This month, we chat with one of our favorite celebrity fitness trainers Gunnar Peterson who has worked with a number of your favorite personalities from Khloe Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and more. In addition, as the Director of Strength & Endurance for the Lakers, we talk with him about how he has worked with his clients and the team to keep them on their routines. He also shares advice on movements that we can do at home regardless of whether we have equipment or not. He also shares his thoughts on returning to gyms and studios as the country is in various stages of reopening.
ATHLEISURE MAG: We always love being able to talk to you and being able to optimize our workouts and here in NY we have been in since March 13th. Thankfully, we got all of our equipment that we needed and we had no idea how long that we would be staying in due to COVID-19. What did you suggest to your clients in terms of equipment that they should have on hand?
GUNNAR PETERSON: I love that you guys got your equipment right away because it seems to me from what I heard, that the people that didn’t get it right out of the gate automatically had to line up and there was a delay. I have a very strange relationship with equipment – you can call it an addiction or a relationship whatever you want. That said, look whatever you have – even if you have nothing, you can still make it work. I would suggest adjustable dumbbells, a piece of cardio equipment that you enjoy, an assortment of bands, an auxiliary piece of cardio – think jump rope, a utility bench, a stability ball and that is all best case scenario. Worse case, we will get busy with water bottles, soup cans, a broom stick, a stepping stool, a couple of pieces of scrap cardboard. If you have that kind of stuff lying around it doesn’t have to be a mish mash like that, I actually thought those through it’s not grab bag you can come out of this lockdown in better shape. How’s that for a statement on standby?
AM: Love that statement. About a week before this quarantine, we had bands and a few other things, but didn’t really have dumbells, weight plates and other things like that so I was on Amazon and started amassing these items. And once we were in quarantine, you couldn’t get anything. We were pretty well stocked on our end.
GP: I heard it from people that are planners and those that get out ahead of things like this. There were other people that told me that they had nothing and that they had given everything away. Ever since they had started coming to me, they had given everything away as they didn’t need it in their house anymore because they came to me. I was like, “oh I’m sorry – like I’m supposed to be the person to blame for this.”
The household items though the water bottles and the soup cans, broom stick an ottoman – you can fill up garbage bags with laundry because they have the handles built in and scrap pieces of cardboard or a towel. You can use a scrap piece of cardboard if you’re outdoors on the lawn or turf. If not on a towel if you have a hard surface like poured concrete or hardwood floors. Any of those towels can work for leg curls, hip curls, hip bridges, ab extensions, chest flys there are so many movements you can do on the floor with that. People are like, “cardboard?” and I’m like yeah. I actually demo-d that workout online for someone out on the lawn, you put your heels on the cardboard and you do a leg curl in and put your hips up and your hamstrings and your glutes are good to go.
AM: What are 3 movements for abs, and legs, butts and arms that we should include within our routines as we’re always looking at changing it up a little bit and just optimizing that workout?
GP: For abs I would say, think bicycle crunches where you’re pulling left knee into right elbow and you’re up and semi crunched the entire time so that you’re abs which is all about time under tension the TUT Principle. The abs are engaged the whole time and you’re working that transverse rotation bringing the right elbow to left knee while extending that right leg and pulling the right leg in and extending the right leg and the left elbow to the right knee.
Also abs in extension which comes down to you being on your knees, toes in contact with the ground in sort of like a coffee table position and then extend the arms by sliding a towel out or if you’re on a piece of cardboard then you’re on cardboard. You want to extend them and working abs in extension is important and not just working them in inflection and also athletically – a lot of the strain happens when people will go into extension against resistance and they weren’t prepared for it. So you want to work on extension. You can also do that single arm right? You can fly one arm out and bring it back and the other arm up and bring it back just to create an uneven load.
The third one I would say is the hip bridge. So, using that same towel, put your forearm on it, extend your body and think about keeping a straight line between all of the h’s – head, hip, heels – straight line. Lower the hips down, draw the abs in. Your cue is when you pass center line pull your abs in and then bridge up so now you’re working frontal plane abs. So those are the movements for abs.
For legs, I would say squats and you have a number of squat movements to choose from whether it’s a basic squat, a sumo squat, a split squat, kick stands – there are a million ways to do that. But you definitely want to hit a squat and you should do that loaded because you’re working a big muscle group and it can handle an exterior load.
Then I would add clock lunges. Picture yourself standing in a center of a clock right where the hands are right where the hands meet in the middle. With your right leg step to 12 step to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 which involves a full pivot again the transverse plane. Then bring it back to 12 and then with your left leg, go to 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 and back.
Then I would say, single leg deadlifts and if you need that, do it next to your dresser, counter or a willing family member so that you can stabilize. You want to hinge at the hip and have something in your hand, something weighted whether it’s the water bottle or a dumbbell – whatever you have and down to your hip and then come up so that you have a stretch in your hamstring. Push through your heel and your big toe as you stand up so you fire the glutes and continue through that – you’re a lot stronger. A lot of people say, “aww my back.” Don’t worry about your back. You’re going to go in that position through your life so many times, you have to strengthen it. You’re doing yourself a disservice to not strengthen it.
