Gunnar Peterson is a personal trainer whose clients include celebrities, professional athletes, and everyday people. Gunnar is the former Los Angeles Lakers’ Director of Strength and Endurance. He has over 28 years in the fitness industry and has worked with athletes from the NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, USTA, professional boxing (male AND female!) and various NCAA sports. Many film and television celebrities have also sought Gunnar’s guidance in preparing for roles and have stayed on to become year-round clients, making him a cornerstone of their fitness regiment. Some of his clients include: Kardashian/Jenner Family, Sylvester Stallone, Hugh Jackman, Jennifer Lopez and many more. He has written for, and appeared in, numerous health and fitness focused magazines, and his television appearances include: The Today Show, Fox & Friends, CNN, CNN Headline News, The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch, Extra, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Lala’s Full Court Life, Revenge Body and numerous shows for E! and VH1. Over his career, he has been involved in a variety of different ventures – some of those businesses include his DVD fitness system called Core Secrets in partnership with Guthy Renker Corporation, his book called G-Force (now out in paperback as The Workout), the launch of exercise equipment such as The Bottom Line™, The RAC™, Spinning® and Hoop Hands™, his Gym Design business where he advises on the layout and construction of residential and commercial gyms and his role as Chief of Athletics at F45.
Gunnar is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association and is a graduate of Duke University. After living most of his professional life in Beverly Hills, he recently moved to Nashville, Tennessee. Gunnar is married and has 5 children.
1. Walk us through your morning routine.
When I lived in LA, I was up at 3:45am. When I was writing my book and had chapters due to my editor, I was up at 3:15am because I needed to start early. Now that I am in Tennessee, I am up around 4 to 4:30am. I have to get my workout in before I train other people so that is the first thing I do. I am not a coffee guy and never have been, but I do take Pre-Jym before my workouts. After my workout, I typically get cleaned up, eat and dive right into the day.
What does your personal exercise routine look like?
I am always doing a combination of cardio, strength and weights. My workouts are ~1.5 hrs but some days are less. I take F45 when I can because they are super efficient and it truly is an incredible workout. I am big on do what you can with what you have where you are.
Do you follow a specific diet?
I work with Dr. Philip Goglia, a fantastic nutritionist, in Santa Monica and he just showed me with metabolic testing what works well for my body. I am heavy on salmon – when I was in LA I used Sunfare food delivery and ate salmon all the time. In Nashville, I don’t eat salmon quite as often — I eat more red meat, egg whites, chicken, tomatoes, and greens, but I do cheat every day. Chocolate, wine and tequila are my go-to cheat foods. I make sure to cheat every day – I do it as a subtle form of rebellion and I feel great about it. Some people get super guilty and make a huge deal when they have a dessert — not me. That being said, I do think it is important to create your own reasons to ramp things up or cut things down. I make up my own fictitious dates and goals for little things where I will be more aware of my cheat meals and calorie deficit/surplus.
You have trained a lot of highly accomplished people in a variety of sports and industries, is there a particular person that stands out the most to you for their work ethic/drive/commitment?
In my experience, everybody at the top of their game exhibits an incredible work ethic. Very few that are on the rise do not have an insane work ethic. I think we really proved with Khloe on her show Revenge Body that even when people have the personal trainer, the access to high quality foods, and anything else, it comes down to the person. People are constantly saying “if I had ______ like XYZ celebrity then I would be healthy too”. It just isn’t true. Whether it is Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Ryan Seacrest, Pete Sampras, Tom Brady, or anyone else, when they are dialed in and focused on a goal, they will not be conquered.
Do you have any life mottos or principles you follow?
- Do it right or do it over
- If it’s not sustainable it’s not successful
- Everything you do inside the gym makes everything you do outside the gym better
- We are in a time where a lot of people evaluate others based on their financial status – to me, it is so important to be kind, sharing, generous, and loving. Use the qualities that really matter to befriend someone. There is nothing wrong with looking at financial success, but it shouldn’t be the most important element when befriending someone.
Throughout your personal training career you have been involved in quite a few additional ventures — authored a book, created a workout DVD, developed workout equipment, wrote articles, designed gyms and more — was one of these especially memorable to you? Why?
They have each been memorable and fun to me. I was just speaking with country singer, Nate Smith, and we were talking about ‘moments’ in the life because he is having a ‘moment’ with a #1 hit on country radio and he will have many more ‘moments’ to come. I like to think of each of those ventures as my ‘moment’ at that time. When I was approached by F45 [to be the Chief of Athletics] I had just finished with the Lakers; I realized that this was going to be a part of my next moment. Each moment you are in overshadows the prior moment, but they are all truly incredible. My focus becomes very specific when I am focusing on what I am doing at any given time and I adapt to become the best I can at that task.
What is one small, easy thing someone can do each day to become a little healthier?
Look at all of the pillars – training, nutrition (hydration/supplementation/nutrition), and recovery (sleep, massage, cryotherapy, stress management, etc.) – and ask yourself “am I adding to these pillars? Am I filling these pillars up? or am I pulling/taking from these pillars?”. Think of life like a bank – Are you making more deposits in the wellness bank or taking away from it? This framework will give you the tools to adjust everything according to your answers.
Also, I would recommend starting with random acts of wellness and eventually make them more intentional – take the stairs, park far away, eat breakfast, eat less processed foods, breathe intentionally, take a walk, drink more water.
If you could leave one piece of advice for someone younger, what would you share?
Stay in shape. This is why — a guy that I train reaches out to me for the first time a few months ago and we start him on a training program. He is doing awesome with his training. A few months go by and then one day he texts me and says he just found out he has cancer. I tell him I’m so sorry and how terrible that is — he responded with an an incredible message. He told me when he went in to the doctor and got the results, he didn’t have fear because he knew he was taking care of himself and that was going to give him the best chance at survival! He said he was at his strongest and that gave him confidence he could fight. This was an incredible example of why I say “stay in shape”, but there are many other reasons.
I don’t think you always need to be in peak condition, but I would say regularly challenge your body so that your body recovers and remains strong. Stay in shape, so you have never have to start over.
Is there anything that you haven’t done that you still want to do?
I have an idea for a TV show that I want to pursue. All of the right people are involved and trying to put it together right now. I want to create something that has a real takeaway to it. When you turn it off you will have some real, practical takeaways that you can apply to better your life. If I can get this off the ground, it would be an incredible addition. If this takes off, this would be another ‘moment’.
*we will stay tuned on this!!!