If Taylor Swift hates working out, does that mean we can, too?
Like every other Swiftie in the world, we’re glued to her new six-episode docuseries on Disney+, which dives into every detail of the Eras Tour. You’d think a hardcore Swiftie would know everything about our queen, but you’d be wrong.
In the first episode, we saw heartbreaking scenes as Swift met with survivors and families of the victims of the Southport attack backstage at her Wembley shows.
We also get insights into her tour life, from allowing dancer Whyley Yoshimura to join the all-female group for ...Ready For It? to her very relatable experience of getting dumped twice during the first leg of the tour — “men will let you down, the Eras Tour never will.”
But another of Taylor's reveals shaking up social media? The brutal workout regime Swift followed to get tour-ready. She’s previously mentioned singing songs while sprinting on a treadmill — a concept we simply cannot fathom. This time, though, she admits she hated it. And honestly, if Taylor Swift can hate working out, maybe it’s finally okay for the rest of us too. Sign us up.
Even non-Swifties have to admit that the Eras Tour is a physical feat like no other. Swift spent three hours per night singing and dancing — simultaneously. Rarely has another artist performed for three hours straight, night after night. This was also Swift’s biggest challenge yet; she explained that before this tour, her longest concert had been two hours and fifteen minutes. Those extra forty-five minutes make all the difference.
Speaking to late-night host Jimmy Fallon earlier this month, she revealed that there were several nights she performed while battling a stomach bug, and her fans had no idea. She made it her mission to give it her all every night of the global tour.
“I never would’ve believed you if you told me we were doing a three-and-a-half-hour show,” Swift said. “Saying it is one thing, doing it is another,” said Swift.
“Six months ahead of my first rehearsal, [I was] running on the treadmill every day to the tempo of the songs I was playing while singing them out loud,” Swift explained. “You don’t want them to see you panting.”
Running to the beats of her albums 1989 and Reputation was “high cardio,” Swift revealed. “Everything is hard when you’re scaling a stage that goes the entire length of an NFL stadium — I ran eight miles,” she shared.
TikTok content
Swift teamed up with longtime fitness expert Kirk Myers for her strength training and conditioning. Clips show her doing assisted pull-ups and weighted ball throws during sit-ups.
She’s also seen powering through leg raises, weighted side twists, crunches, knee-to-elbow moves, and sledgehammer workouts — all designed to build the stamina needed for her marathon performances.
The clips clearly show Swift absolutely crushing her workout regimen, but she did the thing no one ever admits anymore… she said she wasn’t enjoying it.
“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,” Swift said. “Strong dislike. Two thumbs down.”
She even joked that her newfound strength comes from “all the pent-up rage and resentment” she feels toward working out.
It’s rare for a celebrity to admit they don’t like exercise, given that we usually only hear about how much they love fitness and nutrition, and how easy it is to have a physique like theirs (if you happen to have a personal trainer, chef, nutritionist, housekeeper, childcare, etc.).
Scratch that: it’s rare for anyone to admit they don’t like working out anymore. These days, people are defined by their love of fitness, even outside of work, purely for “leisure.” We’ve gone from SoulCycle cults to Barry’s Bootcamp devotees, to Pilates girls (grippy socks and Stanley Cup in tow), to Barre — the latest workout to steal the heart of every it-girl.
And while we fully acknowledge that exercise is great for your physical and mental health, are we allowed to admit that we don’t automatically love it? That we try to find the type of workout we hate the least and stick to it for the benefits, but don’t want to make it our personality?
According to Swift, we can. She’s openly admitting that fitness isn’t something she’s obsessed with, calling it, in her own words, “horrible.”
“I’ve never worked out this much in my life, it’s horrible. I really had to up my game in terms of physical training,” Swift admitted.
It’s a welcome change from the usual super-intense fitness fads.
She’s setting a new precedent for all of us who want to look after our wellbeing but don’t love fitness or aspire to be a walking TALA ad. We’re sweating it out on the mat in mismatched sports gear, getting through it by dreaming of the GAIL’s croissant that will follow — chocolate almond, of course. We’re here, we’re doing our best, and sometimes, it’s just a “horrible” necessity.
That said, it’s important to acknowledge that it’s far easier for someone of Swift’s body type to make a comment like this without judgment, than it is for those of us in bigger bodies. We’d likely be labelled as lazy in a way she never would be. Hating exercise remains a privilege largely reserved for those under a size 10.
If Swift can call fitness horrible and still crush it, maybe it’s time we stop feeling guilty for not loving the gym.
