After a winter spent recovering from the November fall that left her with a broken wrist and between 40 and 50 stitches in her face, Carrie Underwood looked strong and swimsuit-ready at a May 4 event for her Calia by Carrie activewear line. Her secret? “She got back in there as quick as she could,” the 35-year-old’s trainer of 10 years, Erin Oprea, reveals to Us.
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
After a winter spent recovering from the November fall that left her with a broken wrist and between 40 and 50 stitches in her face, Carrie Underwood looked strong and swimsuit-ready at a May 4 event for her Calia by Carrie activewear line. Her secret? “She got back in there as quick as she could,” the 35-year-old’s trainer of 10 years, Erin Oprea, reveals to Us.
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
After a winter spent recovering from the November fall that left her with a broken wrist and between 40 and 50 stitches in her face, Carrie Underwood looked strong and swimsuit-ready at a May 4 event for her Calia by Carrie activewear line. Her secret? “She got back in there as quick as she could,” the 35-year-old’s trainer of 10 years, Erin Oprea, reveals to Us.
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Nashville-based Oprea, who also works with actress Jana Kramer and country singers Maren Morris, Kelsea Ballerini and Kacey Musgraves, helped the former American Idol winner work around her wrist injury as she healed. “We did little isolation exercises,” she explains. “You can still work your shoulders by extending your arms in little rotations, and then as everything starts healing, and you consult with your doctor, you can work your way up.” But even while taking it easy on Underwood’s wrist, says Oprea, “legs were still fair game!”
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Underwood (here lifting weights with her mom, Carole, at the May 4 event) declared her wrist “good to go” and thanked her doctor and physical therapist in a January 19 Instagram post of an X-ray showing metal screws in her bone. Through it all, Oprea calls the singer, who’s been married to NHL star Mike Fisher since 2010, “superdisciplined.” Her typical routine with her clients includes a combination of cardio (Underwood “does most of it on her own,” says Oprea), weight training and Tabata workouts, a form of high-intensity interval training that includes “20-second bursts of exercise and 10 seconds of rest, for eight rounds,” done for a total of four supertough minutes.
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Another Underwood go-to, says Oprea, is the pull-up. “It’ll take forever to get to the point where you can do them,” she admits, but mastering the fitness fundamental is a “fantastic” way to get a toned back.
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Of course, to achieve a body like Underwood’s, just hitting the gym won’t cut it. An hour before exercising, Oprea recommends her clients down a shot of “beet, lemon and ginger” juice, which she says “opens blood vessels to let oxygen in, so you don’t get winded.” Post-sweat, Oprea advises replenishing with “proteins and carbs” — and paying attention to the colors on your plate. As a rule of thumb, she says, “When it’s light it ain’t right, with the exception of cauliflowe
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Since eating healthy on the go can be a challenge, Oprea also suggests prepping snacks in advance. It’s a multipronged approach her “determined” clients are willing to commit to — especially Underwood, who Oprea says “kicks ass, man.”
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