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Sylvester Stallone. Mike Tyson. Pete Sampras. Khloe Kardashian. What do these folks have in common? They’ve all been trained by fitness expert Gunnar Peterson. In this episode, we sit down with Gunnar in his private Beverly Hills gym to talk about his life and career training some of the most famous figures in Hollywood and professional sports. You’ll find out: - The weird, expensive things fitness stars do to make sure they’re in peak physical condition. - Why Khloe Kardashian trusts Gunnar with her Instagram account. - The term celebrities use to describe “common folks.” - How to accurately gauge your RPE, or “rate of perceived exertion.” - Why expectation management is so important when you’re training. Gunnar also talks about his philosophy on health and fitness. He doesn’t believe in limiting yourself to just one type of exercise routine but rather embracing everything from CrossFit to Tai Bo! This is one of the most entertaining and illuminating episodes ever. You’re not going to want to miss

In this episode with Leslie Durso and Lynn Chen, we talk about how to trick your taste buds into thinking you’re eating junk food, when you’re really eating vegan whole foods sent from heaven! From bacon burgers and guacamole to nacho cheese and ice cream sandwiches, we know what you’ve been craving! We’ll teach you how to make raw walnut chorizo, cashew nacho cheese and more. We also talk about why Lynn started the Artist’s Diet after suffering for years from bulimia, anorexia and binge eating and how you can spot those behaviors in yourself and find treatment. If you’ve ever felt shame about your body, you need to hear what Lynn has to say! Leslie’s nachos recipe, and a bunch of other vegan “junk” food recipes, can be found below. Happy eating! Leslie Durso: Twitter: @lesliedurso Facebook: facebook.com/LeslieDurso Website: lesliedurso.com Lynn Chen: Twitter: twitter.com/MsLynnChen Facebook: facebook.com/theactorsdiet Website: theactorsdiet.com Vegan "Junk" Food: Recipes: lesliedurso.com/categor

Our society’s methods for losing weight are bonkers. Starvation diets, low-fat diets — none of them really work on an extended basis, and some of them could be making us sicker. Our guest today, Jonathan Bailor, spent 10 years doing intensively researching the diets we try and why they tend not to work. “We’ve all been schooled in the paradigm that quantity matters, and that it’s all about the calories, but calories tell us little to nothing. It’s really about the quality of the foods we’re eating,” he told us. According to Jonathan, we should be eating foods that are high in water, fiber and nutrients. Anything that grows in the ground = good. Anything else = potentially bad. Bailor worked as a personal trainer before he became an engineer at Microsoft and it was through his experiences as a trainer that he came to his realizations. “I’d put people on 1,200 calorie diets and strenuous exercise regimes and they wouldn’t get thinner, they’d just get sick and sad,” he told us. “I decided to retire and f

Our latest episode, with holistic nutritionist Christy Meyers, is a veritable treasure trove of nutrition advice. When you boil down healthy eating advice to a few concise— but very valuable — tenants, you get this podcast. Here are a few pearls of wisdom we learned from Christy: -The single best thing you can do for your body is to cut out all processed foods. This is the basis for every single healthy diet. It could be as simple as making your own sweet potato fries instead of buying them in a pack, or making your own chicken breast instead of buying chicken strips. The important thing is to make whole foods a priority. -Equally important is making green starchy vegetables a major part of every meal. They have to be green, people. Carrots don’t count. Think: kale, spinach, lettuce. -To control cravings, drink a cup of water every time you’re hungry, eat whole foods first and be sure to eat healthy snacks throughout the day. Eat / drink all the healthy things, and see if your cravings go away. If they don

Many people suffer for years (even decades) from symptoms like depression, heartburn, fatigue and diarrhea that can be traced back to the foods they’re eating. On today’s podcast with Dr. Michael Ruscio, a practitioner of functional medicine, we talk about how elimination diets and natural medicine can knock out these symptoms as well as serious infections, while helping restore balance to your body. Consuming foods you’re intolerant to can cause inflammation and damage to the lining of your intestines. “If you damage that lining, then you wipe out the army that protects your body from parasites and other types of infections,” Dr. Ruscio says. Thankfully, the intestine lining can be rebuilt after just a few days. But the rest of the body can take months to heal. "Additionally, your immune system in the gut has been in red alert for so long that it ends up attacking everything, which can make you hyper sensitive and can lead to an autoimmune disease,” Dr. Ruscio says. What Foods You Should Avoid Dr. Rusc

