An age-defying mother who attributes her youthful appearance to her gruelling winter workout regime has taken up a new fitness challenge on sunny beaches.
Bikini-loving Liu Yelin has stunned millions after revealing her age, and is often mistaken for his 23-year-old son’s girlfriend.
The super toned woman previously said the secrets to her incredible looks were the fact that she had swum in the lake every winter for 30 years. But now the online star seems to have found a new hobby: diving in tropical sea.
Can you guess her age? Liu Yelin (pictured) has shot to fame after revealing her age on TV
Basking in the sun: The active mother went to the Philippines this month to learn free diving
So young: The 50-year-old says the secrets to her young looks is swimming in winter
Sweet trouble: Ms Liu, a fitness fanatic, says people often think her son is her boyfriend
Then and now: Ms Liu can be seen wearing stylish clothing at the ages of 15 (left) and 49 (right)
Earlier this month, the 50-year-old from China took her ambitious fitness regime to the golden beaches of the Philippines.
The retired librarian jetted to the Bohol island to learn free diving together with her son, something she said she had ‘always wanted to do’.
‘I have always loved the sea and know how to scuba dive, but this time I wanted to set a new challenge for myself. I wanted to dive into the sea as deep as possible without any equipment,’ Ms Liu told MailOnline.
Ms Liu always wanted to learn how to free dive. She is pictured taking up a course in Bohol
‘I have always loved the sea and know how to scuba dive, but this time I wanted to set a new challenge for myself,’ Ms Liu told MailOnline, adding she wanted to dive as deep as possible
Ms Liu is pictured taking the free dive course in the Philippines with her 23-year-old son
The formidable woman has impressed millions with her ripped physique and positive attitude
The seemingly ageless mother is as brave and active as a woman can be.
She had swum across the Strait of Malacca, plunged from a plane at 15,000ft high in her skydive course, practised yoga outdoors on a brutally cold day and even dared Vladimir Putin to a game of winter swimming.
Earlier this year, she even dived into the icy Lake Baikal in Siberia when the temperature was as low as minus 40 degree Celsius – but not before she flaunted her ripped torso in bikinis on the frozen surface of the lake.
With glowing skin, a super-toned body and not a single wrinkle, Ms Liu looks half her age
Ms Liu has a motto: ‘If you think you look rough, that’s because you haven’t sweated enough’
People who don’t know Ms Liu often mistake her son (pictured with her, right) for her boyfriend
Although Ms Liu is an avid and skillful swimmer, free diving has proved to be challenging to her.
‘I nearly ran out of breath in the Philippines,’ she explained.
‘I had to learn to hold my breath for as long as three minutes in the sea until my lungs became unbearably painful.
‘I came to realise how precious air was to me.’
The courageous woman posed in a bling bikini in Russia in frigid weather on March 1 this year
Ms Liu said she wanted to show off her tattooed abs in an extreme but beautiful environment
Liu Yelin preferred wearing a bikini even the temperature was nearly minus 40 degree Celsius
Having shot to fame in China for braving sub-zero temperatures in nothing but bikinis, Ms Liu apparently enjoyed her two weeks on the sun-kissed tropical island.
She said she enjoyed posing for pictures on the beaches, showcasing her enviable figure, and she fell in love with the turquoise Philippine Sea.
‘Free diving shows me how amazing the underwater world is,’ she added.
‘When I scuba dive, my movement is controlled and restricted by the equipment I have to carry.
‘But with free diving gives, I have so much freedom. I can go wherever I want to in the sea.’
She also took up the challenges of swimming in Lake Baikal and diving under the icy lake
Ms Liu likes bikinis because ‘they can show my body, there is nowhere you could hide anything’
She proudly says: ‘My bikinis are my armour. With them, I feel confident, healthy and youthful’
The woman’s goal is to travel around the world and brace extreme weather wearing bikinis
After a two-week crash course, Ms Liu is now able to dive 16 metres (52 feet) under the sea then swim back to the surface with in one breath.
Her diving instructor, Bobo Song, was impressed by the youthful mother, calling her ‘brave’, ‘hard-working’ and even a little ‘child-like’.
‘She really looks that young in person,’ said Beijing-born Ms Song, who co-runs the Youyu Academy diving school in Bohol.
The 38-year-old diving instructor said she got to know Ms Liu after following her social media updates and was quickly drawn by the mother’s active lifestyle and positive energy.
‘She has such a good figure and impeccable skin,’ Ms Song said.
‘In addition, she works out a lot. Unlike some people who would force themselves to follow a certain diet or go to the gym, everything seems so natural for her.’
Ms Liu has swum across the Strait of Malacca and learnt skydive (pictured) in the United States
Ms Liu is as brave and active as a woman can be. Last year, she (pictured with her instructor, right) plunged from a plane at 15,000ft high in her skydive course in California
Although Ms Liu has flawless and smooth skin, she claimed she rarely uses cosmetics
Decades of sub-zero swimming has helped her gain a body models find hard to compete with
Enthusiastic and sports-loving Liu is also setting a new standard of beauty for Chinese women, according to Ms Song’s business partner Tegan Shi.
In Mr Shi’s opinion, women are traditionally expected to be white-skinned, timid and even weak to be considered beautiful in China, but Ms Liu’s popularity online proves that she is slowly changing the stereotype.
‘I find one thing on her that most Chinese women don’t have. It’s her boldness. She is not scared of trying anything new, and I admire her guts,’ said Ms Shi, who was born in China and grew up in Australia.
Liu Yelin pushed her limits and practised yoga outdoors in Harbin at -40C earlier this year
Speaking of the yoga routine, she said: ‘I wasn’t scared at all. As a matter of fact, I felt great’
She said she exercised around the year, but the sub-zero sessions really made the difference
Speaking of her next step, Ms Liu said she had injured one of her fingers while doing yoga in Harbin earlier this year, therefore she planned to take a short break from adventurous activities.
But the confident and playful woman stressed that her life goal was to travel around the world donning beautiful bikinis.
‘My bikinis are my armour. With them, I feel confident, healthy and youthful.’