Decolonizing women’s physical culture: Communication strategies for contemporary fitness among muslim women

Abstract

This study investigates how fitness is communicated, experienced, and sustained among Muslim women in Malaysia, focusing on the perspectives of decolonizing Muslim women’s physical culture. Drawing on postcolonial scholarship, the research challenges the dominance of Western-centric fitness paradigms by examining how culturally responsive communication strategies address sociocultural constraints while reframing women’s participation in structured exercise as both a health practice and a decolonial intervention. A qualitative design was employed, using semi-structured interviews with five female coaches, each with over ten years of experience working with middle-aged Muslim women. Interviews, conducted between January and March 2025, were transcribed, translated, and analysed thematically with trustworthiness ensured through reflexivity, audit trails, and thick description. Findings revealed three central themes: motivational factors influencing participation, communication strategies supporting the decolonization of Muslim women’s physical culture and suggested grounded approaches for sustaining contemporary fitness practices. The results underscore the importance of culturally embedded fitness spaces that foster safety, inclusivity, and empowerment, while promoting long-term health, psychosocial well-being, and active aging among Muslim women. These strategies are understood as decolonial interventions insofar as they resist homogenizing fitness ideals and instead foreground embodied practices rooted in local sociocultural contexts. By situating women’s exercise experiences within their lived realities in Malaysia, the study demonstrates that community-based, culturally sensitive communication can both enhance immediate health benefits and contribute to longer-term trajectories of active and healthy aging.