Prince Charles, now aged 72, suffered from Covid-19 in the early part of this year but made a fast recovery believed to be due to his high level of fitness. Prince Charles 5BX fitness routine – beating covid-19 through fitness
Prince Charles ‘fit as a mountain goat’
He served in the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force from 1971 and 1976 then founded the Princes Trust in 1976 which still runs today. He launched Duchy Originals in 1990 and is associated on some level to over 400 charities, therefore maintaining good health is vital to ensuring he fulfils his commitments.
Prince Charles has always been an active man with his busy schedules but during lockdown he would take daily walks at lunchtime between his Royal Zoom meetings.
Camilla, The Duchess of Cornwall, has described Charles as being “fit as a mountain goat”, “the fittest man of his age I know” and “He’ll walk and walk and walk”. Listen to the Channel 5 Interview with Emma Barnett
Royal Canadian Air Force 5BX Training Film “Five Basic Exercises”
With his military background it is unsurprising then that he, and other members of the Royal family, have adopted the 5BX program daily workout routine to maintain a high level of fitness.
The exercises are taken from the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) 5BX training program. The program starts with 5 simple main core exercises that take only 11 minutes but strengthen all parts of the body, and as you get fitter the exercises are modified depending on age.
Improve your Physical and Mental Wellbeing
The requirements to develop physical fitness are – Balanced and planned, progressive, vigorous and regular so rather than spending an hour in the gym, these exercises can be done at home, alone and take just 11 minutes.
Exercised designed to strengthen and improve endurance of all muscles and conditions heart and lungs.
- Stretches – Warm up exercise
- Sit-ups – Conditions abdominal muscles
- Back extensions Long back muscles – head to heals maintaining erect carriage
- Push up s- Muscles on arms and shoulders that are weak
- Scissor jumps – Heart lungs and muscles of respiration – running and jumping (walk or run)
The exercises become more difficult the fitter you get so you can lose weight and gain strength quickly so you don’t lose interest.
The variation of exercises for Women the XBX – 10 Basic Exercises
The 5BX was originally designed for men so there is a women’s version called XBX with additional movements.
- Toe touching
- Knee raising
- Lateral bending
- Arm circling
- Sit-ups
- Chest and leg raising
- Side leg raising
- Push-ups
- Leg lifting
- Running and jumping in place
Keeping physically and mentally fit will help you beat a low mood too
We are starting to realise that the Corona Virus is here to stay and there is a strong possibility that some of us will get it at some point in our lives, so the only thing we can do is to increase our levels of physical and mental fitness so our bodies can fight off the virus, or any virus, we will have to deal with in modern life.
Dame Helen Mirren reveals she is also a fan of the 12 minute daily routine to keep in shape.
