The KosherGym, for All Your “Heimishe” Fitness Needs

I promise I’m not a prude, but I’ve always thought single sex gyms make a lot of sense. You’re sweaty and gross and trying to focus on various muscle groups—and if you’re not being ogled by some random guy in jogging shorts you’re ogling the shirtless guy lifting weights. The hormones are literally in the air, and there’s that weird competitive vibe, too. Gyms are, by definition, immodest, so it’s not hard to believe that the ultra-Orthodox community hasn’t been interested in them until recently. But now, things are changing. In Brooklyn, you can go to the Kosher Gym on Coney Island Ave for a “professional, though heimishe, environment” to work out. There are separate facilities for men and women (yay!), personal training, babysitting, and a Torah Tape library where you can borrow recorded lectures from a variety of rabbis. The Torah Tape library is especially important when you consider that the KosherGym doesn’t have any televisions lest you catch sight of the secular world or a soap opera while you run on the treadmill. I’ll admit, when I’m at the gym I allow myself to read trashy magazines and watch E! so I’m not sure I’d be happy at KosherGym, but the next time I’m in Jerusalem I really want to check out their version, also called Kosher Gym, although I don’t think the companies are related. The Israeli Kosher Gym puts a more Jewish spin on their atmosphere, bragging that “Not only is the ‘Kosher Gym' a flash of color in the monochrome Givat Shaul neighborhood, but it has also brought an energy boost to the religious community at large.” They also remind us that, “At Kosher gym, we don't only cater to the fitness of your body – we worry about the well-being of your soul too.” I can’t decide if that’s creepy or cool. The Israeli Kosher Gym was just written up in the Jerusalem Post, and the article is full of more things that straddle the awesome/awkward fence, like a personal trainer talking about how she works with women to help strengthen their lower back and pelvic floor “which tend to weaken after several births.” It quotes a member who has ten children, and ends with a different trainer talking about how at the Kosher Gym women aren’t working out to get rockin’ abs and a killer ass, “They really want to be healthier. When someone is working to get a perfect body, no matter what her motivation is, eventually she'll become competitive and angry at not reaching her goal. That doesn't happen here. Here you'll find a greater emotional completeness.” I’m not sure if I believe that. Just because you’re living under a snood and a mountainous velvet dress doesn’t mean you can’t be vain. But it does sound like the Kosher Gym crowd is a lot less likely to judge based on size, certainly in the women’s section, where most of the clientele is pregnant or gave birth recently. I wonder how many pregnant women go to the “eastern dance” (read: bellydancing) class. Mostly I just think it’s great that the frum community is encouraging fitness.