‘Here’s What Happened When I Did Carrie Underwood’s Leg-Focused Workout For A Month’
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One thing about me: I’m always up for a challenge. Mental, physical…you name it, I’ll do it. Let’s chalk it up to the fact that I’m an Aries, so by nature, I enjoy competing against others, but mostly, myself—especially when it comes to working out.
So, when I saw the opportunity to try Carrie Underwood’s workout, you know I replied to that Slack message within 30 seconds. I mean, have you seen her legs? They could’ve been sculpted by Michelangelo himself. The credit for her strong quads, hamstrings, and calves goes to the superstar singer and her trainer Eve Overland.
It's obvious Carrie works hard in the gym, but I thought I could handle it. I grew up pretty active, playing sports and dancing in elementary and middle school. Lately, I’m in the gym most days of the week for about 45 minutes a session with strength training and a cardio warmup. I also try to throw in at least one group fitness class a week to mix things up (like shadow boxing and yoga). Working out is the one thing I prioritize every day as time for myself for my physical and mental health.
Carrie Underwood does total-body strength sessions daily.
Carrie and her trainer Eve Overland, CPT, train almost every day on the road together. (Btw starting Oct. 15, Carrie's singing her way across the country with stops in 43 cities for The Denim & Rhinestones Tour, and $1 from each ticket benefits the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.) "Even though the touring life is high demand and schedules are crazy, we have a set routine and can guarantee that time together," Overland tells WH. "Carrie prioritizes her time to work out. That is her 'me time' to do something she truly enjoys and to start her day on a positive note." (She's just like me, for real.)
Their sessions are usually 90 minutes, giving her time to focus on form and technique for every rep. "Carrie is always up for a challenge," she says. "She loves to push her body. She continues to grow by trying new things and practices until it is mastered. She is a machine." Well, it shows.
Carrie enjoys the basics when it comes to working out, which is why squats, deadlifts, and lunges are written all over this workout. "We progress, add challenge, and mix things up by changing the amount of weight used, reps, tempo and equipment," Overland tells WH. Their mobile gym also has some handy equipment, like a leg press machine, but they also bring along portable tools, like a TRX, stability ball, cables, and mini bands.
Overland also recommends remembering your "why" in order to stay motivated. After all, working out helps you improve all areas of your life and will enhance longevity, she notes. "Exercise has been shown to improve energy, mood, sleep, skin health, cognitive performance, and memory, just to name a few," she says. "Not to mention you feel like a total badass when you see and feel gains in strength. Getting stronger is empowering. Your confidence soars when you accomplish any fitness goal, large or small."
Eve acknowledges that the following workout is a bit *advanced*—not to mention lengthy! You can modify it by decreasing weight or reps, doing one round of the supersets instead of two or three, or choosing one exercise in each superset and zeroing in on form. And if you don't have a specific machine or piece of equipment (say, a barbell), feel free to modify without and do a similar bodyweight move, or use dumbbells.
Carrie trains daily with slightly different routines, but for the sake of my muscles and schedule, I did the following workout three days a week for a month. (Note: A superset is when you perform two or more exercises back to back.)
Warm up: 15-minute jog or hill walk
Cardio round: Perform 3-4 rounds—30 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest. Rest 30 seconds in between rounds.
1. Toe taps
2. Box squat
3. Touchdowns
4. Box jump
Superset #1: Perform 3 rounds, resting for 60 seconds between each round and 10 seconds (or longer if you need!) between each exercise. For bilateral exercises, don't forget to repeat on left side before moving on.
1. Pullup (5 reps)
2. Kneeling single-arm cable lat pulldown on right side (10 reps)
3. Renegade dumbbell row (10-12 reps)
4. Right forearm plank thread-the-needle (30 seconds)
Cardio burst: Perform 1-3 rounds of the following move—30 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest.
Toe taps
Superset #2: Perform 3 rounds, resting for 60 seconds between each round and 10 seconds (or longer if you need!) between each exercise. For bilateral exercises, don't forget to repeat on left side before moving on.
1. Leg press machine in sumo stance, or sumo squat (10 reps)
2. Barbell lateral lunge into curtsy lunge on right side (6-10 reps)
3. Squat jacks (30 seconds)
4. Barbell lateral lunge into curtsy lunge on left side (10 reps round 1, 8 reps round 2, 6 reps round 3)
5. Skaters (30 seconds)
Cardio burst: Perform 1-3 rounds of the following move—30 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest.
Box squat
Superset #3: Perform 3 rounds, resting for 60 seconds between each round and 10 seconds (or longer if you need!) between each exercise. Then repeat on the left side.
1. Bulgarian split squat to supported single-leg deadlift with dumbbell or kettlebell (8 reps)
2. Repeaters (30 seconds)
Cardio burst: Perform 1-3 rounds of the following move—30 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest.
Bench or box up-and-overs
Superset #4: Perform 3 rounds, resting for 60 seconds between each round and 10 seconds (or longer if you need!) between each exercise.
1. Barbell bent-over row (10 reps)
2. Barbell wide bicep curl (12 reps)
3. Stability ball back extension (15 reps)
Cardio burst: Perform 1-3 rounds of the following move—30 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest.
Box jump
Superset #5: Perform 2-3 rounds of the following moves, resting for 60 seconds between rounds and 10 seconds (or longer in between) exercises.
