Gunnar Peterson says plenty of clients want to know how to build a bigger backside. He tells them that adequate rest, and additional calories, are part of the deal.
Gunnar Peterson is a personal trainer who has worked with celebrities such as Khloe Kardashian.
The members of the Kardashian family are known for many things, not the least of which is an abundant posterior.
It’s been just over a year since Kim broke the Internet with a magazine cover popping champagne on her behind (and one week since she nearly did it again with an Instagram selfie wearing nothing but black bars). Since then, celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson has been seeing one training request more and more: a bigger butt.
As trainer to Kim’s younger sister Khloe Kardashian, Peterson knows what he’s talking about. He spoke with the Star from Los Angeles at 5:30 a.m. local time while spinning on his stationary bike.
Your family just welcomed a new baby — congratulations. Any tips for keeping in shape through the craziness of parenting?
It’s better to peel back a little bit and take your time. This is also the time where you have to remember it’s baby first. You’re a distant second.
A lot of people want bigger legs, a bigger butt. Some called 2015 the “year of the butt.”
Was that on the Chinese calendar? I didn’t see that on the menu at the Mongolian barbecue the other day. (laughs)
Is that something you’ve been seeing?
Of course. It’s an ongoing request. They have to bear in mind that to add size, that comes with adding calories above and beyond what you’re burning, and getting adequate rest.
I’m sure we know some guys who spend innumerable hours at the gym and they’re not gaining any size. They’re probably not recovering. Their food is either not adequate or not timed out properly. It’s a tough pursuit.
When you think women have on average 10 to 20 per cent the testosterone that we have — which is required to build lean tissue — that’s a tough road. I would say lift heavy, eat more, sleep more. That’s for men and women. Those are tough protocols to assign to a woman. They don’t want to hear “eat more” a lot of the time. A lot of them don’t want to hear “lift heavy.”
What are some of the misconceptions around building a bigger butt?
You look at people in any power sport, you see big butts. Those guys and those girls are not on all fours, pressing the sole of their foot to the ceiling with an ankle weight on it. They’re just not. And if they are it’s for a video or it’s to get a quick pump. The real building comes with the deep squats, the heavy weights, the dead lifts, the deep lunges, the sleep and the food.
A lot of people dread “leg day.” What are some of your tips for getting through a hard leg workout?
If it were easy, everyone would have one (a big butt) and then it would be less desirable. One of the reasons people like it-slash-want it is because it’s hard to attain. If you want it all and you don’t want to do the work — well, sorry, that’s not how it works. But that’s not how it works in anything.
How much do you see people who hinder their progress by drinking too much?
You see that all the time. I’m the first guy to go have a beer with you. But if you’re not drinking — especially if you’re not drinking during a period of time when you’re trying to attain a goal — that’s obviously the right way to do it. You’re way ahead of the curve.
Why is sleep so important?
That’s the only time your body recovers. If you think of the dated term “body building,” it’s actually body destroying. What you do in the gym is actually tearing your body down. It’s when you leave the gym that the body starts the recovery process and goes “Holy s—, what did you just hit me with? I have to put myself back together in case you’re stupid enough to do that again.”