Fitness Trainer Kenny Santucci Urges 'Just Move' Over Strict Routines

Summer approaches, and many people feel a fresh urge to hit the gym.

Fitness trainer Kenny Santucci, owner of a gym and host of the "Strong New York" podcast, spoke with Fox News Digital about reaching fitness goals without hating workouts. His core advice: Just move.

Santucci confessed he hates back squatting and skips it for alternatives. "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."

He supports fitness programming in principle. But for average people with normal lives, strict programs are not essential.

Dreaded exercises can derail consistency, Santucci said. "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."

"I want people to look forward to it," he 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."

General movement has limits, though. Not every exercise builds muscle effectively. Santucci pushes gym-goers toward more strength training and slightly heavier lifts.

"Strength training should be the basis of what you do, not cycling," he said. He has nothing against cycling, but if aesthetics is the goal and cycling dominates training, progress will stall.

He advises working at 60 to 80 percent capacity, reaching fatigue with moderate intensity. "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.

Muscle growth demands science: external force on tissue plus protein fuel. Without them, results falter.

Still, Santucci tells everyone to try everything. "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 continued. "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."