Haredi Fitness Trainer on Health Crisis

"Greek Culture Is Sitting and Eating Popcorn"

For decades, physical fitness has carried a stigma in haredi society, often dismissed as "Greek culture", a reference to the Hellenistic values that traditional Judaism historically opposed. Despite growing awareness of health needs, gyms and sports facilities remain scarce in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods.

Manes quotes Rabbi Tzvi Kushelevsky, head of a major yeshiva, who reframed the issue: "People think Greek culture means two people in the middle of a stadium wrestling and showing off their muscles. The rosh yeshiva said: Greek culture is all those thousands of people standing around, sitting, eating popcorn while getting fat and clapping. Greek culture is sitting and doing nothing."

Manes emphasizes that maintaining fitness isn't a luxury but a necessity. "People think you exercise just to have muscles, that's a mistake many make. You have to do it because you have no other choice. Man was born to toil," he said, invoking a traditional Jewish concept to support physical activity.

"At 60, Your Bones Will Be Brittle"

Manes highlighted the absence of proper fitness facilities in haredi population centers and warned about the rapid physical deterioration caused by inactivity.

"If you don't do this, at 40 or 50 it will be hard to get up from a chair. At 60 you'll have calcium loss and your bones will be brittle, and at 70 it will be hard to walk. When the body understands it's not using muscles, it deteriorates. I see people coming to me at 40 and 50 who already struggle to climb stairs," he explained.

When asked about lack of awareness regarding simple daily activity, such as taking stairs instead of elevators, Manes stressed the importance of daily calorie burning. "Most of the calories a person burns are in their daily activity," he noted, revealing that he and his interviewer climb 11 flights of stairs at their workplace. "We've simply become lazy, we've become old folks who don't move, and then we don't understand why we're having heart attacks at 35."

Drama in the Studio: The Hasidic Judge and the Sweatpants

One of the more revealing moments came when Manes was asked whether public figures and Torah scholars train in secret, requesting discretion. He confirmed that doctors refer prominent individuals to him for medical issues including pre-diabetes and calcium loss, and shared a memorable incident involving a hasidic rabbinical judge (dayan).

"That hasidic judge came with all his clothes, and he even had difficulty removing his long hasidic coat, the bekishe. After I explained it wasn't possible to train like that, he removed his hat and jacket, and in his ritual undergarment he did squats—and on the first squat his pants ripped! That's when he understood he needed appropriate clothing."

The News from Kiryat Sefer: Paper, Pen, and Exercise at Home

Alongside studio training, Manes describes a growing trend of yeshiva students (avreichim) seeking to maintain fitness at home. "There's a rabbi in Kiryat Sefer who simply refers avreichim to me. Almost every week one or two come with paper and pen, and I give them a list of exercises they can do at home, because a gym isn't an option for them. The secret to success is simply consistency."

Regarding building a proper exercise routine, Manes advises against excessive enthusiasm that quickly fades. "Someone who comes with excitement saying 'I must and want to do this every day,' I tell them to calm down. When you work a muscle intensely you must wait at least 24 hours to give it time to recover. How many people buy treadmills convinced this is it, and end up not using them? You need to make it a fixed habit."

Proper Nutrition and the Sabbath Meal Challenge

On nutrition, Manes argued that 99% of diets fail due to strict prohibitions, and the key is adding healthy food while reducing "junk", sugar, fried foods, and white flour. When asked about the culinary overload at Shabbos meals in the haredi community, Manes responded:

"On Shabbos, a person simply needs to eat whole sourdough bread instead of white bread, tasty and healthy. Homemade hummus without huge amounts of oil, and healthy salads without huge amounts of mayonnaise. There are many healthy things you can eat and be satisfied, without constantly saying 'no, no, no.'"

Government Failure: "Whole wheat Bread Costs 15 Shekels; It's Not Sane"

When asked whether poor nutrition in the community stems from poverty and the need to feed large families with cheap processed products, Manes directed sharp criticism at the government.

"Unfortunately, the state has failed, and badly, on this issue. A loaf of white bread costs, say, 10 shekels and a loaf of whole wheat bread costs 15 shekels—it's not sane! Whole bread underwent less processing, it should cost less, and the state should subsidize healthy food. In the haredi public, people are much more occupied with daily survival on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, so there's less awareness."

Pre-Diabetes at Age 30

He then described a starkly different reality: "I have trainees aged 30-40 coming to me in a pre-diabetic state because they eat so much sugar and junk, and their eyes and legs are affected."

In the final portion of the interview, when asked about reactions to his studio in the heart of Modi'in Illit (a major haredi city), Manes revealed that beyond physical fitness, he's providing a critical response to mental and emotional health needs among his clients—an issue gaining increasing recognition even within the haredi public.