Helen Mirren, 81: “I’ve been doing a 12-minute exercise routine for 60 years.”

81-Year-Old Helen Mirren Swears By A 12-Minute Military Workout

At 81, Helen Mirren is still upstaging actors half her age, and she is frankly not killing herself in the gym to do it. Her secret weapon is disarmingly low tech: a 12-minute military workout created in the 1950s. While everyone else chases the latest studio class, she has quietly stayed loyal to one tiny routine.

At the Toronto International Film Festival she mentioned, almost in passing, that she has been doing “a 12-minute exercise routine” for about 60 years. No wellness app, no smart mirror, just a dog-eared booklet and a patch of carpet. For any woman who feels too busy, too tired or too intimidated to start, that detail lands like hope.

What Is Helen Mirren’s 12-Minute XBX Workout

Mirren’s routine comes from the XBX plan, short for “Ten Basic Exercises,” devised for women in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Exercise physiologist Dr Bill Orban was asked to keep service members fit in remote posts with no equipment. His answer was a sequence of 10 bodyweight moves, always completed in 12 minutes, that could be done on any scrap of floor.

Early levels are almost shockingly gentle: arm circles, side bends, knee raises, easy toe touches. Then come simple strength moves such as partial sit-ups, leg raises, side leg lifts and push-ups from the knees, finished with a short burst of marching or running in place to lift your heart rate. No machines, no soundtrack, no commute.

The Simple Genius Behind The Routine

Instead of making workouts longer, XBX makes them a little harder over time. The booklet breaks the plan into 48 levels across four charts. You start at level one and only move up when you can complete every move within the prescribed seconds. Skipping ahead is discouraged. In modern terms, it is progressive overload and habit training disguised as a stick-figure cartoon.

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How Helen Mirren Actually Uses It

Mirren has said she has followed the plan “off and on [her] whole life,” Helen Mirren revealed in a new interview. Crucially, she never chased the hardest levels. She admits she has never gone beyond level two. She has even described herself bluntly: “I am incredibly lazy about working out,” Mirren says. The attraction is that it starts very easy, feels manageable, and can be done anywhere from a hotel room to a trailer.

Her philosophy sounds less like a fitness influencer and more like a woman who has had five a.m. call times for decades. Do something small, most days; accept you will fall off sometimes, then quietly restart. She likes that XBX needs no membership and no 90 minute block in your calendar. It is motion that fits around real life, not the other way around.

Is 12 Minutes Really Enough

The CDC’s Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans suggest adults aim for 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity each week, plus at least two days of muscle strengthening. One 12-minute session a day adds up to 84 minutes weekly – a strong start, but still below that range. The encouraging part: research shows even 10 extra minutes of movement a day can meaningfully cut long term health risk.

How To Try A Helen-Mirren-Style Routine Safely

Consider this guidance, not medical advice. If you are over 65, pregnant, dealing with heart or lung disease, uncontrolled blood pressure, significant joint pain or a recent operation, talk with a clinician before copying any celebrity. For everyone else, the XBX logic still applies: start easier than you think you need to, and only add difficulty when your current version feels comfortably doable.

To echo Mirren without the booklet, set a timer for 12 minutes. Spend about two minutes on gentle mobility, like arm circles and marching. Use six minutes for basic strength moves such as sit-to-stands from a chair, wall push-ups and side leg lifts. Finish with about four minutes of faster marching or light jogging in place. Try it most days for a week and notice how your body responds.