It’s no wonder that Taylor Swift is “ready to shake it off” after the grueling prep work that went into her record-breaking Eras Tour.
In “The End of an Era,” a six-part docuseries on Disney+, Taylor Swift, now 36, opens up about the challenges of performing her record-breaking Eras Tour, which reached an astonishing 10 million fans across five continents.
The pop sensation, known for her energetic performances, talks about how she had to prepare for her Eras Tour, which lasted for three and a half hours.
“I’ve never worked out this much in my life, it’s horrible,’” Taylor Swift says about her grueling prep work for her Eras Tour.
The longest show that Taylor Swift had performed before the Eras Tour was two hours and 15 minutes. However, to extend that to a three-and-a-half-hour show, which included over 40 songs, was no easy task.
“I never would’ve believed you if you told me we were doing a three-and-a-half-hour show,” Taylor Swift says about her Eras Tour. “Saying it is one thing, doing it is another.”
The Eras Tour was a musical journey, with each part representing an era of Taylor Swift’s music. This meant that Taylor had to constantly change her pace, dance, and movement on stage, considering that her stage was as long as an entire NFL stadium.
She says that she runs about eight miles during each show, and that’s not counting her singing and costume changes.
As part of her preparation, Swift developed a very precise cardio plan months before rehearsals even commenced.
“Six months before my first rehearsal, I was running on the treadmill to the beat of the songs I was playing and singing along to those songs.” Swift says. Faster songs mean running, and slower ones mean brisk walking or jogging. Her aim was to avoid panting during her performances
While Swift did her cardio work on her own, she also worked with her trainer Kirk Myers to improve her strength and conditioning. Myers has always lauded Swift for her discipline and strength of character.
“Taylor is the most resilient person I have ever met. It’s super-inspiring to see her consistently overcome obstacles and become better and stronger in the end.” Myers told Us Weekly in 2023.
As mentioned earlier, in Episode 3 of the series, Swift is shown training in front of the cameras in Kirk Myers’ gym. Swift battled the ropes, an activity known to improve cardiovascular endurance while also strengthening the shoulders, arms, and torso. Swift also performs assisted pull-ups, something she says she dislikes.
“In no way do I ever apply this … at any point in the show.” Swift says. “Strong dislike. Two thumbs down.” Myers responds to Swift’s aversion to assisted pull-ups by pointing to her improvements in her upper body strength. Swift responds to this by saying it could be because of “all the pent-up rage and resentment.”
However, despite Swift’s playfulness in resisting the pull-ups, they are an exercise with a definite function. They help develop the arms, back, and shoulders, improve posture, and develop grip strength, which is an important skill set for a performer to have as a guitarist through a long concert.
Swift learned firsthand about the difficulty of gripping a guitar as her hands cramped during her acoustic concert in Edinburgh, Scotland, because of the freezing temperatures.
Her regimen was more than pull-ups alone. The docuseries depicts her pushing through leg raises, weighted side twists, crunches, knee to elbow exercises, and even sledgehammer exercises. All of these exercises are intended to build the endurance necessary for moving about and singing.
Myers points out that Swift’s capacity to persevere under physical stress is what makes her different from others.
“I give her a difficult exercise or challenging workout, not only is she able to complete and push through it, but she also perseveres,” he says. “This ultimately makes her stronger, better, and faster.”
Such an exercise regimen points to the reality that the physical toll of large-scale touring is akin to an elite sporting event. The capacity to maintain high-energy choreography with vocal acuity requires cardiovascular fitness.
The Eras Tour was more than simply a concert series for Swift; it was an endurance event that demanded significant physical exertion dozens of times over nearly two years. The exercise regimen may have been “horrible,” as Swift herself described it, but it has enabled her to deliver one of the most ambitious concert series in contemporary music.
There was more to the glittering costumes and anthemic hits than months of running on the treadmill, battling ropes, and grudging pull-ups, pop superstardom requires serious sweat equity.