And for glutes, I would say a lateral lunge. A deep lunge out to the side and really getting low on that because you want to hit gluteus medius and power through back to the starting position and alternate sides.
I would say a hip bridge, you can do that single leg or double leg. So put one foot up – one foot off the ground. You’re lying on your back, create a triangle between where you’re up from the ground and where your heel is on the ground and then bridge up by driving into the heel on the floor which is a single leg version. The double leg version, obviously both of your heels are on the ground.
Then I would add something explosive and plyometric. A tuck jump and you can do those in place. The goal is not to drop down super low into a squat and jump. Think about when you see someone jumping at a volleyball net or when they’re getting a rebound from a basketball – they don’t drop their hips all the way to the floor, they literally hinge at the hips and explode upward. So think of that kind of jump.
For arms, I would say something in a curl and I would spice up the curl a little bit and do it in a split stance. I like to create the offload, I like to make the core fire even more and do whatever your scheme is half of it with your right leg bag and left leg forward and then you drop down relatively low and then switch the split and repeat the same number of the reps of the curls.
That’s 1 the 2nd one would be a close grip push up. So keeping your hands relatively narrow and more importantly than that, tuck your elbows into your sides so you can feel your ribcage slide down against your forearm on the way down. If it’s too hard to do them on the floor, instead of doing them on your knees – I’m not a huge fan of that, I would say do them off of something. Elevate the hands versus just staying on your knees. So you’re still getting that fully planked position whether you come up and do it on an ottoman or at the end of a bed or on the end of a couch depending on your fitness level right?
Back in the day, Zsa Zsa Gabor did a workout video (Editor’s Note: of course we had to check out this video which is 30 mins of Zsa Zsaisms, working out and is worth watching) and she actually had 2 body builders come out and she just leaned back and did the push up off their chest. So she was still standing at a 5° incline but you can work backwards to any level of fitness. I want to say that she was in her 70’s when she did it so kudos to her for still doing the work.
AM: That’s pretty amazing!
GP: I know, when I saw it, I thought, “you have to give her credit for that.”
The 3rd one would be a press overhead. And that’s not for your arms, biceps, triceps, but it’s for your shoulders. If you look at the side view of the arm, almost half of that is the cap of your shoulder. So overhead pressing of any kind whether you alternate, palms forward, palms in – you just want to make sure that you get the shoulders. Especially since a lot of clothing in the summer time is exposing the shoulder.
AM: I know on your Instagram, that you created quarantine courses for your family to do. How important is it for your to incorporate movement especially with children and what do you suggest to do to keep them engaged?
GP: For us, it’s a priority. It’s not for everybody but it is for us. The kids learn how to move and use their bodies, how to work through things that are difficult and I think that that’s a life metaphor and you get to spend real quality time with them and I would suggest mixing in things that you know that they like as well as things that they need. That’s the challenge of being the parent. You challenge them and then you reward them with something that is good for them. My kids love Propel, they love the electrolyte water and there are 0 grams of sugar and I know that post workout, they need the electrolytes so it’s such an easy reward and sometimes I will put it at the end so right when he comes off the course, they’re there. They can pick the flavor and you’re empowering them with that.
AM: In addition, you have been participating in a number of IG Lives doing various workouts during this time of quarantine, how important is that to you to do those things and let people across the internet to have people workout with you and also engage with you?
GP: It’s important for me because A it keeps me sharp on the selfish side. I like doing anything that I can with the fitness community and the fitness industry as a whole. If I can add to that collective, then count me in. It’s not like I am putting on the Propel fitness stuff in my backyard, but if I am giving something that can approximate that during a time when we may have to push that back in a calendar then I’m all for it – sign me up.
AM: Across the US, we have various levels of openings on city and state levels. A lot of gyms and studios are doing that as well and a lot of people are excited to go back to their favorite spaces, but there is a lot of apprehension to in terms of whether the gyms themselves are actually prepared to be opened. What are your thoughts on how we can return to them safely and what we should be looking for when we enter? Should we be bringing items with us?
GP: You said it first – safety right? Be smart and be safe. Make sure that you’re doing the right thing and if you see someone who isn’t, instead of tattling and being condescending – I would share with them what the right approach is and be open if they share with you. We can all get better together. Remember we all heard a lot of information in the last 5+ months and we all process it differently. There are a lot of beliefs, so it’s better to be open and tolerant until we have all the facts locked down. I know I said lock down, but I said that on purpose!
As far as what you bring, I am a big fan of bringing my towel and water to the gym. I bring my towel and my Propel. You might want to double up and bring gloves, I don’t know the science on that one yet, but I’m OCD enough that I’m taking my towel and Propel with me for sure. I’m not going to be needing water fountains for a little bit if I can help it.
AM: For sure! You’re the Director of Strength & Endurance Training for the Lakers, our favorite team!
GP: Ah I love that!
AM: The Lakers have been our team since the 80’s.
