As Taylor Swift Opens Up About How Gruelling Her Eras Tour Training Was – I Tried Her 3+ Hour Treadmill Workout

You'd have had to have been living under a rock to have missed Taylor Swift's upcoming album announcement. Appearing as a guest on her boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast last week, she shared that her twelfth studio album will be released in October. Even Google celebrated the announcement, with orange confetti appearing on the search engine when you googled the star's name or the name of the new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.

Speaking on the podcast, Swift shared: "[The Eras tour] was a lot of physical therapy and a lot of being in physical discomfort. The heels for that long!"

Kelce adds that the physical recovery Swift underwent to ensure she stayed in her best shape for the tour was unbelievably similar to what he commits to as a professional athlete.

The same week, Kelce appeared on the cover of GQ magazine, opening up in the interview about Swift's Eras tour workout regimen - and we're very here for it.

"She may not think of herself as an athlete," he shared. "She will never tell anyone that she is an athlete. But I’ve seen what she goes through. I’ve seen the amount of work that she puts on her body, and it’s mind-blowing."

He continued: "To go out on a stage, on a computer, essentially, for three hours. The [Eras Tour] floor is literally [a computer] – I’ve seen underneath that thing. It is a football-field-sized computer. You take that into Singapore, where it is scorching hot, and all of a sudden you’re feeling the fumes from the computer and you’re feeling the fumes from the sun and you’re doing a show for three hours with a lot of energy, bringing it every single song."

"That is arguably more exhausting than how much I put in on a Sunday, and she’s doing it three, four, five days in a row," he concluded.

Kelce himself is an American professional footballer for the Kansas City Chiefs, which gives his comments even more weight.

For context, Swift has confirmed that to condition her body for gruelling three-and-a-half-hour-long stage sets, she spent half a year running on a treadmill every single day, all while singing her entire 44-song setlist at the same time. Yep.

“Every day I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud,” Swift told Time magazine. “Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs. I knew this tour was harder than anything I’d ever done before by a long shot. I finally, for the very first time, physically prepared correctly.”

And it wasn't all cardio, either - she shared that she also made sure to include strength and conditioning to injury-proof her body.

As the Swiftie that I unashamedly am, I took it upon myself to try the Taylor Swift workout last year - in the name of journalism, of course.

After eight-plus years of running long distances at qualifying times, I'd consider myself in fairly good shape when it comes to the old running malarkey. Spoiler alert: Taylor is fitter, and singing while running is hard.

It's worth noting here - this is a totally obscene amount of exercise for anyone with a 9-to-5 job, and I wouldn't recommend you try it at home. For more of how I got on, plus a qualified personal trainer's take, keep scrolling.

I tried Taylor Swift's infamous Eras treadmill workout - and wow, she is fit

How long did Taylor run on the treadmill?

According to some pretty impressive runner's maths published in Runner's World magazine, she'd be covering a whopping sixteen miles in total to sing her entire 3-hour and 15-minute set. As per Swift's interview, she ran "fast for fast songs and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs." They worked it out as follows - 22 fast-tempo songs at an average pace of nine-minute miles (roughly ten miles) - plus 23 slower-paced songs at a 15-minute-per-mile walking pace (just over 6.13 miles).

Of course, this is measured guesswork from the team at RW, and we don't know exactly what pace or distance Tay Tay was covering each day. That said, it looks like a pretty spot-on guess to me, having closely studied the setlist and average running paces.

Another interesting takeaway from the piece - Taylor's setlist is almost exactly half and half fast vs slow-paced songs, often paired next to one another. "Fast" songs with 150 to 160 beats per minute (which around half of Taylor's are) have been research-backed as more effective for speedwork sessions, with one 2019 study from the Memorial University of Newfoundland even concluding that music with a BPM of higher than 130 can not only improve endurance and recovery times but help you to keep your pace steady, too. It's almost like she planned it...

