Tim McGraw on Faith Hill’s Partying Ultimatum, and How They Keep the Magic Going

Grammy winner Tim McGraw is getting real in his new book “Grit & Grace: Train the Mind, Train the Body, Own Your Life.”

“Extra's” Jenn Lahmers caught up with the slimmed-down country star, who opened up about his 23-year marriage to fellow super star Faith Hill and getting healthy.

In the book, Tim reveals that Faith gave him an ultimatum about 10 years ago: “Partying or family, take your pick.”

McGraw explained to Lahmers, “When you're on the road and you're having shows every night and sometimes, after the show is over, you want the show to continue for a while because it's hard to come down from that high. Sometimes the nights went a little longer than they should.”

He went on, “Well [Faith] told me, 'Look, you're not living up to what you need to be living up to with your family'… She said, 'You're not respecting your career… you're not respecting yourself you're not respecting the life that you have. You just need to take a long look in the mirror.' She was right.”

Tim added, “She stuck around with me,” and Jenn asked what keeps the magic going. He replied, “Well, I just say, 'Yes ma'am a lot'… no, seriously.”

The star explained, “I think for us the main thing is you know when you're in a relationship with someone you're going to have ups and downs. Times when you don't get along and times when things are fabulous, but you also know when things aren't going so well you're not going to bail… and I think the confidence in each other knowing you're not going to bail on a bad day… Knowing you're there and you've got each other's back, even if you don't like each other at the time.”

In “Grit & Grace,” Tim discusses how he decided to work out every day, saying, “I started walking. I walked 10-15 minutes a day and come back and the next day I'd walk a little further… and then I started running.”

His workouts now are intense. “On the road is when we really do the hardest workouts... and those are three-a-day workouts… I start out in the morning with a walk… then we run the stadium stairs… and then after that is what we call our 'guerrilla yard,' that starts about 3:30.”

McGraw explained, “That's the crazy stuff where we're throwing chains around... the sledgehammer and all kinds of things are going on during that.” He said, smiling, “It starts with about, you know, 12 or 15 guys... and by the end of it, it's about three... when we get to the end... guys looking at their watch... pretending they got a phone call.”

Jenn also tested Tim's true grit with a plate of sweets. Watch!