Summer brings a rush of people to the gym, and this piece lays out a simple, no-nonsense prescription: move more, lift smart, and pick the work you enjoy so you actually stick with it. A trainer explains why strict programs aren’t required for most people, how to choose effective strength work, and why consistency beats punishment-style sessions.
Gyms always get busier as warmer months approach, and that’s no surprise — people want to look and feel better quickly. The core message here is refreshingly basic: activity matters more than perfection. If you can build a routine around movement you like, you stand a much better chance of keeping it up.
Kenny Santucci, a trainer and gym owner who hosts the “Strong New York” podcast, keeps things straightforward in conversation about training. He stresses that fitness shouldn’t be a sentence, and that finding options you enjoy is more productive than forcing yourself into a program you hate. That approach helps people stay consistent without dreading every workout.
“I hate back squatting. I don’t like doing it,” he said. “But I squat every time I go to the gym, or every time I have a leg day … I’ll go use a pendulum squat. I’ll use a leg press. I will do lunges. It doesn’t matter.” Santucci uses that example to show the point: you can get the work done through alternatives that still target the same goals.
“Do I believe in [fitness] programming? Yes. For the average person who lives a normal life, do you have to adhere to a strict program? [No].” That captures his view: programming matters for some, but not everyone needs rigid structure to improve. For most people, regular movement and some effort in the right places will outpace overthinking.
“If you’re thinking in your head, ‘Oh, God, I’ve got to go do legs, I don’t want to…’ Go do something else,” he suggested. “Swing a kettlebell, push a sled, do something. Just move. I’d rather encourage people to move than anything else.” The takeaway is simple: avoid framing workouts as punishment and pick actions that keep you coming back.
“I want people to look forward to it,” Santucci added. “You should never question, ‘Should I go or should I not?’ You should go, and then what you do when you get there – sky’s the limit.” If exercise becomes part of your day rather than an interrogation, you can experiment once you’re there and still make progress.
Still, he warns that not every activity produces the same muscle-building result, and some focus is needed for certain goals. “Strength training should be the basis of what you do, not cycling,” he said, as an example. “I don’t have anything against cycling … but if you’re telling me that that’s the basis of your training, and your goal is aesthetics, then you are not really helping yourself get to that point any easier.”
Santucci suggests working in a sensible intensity window — roughly 60% to 80% of capacity — and leaning into fatigue with moderate effort. “And if you’re not doing those things, then you’re probably not going to get out what you think you’re going to,” he said. “There’s a science behind muscle growth, and if there’s no external force pushing against the muscle tissue, and you’re not fueling yourself with protein, then you’re probably not going to build muscle.”
He still urges people to try different modalities and not fetishize pain for its own sake. “Hard doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a better workout,” he said. “If you’re training at levels of intensity, then you’re reproducing good outcomes.” “I don’t want it to be hard for the sake of it being hard,” he went on. “I want to progress at something. I want to get better at something. So, understanding your goal and working backwards from there will help you … design a better program for yourself.”