In this episode, we talk to the delightful Josh Radnor (Ted Mosby from"How I Met Your Mother") about how meditation saved him from depression after a break-up and has helped him handle the ups-and-downs of life as an actor. "When actors ask me for my one piece of advice, I always tell them to meditate," Josh says. “The thing that will take you down, personally and professionally, is your mind." Josh meditates with a mantra in mind but says even just shutting your eyes for 20 minutes a day can be profoundly helpful. “The mind is designed to think the way the heart is designed to beat and the lungs are designed to breathe…but it does a lot of lousy thinking. Even if you don’t have a mantra, the very act of closing your eyes for 10 - 20 minutes and not doing anything brings your mind to a subtle strata, the place where all thoughts and feelings originate.” Josh first became interested in meditation after a relationship fell apart. "I had a bout of depression one summer after a break up and I haven’t had tha

When Andy Bellatti completed his graduate degree in nutrition studies at NYU, he was shocked to find that the “continuing education” credits he was required to take every year were sponsored by Cocoa Cola and the Corn Refiners Association. “I could earn one credit by hearing about how Sun Chips are good source of whole grains and why I should recommend them to clients,” he tells Rob. “What makes it most infuriating is that these presentations are looked at as so-called ‘sound science.’ If you stand against them, you’re stigmatized.” Disturbed by the food industry’s control over the continuing education of dietitians, Andy decided to co-found the organization “Dietitians for Professional Integrity,” which seeks to expose the cosy relationships between the food industry and front organizations like the “American Society for Nutrition.” These “societies” purport to research nutrition while receiving generous funds from McDonald’s and pharmaceutical companies. “I studied nutrition to learn about health, and to

In today’s episode, we talk to NYT-bestselling author Sarah Ballantyne about her new book, “The Paleo Approach Cookbook.” The cookbook teaches readers to incorporate seemingly exotic ingredients like cricket flour, fish heads and cow liver into their diets to reduce inflammation, calm their immune system and help their bodies heal themselves. Sarah, who has a Ph.D. in medical biophysics, ate fish eyes as a child. (Sarah: “How do you KNOW this about me?” Rob: “You wrote it in your book. You have written a book.”). She learned from an early age that there were nutritious foods that nobody knew about. “I was exposed to foods that people usually ignore,” she explained. “Clearly this has translated to my adult life.” Sarah and Rob also talk about: -How the exoskeleton of shellfish and insects contains a fiber unique in the animal kingdom. -Why grass-fed meat has different nutrients in it, like Omega 3’s, that aren’t inflammatory. (Meat is only inflammatory when you eat it processed or cured and don’t eat

Most nutritionists would agree that if you want to lose weight, you should try cutting out carbs and sugar. But what you replace them with — lean meats, tofu, steak, beans, etc. — remains an area of controversy. On today’s show, we talk to Columbia-trained nutritionist Kristen Mancinelli about an ultra, ultra low-carb diet that hacks your body into using fat, instead of carbs, as fuel. “The word ‘fat’ has an image problem,” Mancinelli says. “Fat the nutrient and fat the condition are two separate things.” The fat-as-fuel diet Mancinelli champions is something called the Ketogenic diet. Somewhat similar to a Paleo diet, a Ketogenic diet emphasizes foods rich in natural fats and adequate in protein, and restricts foods high in carbohydrates (sugar and starches). “Carbs don’t seem to be essential,” Mancinelli says.”You can train your body to use fat instead.” In a Ketogenic diet, your body uses the fats you’ve stored for energy, instead of all the empty carbs you eat before working out. The diet recommends

Today we talked to Shawn Stevenson, author of the Amazon best-seller “Sleep Smarter,” to find out why sleep is so important to health. If you’ve been waking up tired and you don’t know why, or you’ve tried but failed to curb your TV habits before bedtime, you’re definitely going to want to check out this episode. -We found out about a study by Appalachian University that showed folks who work out in the morning get up to 70% more time in the deep, rejuvenating stages of sleep. -On the flip side, night-time iPad users were shown to decrease their deep sleep by up to two hours! -If you’re eating before bed, Shawn says it’s important to choose fattier foods that won’t spike your blood sugar levels. -It's also important to create healthy night time rituals, like visualizing what you’ll be doing tomorrow, rather than watching the latest episode of Game of Thrones. -The goal is to regulate hormones like cortisol, which is helpful for working out, and melatonin, which is helpful for sleep. Too much of one

At age 27, Quentin Vennie was working out when he suddenly felt a pain in his chest, a tingly left arm and dizziness. He drove to the hospital, where a doctor diagnosed him with anxiety and gave him a prescription for lorazepam. "When you're in a vulnerable position, you turn to these people, but most doctors don't inquire. They don't ask what's really going on," he said. Quentin quickly became addicted to the lorazepam -- doubling, then tripling, his dose. After a combination of vicodin and lorazepam resulted in a collapsed lung and trip to the ER, Quentin realized his coping mechanism wasn't only ineffective, but could actually kill him. Over the next few years, Quentin began down a road of healing, starting with a daily practice of yoga, juicing, and meditation. "I didn't share anything with anyone because I didn't know if it was going to work," he said. Juicing became his "healthiest addiction," but he also cut out dairy, stopped smoking and worked towards accepting his inner demons. Today, Quentin