How I got on trying the Taylor Swift treadmill workout

Okay. It's time. Sports bra, running shorts and trainers on, headphones firmly in ear and Eras setlist playing.. and we're off. Kicking off with Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Kid feels like a gentle warm-up, and the six Lovers tracks fly by in a poppy, upbeat haze.

Onto Fearless. More folk, more slow tracks, more heartbreak, and I'm starting to tire. I've been doing the "fast" songs at a seven-minute-mile pace (fast for me) plus the "slow" songs at a ten-minute mile.

I've been on the treadmill for half an hour now, and I'm beginning to think I should have packed snacks. What amazes me the most is the sheer stamina she must have - I've only banked twelve songs, which is around a quarter of the setlist, and I'm ready to throw in the towel.

I'd also forgotten the absolutely essential element of Taylor's singing marathon extravaganza that sadly, we mere mortals aren't privy to - she obviously has a private gym. I do not. Safe to say, my fellow PureGym'ers gave me some funny looks by the time I was belting (admittedly under my breath) You Belong With Me.

By the time I get to 22 from Red - 21 songs in, just under halfway - I call it a day. I am a sweaty mess and have a newfound appreciation of the pop goddess and, apparently, also athlete, that is Taylor Swift.

Important to note here, too: the amount of running Taylor seems to have been doing is A LOT. 16 miles a day is next level, even for the most elite of ultra runners. While Taylor's training is, of course, helped by the fact that it's more of a run/walk than a consistent run, it's a long time to be working out for day in, day out. For context, even the ultra-running legend that is Courtney Dauwalter shares that she normally "long runs" for no more than three hours at a time. And she's a world champion.

While I don't make it through the whole setlist, I do come away from my attempt with a newfound appreciation for performers and their physical fitness. Not just that, I can't stress enough how fun it is listening to your favourite music and taking on new workout challenges that make movement feel fun and enjoyable. Focusing on the different song tempos was a great mental challenge, which I found distracted me from the physical challenge at hand, too.

So many of Taylor's lyrics are focused on female empowerment, loving yourself, and owning your worth, and I'll be honest, this workout got me in the feels on that front. I challenge you not to feel badass after blasting her music and having a good sing-along. Whether you choose to chuck in a treadmill run for good measure is up to you.

Things to note, if you're considering giving it a try

Keen to channel your inner Swiftie? Perhaps hold off on the three-hour-long workouts and instead heed the NHS guidelines, which advise aiming for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week. If you're keen to try the Taylor treadmill challenge, I'd advise aiming for 30 minutes on the treadmill a day, no more than five times a week, until you've completed the set list, but this is dependent on your current fitness levels.

What does an expert reckon?

According to Lillie Bleasdale, personal trainer, head coach and founder at PASSA, Taylor's technique can actually be a great way of upping your cardio fitness and boosting your overall stamina. "Firstly, using Taylor's technique of varying pace on a treadmill can be a fantastic way for new runners to gradually build their time on feet," she shares. "Programmes such as Couch to 5km use this method to assist with gradually building running time, with a lower risk of injury. Interchanging between brisk walking and light running can help us to gradually build that time on feet as we gain fitness."

She's a particular fan of Taylor's use of interchanging paces, which she explains is likely to help her work in different zones with her training, improving different areas of her fitness. "The majority of her time on stage is likely to be spent in an aerobic zone and maintained for a long period - she may have short bursts of using her anaerobic system for explosive and fast dance sections of her performance," she highlights. "By building her aerobic zone through longer walking stints and slower-paced running stints, she'll also become more efficient and therefore able to sustain this level of energy for a longer period of time, helping her to get through those long concerts regularly."

Do note, of course, the level of training Taylor has been reported to be doing is extremely advanced, and therefore is something that will have taken her a course of months and/or years to build up to. "It's also key to note that doing all your running/walking on the same surface (eg, treadmill) means that we are constantly impacting on the same surface, so it's key to change this up as and when we can by adding variety and therefore reducing the impact on our joints."

So... will you be getting to know the treadmill All Too Well?

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