Top 56 Quotes & Sayings by Gunnar Peterson

I try to take the approach that everyone really is an athlete at some level. I mean, we were all on the playground in the beginning. Some of us just stayed there.

I'm a firm believer in trying to make something that might not be considered fun by a lot of people fun. And hopefully, that makes the person have a positive association with it, and they want to come back.

I usually suggest that people do their steady-state cardio on the days that they're not with me; they really don't need a cardio babysitter. When working with athletes, I try to pair the interval with the exertion patterns of their respective sport.

Even if you can't do a full real push-up, I'd rather have you do them with a limited range of motion and work up to the perfect pushup then do them on your knees, where you probably won't progress at the rate that you could.

I have nothing against tricep kickbacks, but I'd rather have you do a skater's lunge with a kickback and get a lower body workout.

When I opened my gym, I got rid of the scales! Stepping on a scale empowers an inanimate object - every time you get on it, you turn over the helm of your emotional well being to something that doesn't care about you.

You need to lift weights and do more resistance training. Get more sleep. I'm the first one who's guilty of not doing that, but I work on it, and I'm aware of it. And drink more water. Drink Propel. You have to hydrate. You simply can't perform at the level you could perform at if you're dehydrated. Period.

Constant deprivation is no way to live. Don't always skip the delicious stuff for raw carrots and brown rice.

Everybody comes in with a certain goal. Some are performance, some are aesthetic. Even athletes have aesthetic goals, but first and foremost, they have performance goals, and those need to be addressed. They have weaknesses that need to be shored up. You have to manage expectations sometimes.

I am a big believer in taking responsibility for your actions. I tell my kids every day to 'own it' - 'it' being whatever they've said or done. At some point in your life, you are in charge. You call the shots. You decide to eat or not eat.

If you were inactive due to an injury or a surgery, then common sense rules the day when inching closer to the area that was hurt. That is very different from inactivity due to being ill. After illness, be aware of how taxing your workout is cardiovascularly and err on the side of less.

Not to sound corny, but if life is a sport, if you're moving to dive on a fumble or pick up a basketball in transition or pivoting to grab your toddler so he doesn't fall into a pool... those are real life movements.

I really like battle ropes. They're so versatile; you can get a terrific workout doing a ton of different exercises with them. My clients like them because they're a good way to get aggression out, too. Had a bad day? Take it out on the ropes!

My mom - when I complained about my weight, she asked me if I wanted to keep complaining or do something about it. Then she took me to Weight Watchers when I was 10 years old, meetings and all!

Kellan Gillis was the first celebrity that I worked with - that didn't hurt. Working out after that with Jennifer Lopez was huge in terms of just the platform it gives you. So I think when you get those opportunities, you have to be respectful of them, and you have to try not to just cash out.

Protein is key in my opinion. Vegetables are a must. Complex carbohydrates have to be used at the right time. Stay away from processed foods, refined sugars, and fruit juices.

Strike a balance between resistance training, intervals, longer duration cardiovascular work, and flexibility. Don't stick with one approach then flip after a few weeks. Mix it up weekly, daily.

Use music to motivate you. If I had to pick one song to work out to on repeat, it would be Prince's 'Let's Go Crazy.'

Try training on an empty stomach, if it is just this kind of resistance training workout, so that your body fat is sacrificed as a fuel source. Then, immediately post-workout, make sure you take in all three of your macronutrients.

If you think you're going to do 100 crunches and a plank and burn away belly fat, you're not. Yes, you're going to make the area stronger, but it's not going to get rid of the fat. So do yourself a favor and, once and for all, let that idea go.

Hydration is everything. Think of this: your muscles are 70-plus percent water - how are you not drinking water during a workout? I get the whole, 'Let's challenge ourselves; let's do that prison, tough guy thing,' but at the end of the day, you're underperforming.

There's so much you can do with bodyweight alone. The basics always come up for a reason: sit-ups, planks, push-ups. They'll always give you results. The way to take it up a notch is to compound the basics to work multiple muscle groups at once.

Protein helps your insulin levels not spike and helps you not store your food as fat.

