Building community and healthy bodies and minds through exercise

By Kayne Pyatt, Herald Reporter
Posted 1/22/25

EVANSTON — “CrossFit training helps a person to become a stronger version of themself,” Farjana Abdul told the Herald in a recent interview. Abdul is the owner and operator of …

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Building community and healthy bodies and minds through exercise

Posted

EVANSTON — “CrossFit training helps a person to become a stronger version of themself,” Farjana Abdul told the Herald in a recent interview. Abdul is the owner and operator of Intentional Fitness, a gym where Abdul says she wanted to create a safe place for people in a fitness community.

CrossFit training is a strength and conditioning workout that is made up of functional movement performed at a high intensity level. Movements are actions one performs in daily life like squatting, pulling, pushing and more. It is safe for all ages when working with a CrossFit coach. It is functional and applies to everyday life. The goals of CrossFit are sustainable and achievable.

“CrossFit isn’t just fitness. It is a movement,” Abdul said. “It is an opportunity to connect your mind and body to work together as a team. It helps you develop in more ways beyond just physical strength. It’s one hour where you can take back time for yourself, with the right coaches by your side. You can heal, get stronger and become a better version of yourself. You can persevere. But the most beautiful part is you don’t have to do it alone. You get to be a part of a community, right here in Evanston with Intentional Fitness.”

Abdul was born in Bangladesh in South Asia. When she was a young child, her family moved to New York City. She attended school there and went on to study early childhood education at Brooklyn College in New York.

In 2015, she took a break from college studies and moved to Los Angeles. After moving away from her parents, Abdul said she began to suffer trauma from childhood abuse she had endured from her father. She found CrossFit training, started therapy and her life began to take a new direction, she said.

“Through CrossFit training, I began to heal mentally and to find my strength,” Abdul said. “More than half the fitness journey is mental health. Everything you want is on the other side of fear. I decided I wanted to become a CrossFit coach in order to help others. People told me I couldn’t do it as it was a male-dominated field but I did it.”

Abdul became a USA Weightlifting level 2 coach; a CrossFit level 2 coach; a trauma-informed coach and is certified to work with children and people over 55 years of age. She and her husband, Theodore Gross, moved to Evanston in 2020 because they wanted to live in a small town. They officially opened Intentional Fitness in January of 2022.

Along with Abdul, there are four other certified coaches and an administrator as part of the team at Intentional Fitness. Coaches include: Gross, Shad Anderson, Tyrie Day and Tanya Bower. All of the coaches are certified in CrossFit. Abdul and Anderson have globally-recognized certifications in precision nutrition level 1 and are both certified in CrossFit Kids.

Abdul said CrossFit is the only sport that brings all the different mediums together: gymnastics, powerlifting, strength training, endurance training, and community building. They also provide community activities such as hiking or a day of exercising on the beach beside a lake.

Intentional Fitness offers a class for people over 55 years called the Legends class, where the training is modified for the individual. They meet three times per week for one hour each day.  The gym offers five regular adult classes daily and a partners’ workout on Saturdays at 8 a.m.

“I believe this community deserves a space for world class coaching. What you get at Intentional Fitness is a coach who monitors you, a sense of community and friendship, increased mental health and a nutrition coach. The training only takes an hour out of your day and it makes you strong enough to do all your other activities,” Abdul said.

“I love showing people what they can do and what they can eat for a healthy life, both mentally and physically,” she continued. “It’s all about balance and strengthening to become a stronger version of yourself.”