Carrie Underwood has a fitness line, Calia, available in stores and so she usually fields questions about her workout routine. She’s like Kate Hudson in that she’s incredibly toned and fit and people want to know her “secret.” Usually she’s quite upfront that she works out hard every day and does specific targeted exercises, but in this interview she downplays how much she exercises, which is somewhat disappointing. In context and not just as a sound bite it’s not that bad though. When Carrie says she “runs around after her kid” she literally means that she runs with her kid in a stroller, she’s not saying that chasing her kid around the house is all she does in a day. She also talks about carving out 20 minutes here and there for exercise and not beating herself up if she doesn’t have more time.
“It just happens if and when it happens,” Underwood, 34, told PEOPLE of her new approach to working out at the CALIA by Carrie Underwood Summer Kick-Off event in Malibu on Friday. “I’ve gotten a lot better at doing what I can when I can, but also cutting myself a little slack. You have to!”
That means squeezing in a workout when it’s doable.
“Now it’s like, ‘Okay, I have 20 minutes. What can I do in 20 minutes?’” she says. “I can go run for a little while, I can go do some tabata rounds, I can do something. Sometimes I’m like, my workout today is going be running around after my kid. If we’re going to go to the park, why not run there and push him in the stroller? Then I get a good cardio session to and from, and then he gets to play, so everybody wins.”
If she does have a little more free time, she’ll do a full tabata workout.
“I ‘play cards’ a lot — I assign different exercises to each suit, and I sit down at breakfast and plan out what each suit’s going to be,” she says.
Her other go-to activities are running and group exercise classes, like Barry’s Bootcamp.
“I love just putting headphones in and going for a run,” says Underwood. “I feel so good when I get home, especially when it’s hot. I’m one of those weirdos that likes to run when it’s super hot outside! Or classes. I find myself competing with other people in the room. I’m like, ‘Oh she’s good, I want to be like her!’ I try to ‘beat’ someone in the class. They have no idea we’re competing!”
I doubt she does just 20 minutes in a day unless she’s doing 20 minutes three or more times a day, but that’s minor. She busts her butt to look like that and it shows. In my bootcamp class we did that card trick she mentioned by assigning different exercises to each suit where you would have to do both the exercise for the suit and the number of reps on the card. So if you got a jack of spades for instance that might mean 11 burpees. (I hate burpees so I didn’t last long in that bootcamp class.) Also, in terms of what she mentioned about “beating” the people in class I get energy from friends in my group fitness classes but I never think “I’m going to beat that person,” I just try to get the moves perfect and to focus on mirroring the instructor. There’s always room for improvement and it keeps me thinking about something while I’m working out. I think of it like we’re all a team, honestly. It’s not surprising that Carrie Underwood is competing in her mind with the other people in the class though.
Photos credit: Getty and WENN
Why? Why do famous tricks always try to sell us this b*llshit?
I know, right?
+1 yes. I have 3 and they are 3 insanely hyper ones where I never sit down. Still, at 4 months post partum I was still carrying an extra 20lb and had only lost 10. It wasn’t until I resumed full exercise and calorie watching again that I lost the 20lb left.
*although I did lose 100% of it the first time, and within 8 weeks, so it’s possible.
I only had one, and I was so stressed from colic, no sleep, and breastfeeding that I lost all 30 lbs in 3 months. Once he started walking, I literally would run myself ragged running after him and holding and rocking him in my arms, that I lost an additional 5 lbs and kept it off…until I hit 40 that is! So, I do believe that runnning after a kid all day is a workout in itself.
I came here to ask who are these amazing kids that run for 10km so their mums can keep fit?!
Then I read the article and it’s worse. It’s exhausting. I don’t understand this American culture of exercising to an extreme and talking about it. all. the.fucking.time.
And them all hard-working mums who do not have the time to stop for a few months between concerts try to do the same when they can.
Just another nail on the self-loathing coffin as far as I’m concerned.
Spot on.
