All Blacks star Dan Carter got hearts pumping when he took part in an early morning group workout session in Auckland today.
Despite nursing an achilles injury suffered on the All Blacks' unbeaten tour of the United Kingdom and Europe, the star first five-eighths was rolling on the ground and running on the spot as part of a group high-intensity workout session in Victoria Park.
About 250 people - the majority of them women - came along for the workout and to see Carter in the flesh.
"I think it's just that the guys are lazier and they're not prepared to get out of bed at 6.30 in the morning," Carter said.
"Big shout-out to all the women who came to work out. But I think it was more about the workout than to come and see me."
Dan Carter posted this video on Instagram with the caption:
Looks like I was only doing half press ups #mybad. Great workout this morning and an awesome turn out for a #lesmills #grit workout as ambassador for @jockey
Carter has become the poster boy for Jockey underwear, which organised the event, and stuck to his promotional duties.
"I was wearing the Jockey performance underwear and, working out at such a high intensity, as wet as it it can get, things were feeling good down stairs. You almost want to encourage people to think a little bit about the underwear they put on when they're training. They think about their shoes, their attire to help them train, but they never really think about their underwear.''
Carter said he would spend Christmas period between Auckland, the Marlborough Sounds and his home province Canterbury.
"The achilles is still a bit tight but the beauty is I've still got plenty of time to recover now over summer and let the body heal.''