1. Dumbbell bicep curl (10 reps)
2. Dumbbell hammer curl (10-12 reps)
Extra credit HIIT finisher: Perform each exercise for 40 seconds, then the subsequent isometric hold exercise for 20 seconds.
1. Up-down plank, forearm plank
2. Burpee with a tuck jump, squat hold
3. Cross-body mountain climbers, high plank
4. Front kick and touch down (right side), static lunge (right)
5. Situp to cross-body punches (right and left), low boat pose
6. Front kick and touch down (left), static lunge (left)
7. Sumo jump squat, sumo squat pulse
The Challenge
When I first received the seven-page document (!) with Carrie’s workouts, I was intimidated AF. Five sets of work—repeated two to three times each? My workouts are never that complicated or organized—I usually don’t even train by doing sets—I just do a bunch of different exercises and repeat them if I feel like I need more.
On weekends when I did the workout, I made sure to complete multiple rounds of each superset, which took me around 90 minutes. Sometimes on weekdays, I’d only have time for one of each superset, so I ended up finishing after 75 minutes. I was sure to keep an eye on my form throughout each day’s work.
During week one, it took some time to acclimate to the new workout intensity.
Yes, it’s a strength-training workout, but pretty much all of it felt like cardio. My gym has three different levels, so I was running around each floor for the sake of time while still making sure I was doing the right moves in the correct order. The cardio circuit at the beginning was by far the hardest part.
But my adrenaline came in clutch because through each superset, I had never felt more empowered—especially because the workout forced me into several male-dominated areas of the gym that I hadn’t used before, which helped my confidence a lot. (It also helped to listen to a playlist of Carrie’s music!)
The day after my very first workout, I was immediately sore—mostly in my arms, chest, and butt. I felt the need to stretch out my legs, too. Throughout the week, my lower back was the most fatigued part of my body.
I saw form improvements in week two, and following the moves became a bit easier.
During the second week, remembering the workouts got a little easier and I still took the time to work on my form. I’d have to wait for machines, which took a fair amount of time, or modify a workout if the waiting took too long—like just doing plain squats instead of using the squat press.
I was able to really hone the Bulgarian split squat to single deadlift, and man, I felt it—my butt was very sore that week!
By week three, I was able to add weight and reps.
I could finally do more reps and increase weight without an issue. (Yay!) For instance, I switched from a 30-pound barbell to a 40-pound barbell for the reverse grip bent over rows in the fourth superset. I was also able to do more bicep curls in the last superset.
I was still sore from the leg circuits, most likely from the Bulgarian split squat to single deadlift. I noticed that I had to modify some of the cardio jumps for my knee—which has been bothering me on and off recently, probably from all the years of ballet training.
The fatigue set in during the final week, and I opted for some modifications.
In the last week, I felt serious physical fatigue. My brain was also wiped out—I missed going into the gym and leaving after 45 minutes. I began to low-key procrastinate my gym time because it kind of felt overbearing. I was determined to finish out strong on this workout, and I continued modifying the jumping to accommodate my hurt knee.
My Biggest Takeaways
1. The hard sessions left me feeling so accomplished.
I’m not going to lie, this workout felt like a lot to get through each day—it was taxing in more ways than one—but I always felt accomplished after each session was done. It was also rewarding to feel my strength gains by adding more weight or reps.
Carrie's better known for her strong legs than arms, but I wished there were more variations of arm exercises. While arms aren’t my favorite body part to work, part of me missed triceps and chest moves. (Ya girl loves pushups.) Yet, I still felt tired and satisfied with each workout after leaving the gym.
2. Listening to your body is important.
I’ve been learning how to get better at listening to my body over the past few years—it’s not just about taking a day off from the gym, it’s also about deciding to do a different workout if your body is too tired for something intense that day. (Forget the HIIT training, my body needs yoga sometimes!) Your body is going to feel a little different each day, so sometimes you need to decrease weight or reps—and that’s okay. You’re still getting stronger by doing some sort of movement each day.
In this case, I needed to do a lot of modifying towards the end of the month, both for my knee, and for my own time schedule. And, that was totally okay.
3. Sometimes the mental component of working out is harder than the physical work.
This workout required a lot of brain power when it came to knowing the order of each exercise and superset and the repetition. What move is next? How many reps am I doing? Can I do it in this area of the gym? Do I have to go upstairs? Ugh, someone’s on that machine. Should I modify instead? Awesome, they’re leaving. Okay, I did it. Wait, I still have to do the superset two more times.
It was a lot. Not to mention that some days, it feels nearly impossible to find the drive to go to the gym—especially in the morning before work. I never regretted it once I arrived. I’m so happy I did it. It’s a cool thing to say that I did Carrie Underwood’s workout, plus, I proved to myself that I could actually do something really hard.
4. Feeling humbled by a workout is kind of...fun.
Since I’m used to doing a lot of the same workouts each week based on my personal programming, I don’t always feel as exhausted as I’d like to. This workout was a breath of fresh air in that regard, though—with exhaustion comes actual results and strength. Not only did it incorporate a type of exercise I’m not used to doing as much (cardio), but the strength training exercises that I was used to doing were also harder than in my workouts.
From here, I’m excited to get back to my normal routine—and I have a refreshed mindset about it. I love finding new workouts and moves, but now I have a new way to implement them as well. In my usual hour-or-less timespan at the gym, you can bet that I’ll be including a ton of the exercises and circuits that Carrie and Eve work on together. (Leg press squats, I have my eye on you!)
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