Chasing the Fionist Dream

If you’re like us, you might feel like you’re chasing your tail most of the time, juggling all of the aspects of your very busy life. Often times, you’re so busy taking care of everyone around you that you neglect to take care of yourself.

While the type of exercise you choose matters less, the important part is prioritizing it and making it part of your routine. For us, starting and getting our butts off the couch is the hardest part. But once, we’re going…. yay endorphins! 💪

We are far from perfect ourselves and could definitely stand to follow our own advice, so while we work on getting our own bodies moving more, we decided to share our list with you too. As promised, the first seven are absolutely free, while our bonus #8 is pretty close to being free – and is too awesome not to include.

1. Walk or run in your own neighborhood or a nearby park. Israel is gorgeous. Go out and enjoy it. Bring your dog if you have one. Invite a friend and make it a weekly catchup date. During the summer months, we find early morning and late evening walks are best.
   
   
2. Do your own housework. Not only will this save you money, but it burns calories too. Put on a song and sing while you clean.
   
   
3. Ditch your car. While you can go all out and get rid of your car entirely like we did, it’s definitely not for everyone. Instead, add more walking or biking to your routine. Some cities, including Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, have a network of public rental bikes all over the city, so you don’t even need to own one. If you regularly take public transportation, consider getting off a stop or two (or more) early and walking the rest.
   
   
4. Swim in the sea. Are you fortunate enough to live in one of Israel’s many coastal cities? Hurray! You likely have access to a free place to swim six months of the year. 🙂 Make sure to only swim at beaches with a lifeguard.
   
   
5. Go to a grownup playground. Outdoor gym equipment has become a popular fixture in many Israeli neighborhoods. There you’ll find weather-resistant pull-up bars, ellipticals, stationary bikes, and all sorts of weight training equipment. They’re usually next to kids’ playgrounds, but not always.
   
   
6. Volunteer to pick fruit. Over a year into the war, many farmers still need our help. Harvesting produce is a spectacular workout – and a great way to meet new people.
   
   
7. Work out at home. You’ll find plenty of workout videos on YouTube and other platforms. Our daughter recently showed us DJ Raphi, who she was introduced to at school. We like dancing with his videos as a family (and sometimes just the two of us after our kids are in bed).
   
   
8. Bonus! – Check with your kupat cholim. This is one of our new favorites since our local pool and gym started working with this program. All four kupot cholim now have fitness apps (Maccabi UpApp, Meuhedet WOW, Clalit Active, and Leumit FIT) that you can use for heavily discounted admission to local gyms, pools, and fitness classes. This program generally is only available to members with higher levels of coverage and not the basic plan.

What are your favorite forms of exercise? How do you get motivated?

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