An Interview With Gunnar Peterson, Chief of Athletics at F45

Gunnar Peterson is one of the world’s leading personal trainers, particularly known for his work with professional athletes and celebrities as well as being the former Los Angeles Lakers’ Director of Strength and Endurance. He is widely recognized for his expertise in functional training and his commitment to developing and implementing innovative fitness techniques. 

In February 2022, he joined global gym brand F45 as Chief of Athletics and has just collaborated with football legend David Beckham to launch their hotly anticipated workout - DB45. We caught up with Gunnar to find out more about his work and his top fitness insights. 

How did this exciting collaboration with David Beckham come about and what drew you to working with F45? 

David wanted a workout and obviously has a partnership with F45 - “I want the workout to be reminiscent of my football training and I want it to be something that people can build on.”

F45 is a perfect fit - they do what I do but on a larger scale and with way better technology! I love it-hand in glove! That’s what drew me in! The workouts are efficient, realistic, and well planned out from micro to macro level. Easy to progress, and easy to regress when needed.

How does the workout differ from other fitness classes? 

Functional fitness means it translates to other aspects of your life-from loading groceries, to moving up the leader board at your tennis club, to keeping up with your toddler, to being more resistant to injury and illness. Everyone wins. 

What for you is the most important aspect of wellness and self care?

Exercise is the cornerstone of wellness in my opinion. It sets the table for good choices in the rest of your life. It’s the best way to prime your body AND your mind for improvement. Gyms that offer comprehensive programming to a wide demographic are the future. Inclusion not exclusion wins the day.

For people who struggle to exercise regularly, or perhaps aren’t financially able to enlist the support of a personal trainer, what advice would you give to them to help get them moving each day? 

Choose consistent over perfect. That’s the long game. It’s never too late to pivot to that mindset.

Realise that this workout, whatever it is – whether it's your F45 class or a 20-minute session – services everything else you're doing that day. Your kid has to be dropped off at school at this time; you have to show up to check in for your flight by this time, so, for exercise, just say, "I'm going to do that today."

I'd rather you do 20 minutes a day, six or seven days a week, than two hour-long workouts. Or even worse: one, two hour workout. Especially as you age, you're just risking injury.

There are so many permutations that are available to you to tweak about your workout. You can pull back on the number of reps, you can pull back on total volume, you can increase rest time in between, you can shorten overall duration, you can change the temperature in the room. There are a lot of variables that you can play with to suit your own body and lifestyle, so get started.

Finally, what’s the one daily wellness practise you cannot live without and why?

I never miss my workouts, I mix them up, my food isn’t perfect but it’s on point, I work at recovery, and I try to keep stress at a manageable level.

To learn more about Gunnar and his top tips you can visit his website or follow him on social media:

Website: https://gunnarpeterson.com

Social media: @gunnarfitness (Instagram) @GunnarFitness (Facebook)

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