I wanted to get some people's opinion on a situation that is relevant in my life at the moment, and which I thought may be relevant to some other people here too.

As a few of you may know, I am currently in a secular university. I have an immediate need to lose weight, and have been struggling to do this for a while (for health reasons, not for attracting random girls). Specifically I have started to go to the gym here which is the only one I can get to. I take off my kippa and tzitzis when I go in because neither are particularly practical for working out and also for the following reason. The gym is full of women who are basically naked, some very attractive, and in compromising positions! AHHH! A yid shouldn't be there, and wearing a kippa there is perhaps a hillul Hashem. But I am pushing myself to go because I think I am in a situation where I can get healthy again.

Any thoughts?

aryehtahor wrote on 27 Jan 2010 04:00:


Any health plan options that don't take your life? :D

2B

Dont work out in a gym. Work out in your house and if you have an apartment then run on the street. Saves you money and saves your Neshamah.

-Yiddle

I attend gym regularly so I can see where you're coming from.

I'm almost always wearing a baseball cap (unless I forget) and I've been making an effort to look away when women are around. Sometimes this means changing the order of my workout (ie not using a particular machine until later or skipping the exercise entirely because it's situated next to a woman or because a woman would be in my line of a sight).

I also don't wear my glasses when working out. In fact, although I'm short sighted and need them for computer use for example, I wear my glasses as little as possible. Some people are even surprised to find out that I wear glasses at all I do it so infrequently!

If you're overweight, I imagine that you will be doing a lot of cardio. Fortunately, most of my gym time is spent in the weights area where there are relatively fewer women. However, the cardio is packed with the ladies. That would be a real struggle.

Best of luck.

Why don't you jog around campus and do push ups. There are tons of ways to get in shape without taking a tumah injection, c'mon. Is a mixed gym really even a consideration if you think about it clearly?

I never understood this mixed gym thing. Or let me rephrase that, I understood the attraction very well. Pretty girls, mostly undressed, testosterone flowing,etc. It's a great mix. I could easily lift an extra 20lb with an attractive girl possibly watching me.

But from a frum perspective (and I hate preaching) let alone an addict's perspective what are people thinking? It's exactly like going to a  mixed beach but trying not to look. And it sounds as silly as Clinton's "But I didnt inhale."

There is also not a Rabbi in the world who would tell you it's permissable.

Um...from a pure halachic standpoint, it probably is permissible if you don't have another gym availible

if you're sure you won't come to hirhur

um...if you're not...then it's forbidden.  I think that it's a really bad place for an addict.

Again: let's keep away from paskening halacha on the forum. These are sensitive issues, and it's crucial that we leave this for halachic experts to make their determinations.

2B

kanesher wrote on 27 Jan 2010 14:34:


1. What the heck are you talking about?
2. Can you be my Rabbi?

kanesher wrote on 27 Jan 2010 14:34:


Can anyone say FOR SURE they wont come to a Hirhur? I highly doubt that. And if anyone says that then they are not honest with themselves. By going to a mixed gym might put one on the Lav of "Lifnei Iver Lo Titen Michshol". One would be setting himself up for a fall.

I would go with kanesher on the halachik side of it. Except that the NEED for this needs to be clarified. (TomimUare- the sefer Histaklus baHalach allows one to take the pritzis derech, to buy something cheaper, if the savings are an amount that he actualy caes about saving (sone ppl would spend the extra mony out of laziness-so not such an amount))- who here IS a posek?

But on the mussar side of it, what ________________ are you doing in a colledge gym!! If it was old ladies we where talking about, so then mybe I could hear where you are coming from, But attractive young girls!!!! cmon, you gotta be nuts.

"You never loose by doing the right thing" G-D doesn't want you there, so you have NOTHING to loose by seeking a 'less productive' approach to weight loss. That means that doing exercise in your appartment, or jogging in a kosher place.... even if as a result you don't do it as often. However, since such a dissadvantage comes as a result of choosing the kosher option "you can't loose by doing the right thing" (R Nissan Kaplan mp3)

Try doing a class instead such as martial arts or aerobics.




Who needs a Posek its a psik reisha velo yomus!

Duh, because it's a pesik reisha delo nichah leih  :D

Oh and mybe a Sofeik Pesik raisha

And if he's very good, and if halachikly allowed 2b there, then it's a dava sheain miskavein. Oh and did I forget about misaseik. Althought the question begs to be asked, what is the PRIMARY eisek of someone in such a gym  I don't think It's the workout....

I withdraw my "psak". I feel a need to mention the raw halacha. I have to get that out of my system when talking to humans. What I mean to say is that since we're all going to come to hirhur if not worse, it's certainly forbidden.

That's just what humans do in a mixed gym.

From a purely halachic standpoint.

Point taken!  :::humble bow:::

OK thanks for the responses. Obviously being in college at all right now is a very b'dieved situation. But I only have one more year and I am going to finish (IYH). I definitely see people's point that the gym is a major sakana.

Actually, I realize now that my initial question was really a halachic shayla that I should speak to my "local orthodox rabbi" about, since it really depends on a lot of factors and requires detailed knowledge of the situation. Although it may seem obvious to some, I think the question about what one should do in the actual reality of a person's life is subtle, even if you can open a sefer which says "don't go to a mixed gym". As I understand it, Halacha is not just following an instruction manual. It is based on cases. But definitely good to hear folk's take on it.