'DWTS' Pro Witney Carson Reveals The Key To Nailing The Viral Leg Lift Challenge
Throughout Dancing With the Stars season 33, pro Witney Carson has gone mega-viral thanks to some of her jaw-dropping moves. But for Witney—who took seasons off of DWTS in 2021 and 2023, respectively, to welcome her children with husband Carson McAllister—getting that confidence back wasn't always easy.
After giving birth to her first son Kevin in January 2021, Witney felt "so much pressure to bounce back," she exclusively tells Women's Health.
"As a dancer, our bodies are always being picked apart," she says. "We're constantly looking in the mirror since we're three years old, and so we're very critical on ourselves. It was very stressful coming out of postpartum and getting back into dancing."
But after opening up about her struggles on social media, Witney said she felt "an army of women" reminding her just how incredible it is to give birth.
This helped her the second time around in May 2023.
"[Those women] taught me to give yourself grace for all the changes that might be happening, so with my second one, I went back to remembering the core of what I just did, which is grow a human and give birth to a human," she says. "I was just really focusing not on how I looked, but on how I felt."
So what, exactly, does Witney do for self-care and fitness? Here's what to know.
For Witney, 'movement is medicine.'
During Dancing With The Stars, Witney is constantly in and out of rehearsals. But in the off-season, she works out "every day" except for Sunday.
"I almost feel worse when I take more downtime," she says. "So even if I don't have rehearsal, I still am moving."
Witney's favorites include Pilates, hot yoga, and running outside. Even on Sundays—her rest days—she loves to take a long walk, "just to get something moving."
She focuses on her core.
To get Witney's rock-hard abs (which are totally necessary when doing her now-viral leg lift, BTW), the 31-year-old has a simple hack: planks.
"People hate this, but planks are so good because they get everything—the obliques, the main abdominal muscles," she says. "So anytime I do a workout, I always end it with a plank. My secret would be to try to do a plank for as long as you can at the end of your workout."
She follows a protein-heavy diet.
To support all this training, Witney eats a lot of protein, which helps maintain her energy levels.
"When I'm in rehearsals and I'm as busy as I am, if I'm not getting enough protein, then I don't have enough energy for anything," she says. "I really try to make each meal protein-heavy, then make it as healthy as I can—I'll get a veggie in there and a carb, like quinoa or Ezekiel bread."
Typically, her family—which includes sons Leo, 3, and Jet, 1—eats the same meals, in the hopes that her kids don't develop picky habits. And while she tries to make dinners as nutritious as possible, of course "there are days where we eat just mac and cheese, hot dogs, and french fries."
During rehearsals, Witney makes sure she eats every two hours, snacking on beef sticks and protein shakes. She also loves a green juice for vitamins.
"It's a lot about preparation and just making sure you have the right things with you, so that you're not starving and then eating something that makes you feel horrible," she says.
Her family grounds her.
When things get overwhelming in Witney's schedule, she loves to journal, which helps her organize her thoughts.
But most importantly, she turns to her loved ones for comfort. For her, family time happens every Sunday, when she makes sure she doesn't work so they can all attend church.
"At the end of the day, that's why I do what I do. I love what I do, but I also am doing it for a bigger reason than myself," she says. "If you go back to those core values of why you're working and doing the things that you're doing, it's very helpful."
For other moms navigating life postpartum, she says it's most important to feel good on the inside before focusing on the outside.
"Really listen to your body and make sure that feel the best—for me, that's my motivation to work out and stay healthy," she says. "I want to be at my best self every day for my kids, for my husband, just for myself. Give yourself grace, as much as you can, and try to not listen to those outer voices."
You Might Also Like
