Dancing With the Stars professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd doesn’t just dance for work—she does it for fun too (and Instagram!). Murgatroyd, 37, shared a video of herself wearing orange leggings and a matching sports bra, dancing with husband Maksim Chmerkovskiy. “🎉 FINALE VIBES 🎉 Our last trailer dance for a while 🥺 What an incredible season!” she captioned the post. Here’s how the dancer and mother-of-two (with baby number three on the way!) stays fit, strong, and full of energy.
Murgatroyd always intensifies her workouts before Dancing With the Stars goes into production. “I’ve been doing boxing, I’ve been going to the gym, I’ve had my personal trainer,” she told Us Weekly. “I’ve been doing my part in keeping healthy … any time I’ve gone back, whether I go to the gym or not, it’s a shock to the system because it’s so intense. We do 4 to 6 hours a day and you just don’t get that type of cardio anywhere else, so it’s always a bit of a shock. But I think I’m going to be fine.”
Murgatroyd loves running and hiking every day. “I have to work out every day,” she told Dance Magazine. “I need to break a sweat. Running is my main go-to, whether on the road or on the treadmill. I also love to go hiking at Runyon Canyon. During the off-season I really need to keep my body in shape, as I’m not dancing as much as I do when I’m on Dancing With The Stars.
Murgatroyd is careful about her diet when she’s in work mode—she fuels with healthy proteins, and enjoys pasta as a treat. “I usually eat chicken salads, granola bars, vegetables and a little bit of chocolate,” she told Dance Magazine. “I love granola bars, dried fruit, and Gatorade.”
Murgatroyd loves hot yoga and Pilates. “When you’re in the rehearsal period, you tend to lose a lot of weight because you’re throwing yourself into several different styles of dance that you aren’t used to and you’re rehearsing 12 hours a day,” she told PEOPLE. “Towards the middle of the tour, I stopped losing weight and I kind of plateaued which is a good thing because you don’t want to get too skin and bones out there. I figured out that for my body, I need to keep maintaining my strength and endurance. I have to trick my body into doing different types of cardio now so my muscles never get bored because now they’re so used to doing the show.”
Murgatroyd can tell almost immediately if she and her dance partner will be a success as a team. “Usually by the end of the day on day one, I can figure out if we’re gonna be in finals or not,” she told Us Weekly. “That’s a very big telltale sign. We go through all the basics and you know, you can tell if it’s somebody that is charming and funny and maybe not the best dancer, but you could definitely get to the finals. Or it could be a great dancer and I might need to work on the personality and bringing their personable side out. I definitely know in 24 hours.”