If you’re not already munching on something healthy right now, you’re going to be making a salad by the end of this episode! Leslie Durso, a vegan chef featured in the pages of People, MAXIM, Glamour and VegNews, shared a ton of motivating advice with us about embarking on an herbivorous diet. Leslie first became vegan at age 8 and she is so cool, funny and charming in this episode, she’s like a walking advertisement for eating your veggies. Listen to find out: • Which foods you must ensure are organic vs. which foods you can let slide. • How to eat healthy on-the-go. • What happens to your body when you begin caring about what you’re feeding it. Links: https://Twitter.com/LeslieDurso http://LeslieDurso.com http://Instagram.com/LeslieDurso

Jasmine Schmalhaus (AKA Jazzy Things) joins us on today's podcast! -Jasmine shares her secret to creating a healthy recipe for just about anything you crave. -How even a moron could read her cookbook and make something delicious. -If you want to succeed in the gym, you must accept failure. You only succeed if you fail. Mind Blown! Find out how Jasmine left her corporate job to create a career from thin air, doing the thing she is most passionate about. Food! Jeff cooks one of Jasmine's recipes, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Protein Cakes, and stuffs his face during the entire podcast. Jasmine admits, if she was only allowed to eat one meal for the rest of her life, it would have to be pan cakes. Rob says it's is his grandmother's Pasta Fagioli. We ignore that Jeff's favorite his Crab Cakes. Things we talk about: -Pre and Post Workout Foods -Jasmine's training schedule while prepping for a show -You must lift heavy weights to see major results -Do you really need to use pre-workout energy drinks? -Jasmine l

In todays podcast the gang gets back together! Introduction: -Jeff's inner fat kid rears its ugly head while on vacation and Alek suggests N.C.I.S as a fitness motivator to get back on track. -We discuss how pizza burritos are the best idea ever. -Acting is a lucrative business as verified by residual checks. Our interview with Sarah Ballantyne: -Autoimmune disease and the difficulty with testing. -Sarah's skin disease, Lichen planus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichen_planus) -Can High intensity training inhibit the healing of, or even increase gut permeability? Show Links: -The Paleo Mom Website http://www.thepaleomom.com/ -Sarah's Book: The Paleo Approach http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1936608391?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1936608391&linkCode=xm2&tag=wwwthepaleomo-20 This Awesome Podcast https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-paleo-view/id553710453?mt=2 Consulting with Sarah's Peeps http://www.thepaleomomconsulting.com/ Bone Broth Recipe http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/03/r

In this awesome episode of the Open Sky Fitness Podcast, we chat it up with Motivational Messenger, Preston Smiles about why it's so important to listen to your gut, how Alek has made the "choice" to fail as a writer and why getting naked in front of hundreds of people will help you with your mommy issues. Alek also tells about a book that he's going to write in 10 years, so if anyone wants to steal his idea, you have some time. Rob finds out the importance of meditation and vows to start a new practice. He's probably full of shit. We'll have to wait and see. Lastly, we read a review someone left for us on iTunes. Rob will send any person who leaves a review, that he end up reading on the show, a new Open Sky Fitness write band. Leave a review, listen to the show and if you hear your review read, email your home address to Rob and we'll send you an OSF wrist band. Find everything you need to know about Preston Smiles and what he's working on here: http://www.prestonsmiles.com/ Instagram http://instagr

Musician, Brett Dennen joins the OSF Podcast! Find out how Brett lost all that weight and why Jeff thinks Rob & Brett are secretly in love. New album Smoke and Mirrors: http://brettdennen.net/toursplash2013/ Brett's favorite juice recipe.... Green Lemonade: 1 bunch kale 1 apple 1 lemon 1 "nub" ginger https://twitter.com/brettdennen instagram.com/brettdennen www.facebook.com/brettdennen Love this podcast? Please leave us a review on iTunes. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/open-sky-fitness/id734199564?mt=2 Like us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/openskyfitness

Maddy Curley can deadlift 270, do 45 pull-ups, and doesn't care what she eats. Listen up.

Author of The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet, Nina Teicholz comes on the show. We discover how saturated fat is actually vital to a healthy diet and how we've all been duped into thinking a low-fat diet is the best thing for us.

An interview with Paleo Chef, Mary Shenouda. We talk about what it means to be Paleo and why it's so important to have fun no matter what you do!

An interview with Krista Simmons, culinary travel journalist, food editor at LAist.com, and judge on Esquire's "Knife Fight"