Quotes from Gunnar Peterson

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.