GP: Not a fair weather fan, I like that!
AM: With the NBA completing their season and getting closer to the Playoffs, what has this time been like for you in terms of working with the team, preparing them prior to going to the bubble in Orlando and during this season?
GP: So our Strength Staff, a guy named Chattin Hill (Lakers’ Associate Head Strength & Conditioning Coach), Ed Streit (Lakers’ Assistant Strength & Conditioning Coach) and I put together a Fit Kit and we sent the Fit Kits to the players early on. I don’t think that we got the jump on as early as you did, but we were a couple of days behind. We sent those to the players and we also emailed and texted them daily individualized workouts and all that was done within days of the lockdown. We also held and this ended up being great, but there was an element of comedy to it, we held Zoom workouts a couple of times a week to maintain the interaction, to keep the camaraderie up, trash talking – that was the great job of our GM Rob Pelinka and it ended up being great. There were times when the strength staff were a little disjointed and disconnected in doing it all on Zoom, but it created a moment of levity during some of those uncertain times. I’m sure you guys went through it too! There were times when the lockdown felt super annoying and there were times when it felt super scary! Like it was legitimately, “let’s not poo poo this guys. This is real.” Then you just develop a system. I’m sure that there is a psychology there of numerous phases that we all went through and having those workouts allowed those guys to keep connected and also allowed them to keep connected to us allowed them to keep connected to us which was key.
AM: Wow! When we did our last photoshoot it was with Rachel Nichols from ESPN. It was literally the day after the NBA announced that they were postponing the season. We’re literally sitting with her coming off of ESPN, doing the shoot and we’re looking at each other saying, “is this the last time that we’re going to be doing this for awhile?”
GP: I know Rachel and I like her. She’s very smart and she’s not taking any chances. If she did that then she did the right thing and hats off to her! I’m not surprised actually that she did it the right way.
AM: She is amazing and she was an awesome cover for us in March.
Obviously, the word “typical” feels like a very strange word right now, but what is a typical day or week like for you right now in terms of all the stuff that you’re doing?
GP: The only thing typical is that everything changes every day. I make sure to get some kind of workout in for myself, call it selfish, call it self preservation. I use the down time to connect with my family as well as a lot more Face Time calls with my brother, my parents and I think that it’s probably fair to say that our house as well as my sock drawer has never been neater! I have a lot cleaned up – everything is clean!
AM: You’re always working on so many things, is there anything coming up that we should know about or that your happy to announce with everyone?
GP: Lots of irons on the fire, that’s the way that I like it. I’d rather do than talk so let’s see what actually materializes after this. I will say that I have not been idle, definitely not going to sit around and do nothing. There’s definitely good stuff coming up though – definitely! More than just Instagram obstacle courses. Although I did enjoy those I’ve gotta say!
AM: As someone who is working with your clients whether it’s in person or virtually, doing things with your family and you have all of these different projects, how are you taking time for yourself just to make sure that you have the time that you need?
GP: So, I emphasized and the things that I struggle with the most – sleep and recovery. I’ve been working on that for the past 4 years and I’ve really made that a concerted effort to bump those up. I’m far from perfect for sure but it is still a focus and I have been able to improve it. I make sure that I get my workouts in which keeps me sane and it also makes me less of a jackass around my kids and my wife so that’s a priority ha!
AM: Haha I know they appreciate that! So we love asking our changemakers who inspire so many people who are 3 people that inspire you that have gotten you to where you are now?
GP: My parents and I have to put them together. A, for no backlash and B, because it’s the right thing. My parents for just the way that they weather storms. They have been married for over 60 years and I’m sure it hasn’t been perfect, but they just finish what they start kind of thing. My brother who is a super successful business man and all around greatest most generous guy going and I’m going to keep it in the family and say my wife and kids. They really inspire. It’s those days that you get up and go, “I’m getting up today because I know my purpose.” Obviously, you know that it supports your family, but they make me better!
Years ago, I worked for Jennifer Lopez for a long time and that’s not name dropping a lot of people know that. I wrote her a note one New Year’s morning. It just hit me that I was so thankful to have had the opportunity – I was still working with her, but I wanted to acknowledge it in real time. The opportunity to work with her – my working with her made me want to do my job better because I saw how well she did her job and how hard she pushed. I wrote her a note and I just said, “I want you to know I recognize this. I was always going to push myself and I was always going to strive for greatness, but being around you for this many years and watching how you do it has just made me A, be a representation of you at the same level, but also just to hold myself accountable because I see how hard you go and the standard to which you hold yourself.”
PHOTOS COURTESY | Propel
Hear Celebrity Fitness Trainer and LA Lakers' Director of Strength & Endurance Gunnar Peterson on our show, #TRIBEGOALS - which is a part of Athleisure Studio, our multi-media podcast network! Make sure to subscribe to find out when the episode drops. You can hear it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and wherever you enjoy listening to your favorite podcast.
Read the Aug Issue of Athleisure Mag #56 and see Something You Should Know with Gunnar Peterson in mag.
