Mar 10, 2011 19:41 GMT  ·  By

This should come as good news: Gwen Stefani, the woman with one of the best bodies in showbiz, admits that she has to work really hard to look the way she does. In the latest issue of Elle magazine, the singer and fashion designer goes into details of her exercise routine.

Of course, only a fool would have imagined that the 41-year-old star did nothing to maintain her figure. Still, she says she has to really will herself to work for it.

When Gwen has one of those days when exercise would be the last thing on her mind, she simply thinks about the clothes she wants to wear and how disappointed she’ll feel if she doesn’t fit into them.

If that’s not a powerful incentive, who knows what is.

“I work out five days a week, I can’t imagine not doing it,” the star says, discussing her fitness routine with the aforementioned magazine (via StyleBistro).

“I’d like to have no rules and eat what I want, but I’ve learned over the years that I’m so disappointed when I can’t wear the clothes I want to wear,” the mother of two admits.

So, to prevent this from happening, Gwen tries to keep constant and hit the gym regularly. This way, it’s easier to maintain her enviable figure.

“And if I let myself down, appear on stage when I’m not looking my best, it’s not fun for me. I just beat myself up about it,” she says.

This is not the first time that Gwen talks about her figure and how important exercise is in her life. When she’s on tour, for instance, she travels with no less than 2 personal trainers and actually puts in more hours at the gym to improve strength and endurance, as we also noted a while back.

Besides that, Gwen is also constantly aware of what she eats but without getting to the point where she’s starving herself.

Her method is to find balance. “It’s simple math: You put this much food in your body, you burn that much working out,” she also said then.