Taylor Swift has opened up about the intense endurance training and lifestyle changes that helped her survive the physical demands of her record-breaking Eras Tour. The 36-year-old performer delivered three-and-a-half-hour shows for 149 gigs across the globe between March 2023 and December 2024, performing an impressive 44-song setlist celebrating her many musical “eras.”
The energetic displays left her with little energy, and she even admitted to presenter Scott Mills, 51, on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show in October that she could “barely lift my arms or walk.” Taylor also confessed on the radio program that there were moments when the “really complex” concerts felt like something she had to “survive.”
Still, she managed to maintain enough energy to get her through the marathon run of shows thanks to personal trainer Kirk Myers, 46, who ensured she stayed focused on endurance throughout her demanding preparation.
In episode three of The End of an Era, the six-part Disney+ docuseries that followed Taylor and her crew during the highest-grossing tour of all time, fans saw the Shake It Off icon hit the gym as she gave a behind-the-scenes look at the workout routine that helped her prepare for the performances.
Taylor, whose tour was the first to surpass $2 billion in revenue, said during the episode, “There are a lot of things that we pulled off on this tour that I’ve never even attempted on past tours.”
She continued, “I think the longest show I ever did before was 2 hours and 15 minutes. I never would have believed you if you would have told me we would be doing a 3.5-hour show. Now, saying that is one thing. Doing that physically is another.”
“Anything’s hard when you’re scaling a stage that goes the entire length of an NFL stadium. I think I run like eight miles in the show.”
The Cruel Summer singer also had to make some lifestyle changes, and she branded her workout routine as “horrible.” “I really had to up my game in terms of physical training,” Taylor added.
Some of the exercises she focused on included battle waves and wave slams, ski machine, resistance band-assisted pull-ups, medicine ball sit-up throws, and overhead hammer slam. She also did assisted reverse crunch, hanging knee raise, medicine ball slams, medicine ball Russian twists, and reformer plank pikes.
Taylor tried crossover crunch with ankle weights, medicine ball side throws, Bosu ball squat and press, as well as pull-ups, which she had a “strong dislike” for. She quipped, “In no way do I ever apply this at any point in the show. I just want to flag that as I do every time I have to do pull-ups.”
However, personal trainer Kirk said the grueling exercise has paid off because it has made the Love Story performer “stronger.” Taylor joked: “It’s from all the pent-up rage and resentment I have for them.” The chart-topper kicked off her training six months before the start of The Eras Tour, which launched March 17, 2023, at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
Taylor, who capped off The Eras Tour at BC Place stadium in Vancouver, Canada, on December 8, 2024, explained, “Six months ahead of my first rehearsal, (I was) running on the treadmill every single day at the tempo of the songs that I was playing while singing them out loud. You just don't want them to see you panting.” Pulling off the routine for her 1989 and Reputation performances required a lot of cardio.