Jake Luhrs , vocalist of August Burns Red , used his free time during the pandemic to help his community by opening a gym focused on mental health.
YourLife Gym , as it was named, is located in the band's hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The gym will offer mental health classes that complement physical exercise classes, aiming to improve the physical and mental health of the community.
Luhrs, who in 2010 founded the NGO HeartSupport to combat depression, suicide, and addiction, was inspired by the physical and mental health problems that the pandemic brought to everyone. “We tend to celebrate physical changes while our mental health suffers. We forget that our mental health is more important than that,” he wrote on the academy's website.
“If our mind is weak, it doesn’t matter how strong our body is, because it will continue to bring us suffering (…) That’s why we believe that a person feels better when they are engaged not only in their physical health but also in their mental health.”
A 20-minute documentary was released to announce and explain the new feature. Watch it below.
