Helen Mirren's Secret to Staying Bikini Fit: A 12-Minute Military Workout

Helen Mirren, who is 68, on vacation in Hawaii. (Splash News)
Helen Mirren, who is 68, on vacation in Hawaii. (Splash News)

It's no secret that Helen Mirren has a hot bod, but how she stays trim certainly is.

The Queen actress, who turns 69 on Saturday, revealed that when she needs to tighten up her waistline she actually follows a Royal Canadian Air Force exercise plan... from the 1950s!

"I'm not very fit at all actually. Just this morning I started my exercises, which I haven’t been doing for months, maybe years. I do a thing that leads me into exercise. It is the Royal Canadian Air Force exercise plan; it is 12 minutes and they have charts you follow… Each day, you have to do the exercises within the 12 minutes and until you can, you can’t move up," Mirren recently told reporters, according to her publicist.

"It is the exercise I have done off and on my whole life. It just very gently gets you fit. Two weeks of doing that and you think: 'Yeah, I could go to the gym now.'"

The regimen, which was designed by physician Bill Orban in the late 1950s, includes 10 basic exercises for women that are intended to work all your muscle groups in a short amount of time. It includes moves like knee raises, arm circling, push-ups, sit-ups, chest raises, leg raises, and running and hopping. The workout doesn't require any equipment, which makes it ideal for jetsetting stars like Mirren.

Yes, the trendy dame was well ahead of the bootcamp craze that has been popping up in gyms worldwide over the past year.

And clearly all the hopping and leg raises are paying off for the British stunner. In 2008, Mirren was snapped wearing a red bikini while she was on vacation in Italy. The photo, which she has called just a "flattering angle," shows off her impressive physique for a woman of her age. In the photo, you can see her taut tummy, trim arms, and overall amazing body.

"That photograph will haunt me for the rest of my life," the Oscar winner told the Telegraph of the infamous photo that won her accolades like "Body of the Year."

Whether or not she'll own up to her svelte figure or not, if this 1950s Royal Canadian Air Force exercise plan is what is doing the trick, sign us up!