I think you have to differentiate between someone who’s in excellent shape and can get away with maintaining that shape for a while doing less and someone who’s trying to get in shape or better shape etc. That’s not the same thing. So for her, 20 min of busting her butt maintains that excellent shape. I think people misunderstand and think these celebs are saying you can look like them doing xyz for 20 minutes. That’s not it.
I fell into a hole at the beginning of this year. Stopped running, ate chocolate. It was the worst and I felt like crap. But until January, I had been in great running shape so when I got back on track in April, it wasn’t like I was starting from scratch. I’m actually almost back in the shape I was before, even though taking a break from running for over 3 months is a LOT and sets you back a depressing amount. When I started a few years ago, it took me months until I could run for 30-40 min straight without fainting.
These are things to consider and the reason I don’t care about these interviews. I’m not Carrie Underwood.
Yes, spot on. What she does or doesn’t do activity or fitness-wise can’t really translate to the average person who isn’t already insanely fit. Which is fine as long as she doesn’t market herself as just an average person.
I guess that’s what rubs me the wrong way: she presents herself as someone who is letting go a little bit “She also talks about carving out 20 minutes here and there for exercise and not beating herself up if she doesn’t have more time.”
And then she runs to the park instead of interacting with her kid and sits down at breakfast doing lists of fitness activities.
Come on girl, own it: it’s fucking hard but you’re a fitness nut so you make it work.
There, I fixed it.
*still find it exhausting though, but it would be her choice*
Um. I have 3 very active kids 4 years & under. I have yet to lose any weight running for 20 mins. Believe me, I’ve tried to do the 20 min thing when short on time.
That just sounds like hell to me. Every time I get a 20 minute break from the kids I have to be exercising. I’ve got other things to do, Carrie.
I would like these celebrities to just say “If it works out I may take the kids for a run with me, but usually the nanny comes and I go work out for an hour, 6 days a week.”
Exactly.
I see Moms running after multiple kids or running with their kids stroller all.the.time! Many regular women do this believe it or not. None of them are sample size. Just toned and with stamina. This lie needs to die.
Then again I don’t blame celebrity women, if they are honest about how they really get in shape (starvation diets, juicing, surgery, 5 workouts/day) the general public accuse them of being bad influences on teenaged girls. Of encouraging eating disorders. So the lie. And teenage girls feel bad about them selves anyway because they can’t drop down to sample size running after their little cousins!
It is dying in the exercise community. Even the exercise community no longer believes longer is better. She is a bit behind on aerobic exercise info. Recent workouts focus on short intense intervals mixed with rest. Exercise lasting sometimes all of 10 minutes.
I don’t take this interview as Carrie saying “if you do this, you can look like me.” They asked what she does and she told them. She makes fitness a priority and fits it in when she can, even if she can’t do a full hour workout. She also follows a healthy diet. Running is torture to me but I like the deck of cards idea and may try doing that.
Isn’t she also a vegan?
Why do famous women INSIST on trotting this B*llshit filled horse out to the pasture again and again??!
Every time she opens her mouth to speak she gets more annoying. Go Pittsburgh Penguins. Straight to the Stanley Cup.
having recently lost a lot of weight by working really hard, going to spin and eating well, I tend to believe a lot of these really in shape stars when they say they work out when they can. I’ve noticed that I can maintain my results with much less exercise (as long as I’m eating well), because my metabolism is just so much better now. I think it is super unfair but true that the more in shape you are the easier it is to stay that way
Love Carrie. I’ve checked out her leg workouts she looks incredible. I also prefer to workout in the heat.
Thats great that she has the time to exercise and what not….but these celebrities also need to be more open and honest that their wealth and status makes it a whole lot easier. If she needs to go out to a gym, she probably has nannies or staff onsite that can watch the kid for an hour. Or if shes going for a run, she can hire someone to cook for her and save on time.
I wish there was a middle ground – we either admire this unattainable fitness standard or say bodyshaming is bad and try to normalize obesity. Obesity is not normal, neither is exercising hard every day! You should walk every day, move around, not be a coach potato, play some sports for fun, but not turn your days into constant drills and eat a kale-only diet, it’s too depressing of a life((