Taylor Swift is many things: a singing-songwriting sensation, a brilliant businesswoman, and, now, TIME’s Person of the Year 2023.
She’s also, as it turns out, a fitness legend.
During her interview with the magazine announcing the honor — which has been given to US Presidents, business magnates, and influential activists in past years — Swift detailed the training regimen that helped her prepare for “The Eras Tour.” The blockbuster tour, which kicked off this summer, includes 151 shows across five continents, each of which features a 44-song setlist spanning her entire discography.
Taylor Swift performs in Buenos Aires. Marcelo Endelli/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Managemen
Swift sings, dances, and struts along a stage the length of a football field throughout the sparkling 3.5-hour affair, all while sporting an array of custom Christian Louboutin heels corresponding with each “era” of her career. It is, by any standard, a remarkable athletic feat, and Swift prepared accordingly.
“Every day I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud,” Swift told TIME. “Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs.”
Six months before the tour began, the 33-year-old started her intensive training at Dogpound, a celebrity-laden gym in New York City. In addition to running while singing for the three-plus hour length of each show — a span comparable to the timing of a marathon — Swift said her trainers crafted a plan that also incorporated weight lifting, strength training, and other forms of conditioning.
Taylor Swift sings and strums her guitar during “The Eras Tour.” Terence Rushin/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
She tacked on “three months of dance training” as well.
“I wanted to get it in my bones,” Swift explained. “I wanted to be so over-rehearsed that I could be silly with the fans, and not lose my train of thought.”
“Learning choreography is not my strong suit,” she added.
Swift also cut alcohol out of her life, at least for the duration of the tour. Her lone exception was the “hilarious” night of the 2023 Grammy Awards, when she was visibly tipsy while dancing and singing along to the performances from her spot in the audience.
Taylor Swift (right) and longtime music collaborator Jack Antonoff toast to the camera during the 2023 Grammy Awards. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
But aside from the awards show back in February, Swift steered clear of drinking, and for good reason:
“Doing that show with a hangover,” she told TIME. “I don’t want to know that world.”
By the time her stint in any given city comes to a close, Swift said she “can barely speak” from singing so much. Every time she takes a step, she added, she can feel her feet crunching under her “from dancing in heels” for a collective 10.5 hours.
Taylor Swift kicks her heeled boot in the air while performing a song on “The Eras Tour.” AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko
Swift knows that she’ll force herself to perform regardless of “whether I’m sick, injured, heartbroken, uncomfortable, or stressed,” so she takes steps to keep up her strength and mitigate those risks. She makes sure to devote a full day to rest and recovery after each stop on the tour.
“I do not leave my bed except to get food and take it back to my bed and eat it there,” Swift said. “It’s a dream scenario.”
