Dame Helen Mirren, 79, does this 12-minute military workout every day
Dame Helen Mirren's illustrious career has seen her take the spotlight on screen and stage, and now she's revealed the industrious workout she's performed for the last 60 years behind the scenes.
Her fitness regime, at a lean 12 minutes, has its roots in the armed forces and was once favoured by the military. 'I'm a big believer in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) women's exercise regime, which is 12 minutes,' the actress, who turns 80 this year, said to Women's Weekly. '[Fitness] doesn't mean joining expensive gyms.'
The routine, XBX (ten basic exercises), was developed by Dr Bill Orban in the late 1950s to increase fitness among females in the RCAF. According to the Air Force's XBX plan pamphlet, over 600 girls and women of all ages participated in its creation.
It aims to increase muscle strength, endurance and flexibility and improve your heart's efficiency.
The original military programme
XBX is made up of four charts of ten exercises arranged in ascending order of difficulty. 'The ten exercises on each chart are always performed in the same order, and in the same maximum time limits', says the pamphlet, but the number of times the exercise is performed is increased at each level (48 in total – 12 in each chart).
For each chart:
Exercises are primarily to improve and maintain flexibility and mobility, and are done as a warm-up. Time: 2 minutes (30 seconds each)
Exercise 5 is for strengthening 'the abdominal region and the muscles in front of the thighs'. Time: 2 minutes
Exercise 6 works 'the long muscles of the back, the buttocks and the backs of the thighs.' Time: 1 minute
Exercise 7 'concentrates on the muscles on the sides of the thighs'. Time: 1 minute
Exercise 8 is primarily for the arms, shoulders and chest. Time: 2 minutes
Exercise 9 is for waist flexibility and for strengthening the muscles of the hips and sides. Time: 1 minute
Exercise 10, the 'run-in-place' with jumping is for 'the conditioning of the heart and lungs'. Time: 3 minutes
'Do not move up to the next level until you can do your present level, without excessive strain or fatigue, in the 12 minutes', XBX instructs.
Dame Helen's workout
It seems Dame Helen follows the exercises in the first two charts.
Chart I
Exercises 1-4: toe touching, knee raises, lateral (side) bending and arm circling
Exercise 5: partial sit-ups
Exercise 6: chest and leg raises
Exercise 7: side leg raises
Exercise 8: kneeling push-ups
Exercise 9: leg lifts
Exercise 10: running and hopping
Chart II
Chart II's exercises are the same as Chart I's except for the following:
Exercise 5: rocking sit-ups
Exercise 9: leg overs (similar to side-lying thoracic rotation stretch)
Exercise 10: run and stride jumping
'I’ve never gotten past the second level, but it’s a nice little exercise programme,' Dame Helen told Vogue. 'Nothing extreme, but you need to do it every day. It’s all to do with taking control of yourself.'
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