YORK COUNTY, Pa. — Spooky season is right around the corner and to stay on theme, trainers at the York JCC will be helping us face our gym fears in this week's FOX43 FitMinute.
Danny Amon, coach, and fitness center, and personal training manager at the York JCC, says that sometimes clients come in with a past injury or incident, that results in concern for doing certain exercises.
“You always want to try to confront that stuff head-on because the longer you stay away from [the exercise] the more scared you are going to become. It’s definitely about finding ways to do the exercises in a way that helps get you over that fear,” Amon said.
Two moves people often reference include the squat and the deadlift.
“The typical reasons that you are going to hear from people being scared to do these exercises is for squats that 'they are bad for your knees' or that 'they are scared of their knees being hurt' by that exercise. With deadlifts, it's going to be that 'they are bad for your back' or 'they are scared of back injury happening'. The reality is that those are the two best exercises you can do for those actual injuries when they are sustained,” Amon said.
Another move that hasn't been mentioned so far in our FitMinutes is the overhead press.
“That one you’ll hear people being afraid because of shoulder injury concerns, and the reality of that is again it is one of the best things you can do for your shoulders if you are doing it correctly. It’s also a great way to maintain flexibility overhead," Amon said.
Amon says a good tip to remember is to remain open and honest about concerns in the gym with the trainers on staff. Also, if you are incorporating more of these "worry moves" try starting with no or little weight, to increase comfortability.
Even if you only complete 1 or 2 repetitions, it's all about facing the fear of the move itself.
You just got better!