You'll get a cheat meal, no question. It's not a cheat day. Every day, I indulge with something, because if I feel restricted, I'm gonna lash out.

I always train my weaknesses and work on my shortcomings - in the gym and outside the gym. Ha!

Combination movements will give you the most bang for your buck.

Remember that everything you do in the gym makes a difference in the way you live your life outside of the gym. The brownie tastes better when there's no guilt for eating it. Your relationships with other people are more satisfying.

If you're always trying to do a good job, then something good is going to come from it.

There are 800 some muscles, 200 some bones. Your body works in three planes of motion: arms, legs - pentadactyl limbs. That's what we're working with.

You can make more money - you can buy a new body - but you can't buy time. If you are wasting it, make different choices. Don't wait.

Sleep plays an important role in overall well-being and especially in recovery during particularly intense training.

Try not to make every eating transgression at once. When I go out, I won't ever do both dessert and drinks. Just pick one.

I don t have a scale; I'm not big on measurements. Until a person looks in the mirror and is happy with themselves, you have not reached your fitness goals.

The thought of being active in my kid's lives motivates me.

People tend to shy away from rotation with resistance because they think they're going to get hurt. Like, 'If I move in that motion with that weight, I'm going to pull my back.' But you're not.

I try to do the right thing. If you do what you know is right, and you're a good person, you might not win short-term all the time, and financial gains might not be there all the time, but ultimately, you can be pretty happy, and you can do some pretty good things in the world. Keep a positive outlook.

Multi-joint movements - squats, push-ups, bent over rows - all put a greater metabolic demand on the body and can be effective when performed with very light weight to get you back up and running. Think bigger movements, not bigger weight, when you are on the mend.

The key to anyone's success is staying with it!

The Gunnar Challenge offers new workouts every day, a meal plan and daily 'verbal vitamins,' which are a motivational video or workout tip. The thing that really makes the program work is the forum, where Challengers can communicate with each other and with me.

I would love to eat my body weight in chocolate chip cookies, french fries, and peanut butter, but I don't. I choose not to. That's on me, just like it's on me if I choose to do it.

Make it a joint effort. Doing a workout with a partner or trainer can motivate you to reach your goals.

You don't have to be built like Karl Malone to be strong. There are thinner guys who are really strong. Kevin Durant, who I used to work with, has real strength to his body.

Researchers found that sharing your workout results - whether it's through actually being friends on a specific app or calling friends to tell them how you did, even posting your results on a social platform - usually pushes people to work even harder.

Work is in the word 'workout.' But I try to put some levity to it because you've got to want to come back.

You should be doing something for your body every day. One day it could be a high-intensity class, and the next, it could be as simple as a 20-minute walk with the dog.

I think it's good for people sometimes to get out of their own environments - there are less distractions.

America wasn't made on blame; it was made on responsibility. Take off the training wheels in life and decide to take responsibility for your actions.

People who are at the top have no problem being vulnerable and putting themselves in a position to fail. That's why they have the success that they have.

Home workouts are great, but if you can get out, that's even better. If you tell yourself you're going to go do planks in the spare bedroom, you might get interrupted and not get your workout in.

SleepScore Max empowers me to identify my own sleep issues and gives me advice for better sleep to maximize my performance every day. It's critical to measure and quantify improvements while training.

The summer months should motivate you to stay in shape during the winter months.

I get tired when I keep shorting my sleep, but I always make it to the gym. In our house, we live by this: 'Never quit, never cancel, never be late.' We've found it's a great way to live.

Don't show up late. Don't try to slide out early. Don't cheat your rep counts. And definitely, don't hold back. Leave it all in the gym!

The first thing people lose on a diet is their sense of humor. Keep it fun. Keep it light.

I had one actress who trained with me and took six Spin classes a week. And all she ate was lettuce and Swedish Fish. When the press asked her how she'd transformed' her body, she said, Oh, I do yoga and hike with my puppy.' That made me laugh. Don't lie about how much you work out, because other women are going to think, I walk my dog, why don't I look like that?

I always advise eating regular meals — a mix of healthy carbs, protein and fruits and veggies.