Taylor Swift's exact workout that kept her stage ready for the Eras Tour

It takes a rare kind of power to cause an earthquake without a single fault line involved, and Taylor Swift did just that. During her Eras Tour stop in Seattle in July 2023, reports of seismic activity equivalent to a 2.3-magnitude earthquake rippled through the city, proving that Swift’s cultural force is as physical as it is emotional. Spanning 149 concerts across five continents, the Eras Tour became the highest-grossing tour in history, a record-shattering celebration of every era that defined her career. Now, through her six-part Disney+ docuseries The End of an Era, Swift is pulling back the curtain on what it actually took, mentally, emotionally, and physically, to sustain a three-and-a-half-hour show, night after night.

Preparing for the Eras Tour was unlike anything Swift had ever attempted before, and she knew it demanded a completely different level of discipline. Despite openly admitting her dislike for working out, she committed to an intense training regimen six months before rehearsals even began. “I’ve never worked out this much in my life. It’s horrible,” she admitted candidly in episode three of the docuseries. But the scale of the tour left no room for shortcuts.

Her routine was built around endurance first. “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.” The goal was to simulate the physical reality of performing while breathless, something Swift explains became essential once she realised each show required her to cover nearly eight miles on stage. “Anything’s hard when you’re scaling the entire length of an NFL stadium.”

Strength training was equally non-negotiable. Working with trainer Kirk Myers, Swift’s sessions included battle ropes, the skierg machine, assisted pull-ups, which she joked earned a “strong dislike, two thumbs down", giant weighted ball throws, crunches, weighted side twists, and even sledgehammer strikes. She laughed that her newfound strength came from “all the pent-up rage and resentment” she harboured toward working out, but the results were undeniable. “There are a lot of things that we pulled off on this tour that I’ve never even attempted on past tours,” she said.

Beyond the physical demands, The End of an Era also captures the emotional weight Swift carried while touring. During the record-breaking run, she navigated two highly publicised breakups, revealing that the tour became her anchor during that period. The discipline of training, performing, and showing up every night gave her structure and purpose when her personal life felt unsteady. As one fan-favourite line from the tour put it perfectly, “Men will let you down, The Era’s tour never will.”

What the Eras Tour ultimately revealed is that Taylor Swift’s stamina is as much about mindset as muscle. Training for six months, running daily while singing live, and enduring shows longer than most artists would ever attempt wasn’t about chasing perfection; it was about preparation. By committing fully to the process, Swift proved that longevity at the highest level comes from respect for the craft, the body, and the audience. Earthquakes aside, the real impact of the Eras Tour lies in its reminder that behind every iconic moment is relentless work, even when it’s “horrible.”

Image credits: Getty Images

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