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Gunnar Peterson, The Lakers’ Director Of Strength And Endurance, Does Online Workout For Fans

Jill Painter Lopez

Gunnar Peterson, the director of strength and endurance for the Lakers, took over the Lakers’ Instagram account on Wednesday with a live workout to show fans seven moves that could help them with their fitness.

I took the mini-class, which consisted of a series of moves and a few stretches afterward.

“Seven moves (for a) seven-game series,” Peterson said. “That’s how to remember it.”

My favorite move was “The Superman,” an exercise in which you lay on your stomach and raise your outstretched arms and lift your legs. You hold the position for a few seconds, relax for a second and then repeat. It works your upper and lower back muscles, glutes and hamstring muscles.

“You see why it’s called ‘The Superman,’ right?” Peterson asked while demonstrating the move. “I should have Dwight [Howard] doing these.”

Howard, of course, wore Superman capes during the slam dunk contest at All-Star weekend in February and also in 2008 when he won the competition.

When promoting the workout, the Lakers wrote on social media that fans should make sure they have two water bottles, a towel and a good attitude.

Peterson, who did the Instagram Live from the yard of his Beverly Hills home, also showed fans how they could use paint cans, a bag of sugar, a piece of cardboard, and soup cans as exercise tools.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Peterson has been guiding Lakers players with online workouts. JaVale McGee recently took a photo of Peterson leading a Zoom workout with him, Jared Dudley, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Alex Caruso, Quinn Cook, Devontae Cacok and Talen Horton-Tucker.

The Lakers practice facility in El Segundo opened on Saturday for individual workouts under strict protocols and restrictions.

Peterson concluded his online workout Wednesday by showing fans how to properly do a frog stretch for the groin area, which he acknowledged is a problem area for many NBA players.

“Especially for athletes, you hear all the time, [although] not on our team, duh, but you hear all the time so-and-so had a groin strain,” Peterson said. “These guys work so hard to avoid injuries. You should do the same.”

In case you missed the live workout, Peterson posted the exercises on his Instagram account as well.