By August, our little gym was bursting at the seams. We needed more room, more mats, more ways to engage. So we moved into what would become our first real headquarters.
This was the year we raised the bar. January gave us the very first Kids’ Calisthenics Grading Book (our current Ninja Guide) that allowed kids to turn effort into milestones and milestones into confidence.
And in October, something even bigger happened: we hosted the first ever Kids’ Calisthenics Competition in the UK. Maybe even in the world.
Over 100 children lined up. Guinness World Record holders, champions, legends came to judge. Nobody knew what to expect. Would the kids freeze under the lights? Would they crumble? They absolutely soared.
When the cheers came crashing down from the stands, you could see it: kids who had never competed in anything before suddenly standing taller than they ever had.
A year of milestones.
In April, Dina stepped onto a famous British business TV show, telling the Survival Fitness story to the nation. By May, we had tripled our kids’ numbers. And during summer, more than 600 children joined our Summer Camp sessions with an energy you could feel from streets away.
By September, 350 ninjas were training with us every week, a community in full swing. It allowed us to expand our team to three full-time coaches adding their expertise to the mission.
On December 6th, we’ll host the second Regional Championship for 300 kids, endorsed by the UK Calisthenics Organisation.
We’ve come a long way since those first muddy park sessions. Now, hundreds of kids train with us, parents not only understand what calisthenics is, they’re noticing what it changes for their child’s future. It is a full-on community effort thanks to the families, our team, educators and of course our ninjas.
In 2026, we are crossing borders and going international for the first time, starting with Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Every child deserves to know what their body is capable of, to understand that nutrition fuels movement, and that resilience and confidence can be trained like muscles. You heard it here first… In 2026 we will be hosting the first ever NATIONAL children’s calisthenics competition.
Your child is in great hands
Meet our team
Dina Ali Al-Samawi
Owner of Survival Fitness
Level 1 Calisthenics
Level 1 Children’s CrossFit
Personal Trainer
Diploma in Nutrition & Fat Loss
Children’s Safeguarding and Protection
Enhanced DBS
Ex Gymnast
Ex Prison Officer
Public Service Management Degree
Email me: dina@survivalfitness.uk
Haajarah
Head of coaches
Level 1 Calisthenics
British Gymnastic Coaching Certification
Boxing Certification
Personal Trainer
Children’s Safeguarding and Protection
Enhanced DBS
Paediatric First Aid
Ex Gymnast
Ex Physical Education Teacher
Psychology Degree
Email me: headcoach@survivalfitness.uk
Senior Coach Emi
Senior Coach
Level 1 Calisthenics
Ex Professional Rhythmic Gymnastic
Gymnastics Instructor
Personal Trainer
Children’s Safeguarding and Protection
Enhanced DBS
Paediatric First Aid
Criminology Degree
Coach Simrat
Coach
Level 1 Calisthenics
Personal Trainer
Children’s Safeguarding and Protection
Enhanced DBS
Paediatric First Aid
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