It used to be enough to have a pretty face, a good voice, and know a few dance moves to become a pop star. Taylor Swift reminded us last week when she disclosed how she had been getting ready for her Eras tour that this was no longer good enough for the top.
She told Time magazine, "Every day I would run on the treadmill, singing the entire set list out loud," she told Time magazine. "Fast for fast songs, and a jog or a fast walk for slow songs. Then I had three months of dance training, because I wanted to get it in my bones."
With over three hours of costume changes, intense dancing, and dashes from one end of the stage to the other, all while belting out songs, it's half pop spectacle, part endurance feat. All these exercising is not just meant for Swift to look her fittest - it is to make her actually physically fittest.
What Swift has to go through is also suffered by Madonna and Beyonce.
The physical strain that goes into a tour is also documented in Beyoncé's film Renaissance, and Madonna's 65-year-old current Celebration tour-which is scheduled to end in April after 78 shows-demonstrates how long that dedication can endure. "We handle them like athletes: how much physical strain will they be subjected to?" Dan Roberts says.
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As one of the few fitness experts working in the "weird world of celebrity training," he is a London-based personal trainer. The majority of the time, it entails training actors for superhero roles or sequences involving no shirt off; some of his clients are Broadway performers who perform for two hours every night for six months at a time. But he also collaborates with well-known musicians and nobility.
He can't mention names due to nondisclosure agreements, but he can talk broadly.
While Roberts occasionally gets flown out to assist a musician mid-tour, he mostly takes care of his regular clientele by communicating with other A-list trainers across the globe. He also provides training to travelers via London. His initial action is to evaluate each person's needs and objectives.
It's not all pain though.
Building all-around strength and flexibility through "prehabilitation" therapy is essential to avoiding injuries when dancing night after night. Roberts concentrates on "other stuff that is more likely to get knackered," which includes the stabilizing muscles surrounding the ankles.
Roberts noted that there is frequently a less evident "secondary goal" that goes beyond the pressures of nightly performances, such as building strength or dropping weight in preparation for a red carpet event or movie role.
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