JOE WICKS IT’S ALL ABOUT THE WAY YOU FEEL

The lovable, down-to-ear th fitness guru chats about his tough star t in life and the stress-relieving power of exercise

He earned national treasure status during the first lockdown, and deser vedly so. While his intention was simply to provide daily exercise sessions for the nation’s children, fitness guru Joe Wicks entranced their parents, grandparents, Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

Bouncy and bubbly, he proved a ray of light in the most difficult of times and the popular online PE lessons saw him awarded not only an

MBE, but also a Guinness World Record for most viewers for a live stream of a YouTube fitness workout. Almost a million joined in on the second day of lockdown last March.

The workouts were well received not only because they were simple and achievable for people of all ages and fitness levels, but also because people across the generations warmed to his ever-cheer y demeanour and infectious smile.

Yet life hasn’t always been so upbeat for the self-styled “PE teacher for the nation”. Joe’s mum was 19 when he was born. She suffered from OCD and experienced

“I had quite a chaotic home life, it wasn’t stable, my diet wasn’t great,” he recently recalled. “There was a lot of shouting, a lot of doors slammed, we didn’t sit down and have dinner together.

“My mum would be the first to admit that she can’t cook. The cupboards were always full up with junk food and we lived off that.” loss and a healthier lifestyle.

“I used to talk about the way you look. Now it’s about the way you feel,” he explains. “The motivation behind the book is to take people who may be feeling a bit low and stressed and help them kickstar t new habits to improve their energy, mood and sleep.”

So does it actually work? Joe (34) and his wife Rosie share their Surrey home with two under-threes – daughter Indie and son Marley – so life can’t all be plain-sailing.

“If I’ve had a rough night and Marley’s kept me up with his teething, I’ll be snappy. But exercise breaks the bad energy and gives me more patience,” he says.

It’s estimated Joe made more than £9m between Christmas and New Year, when more than 130,000 signed up to his new app. Yet charity is always close to his hear t. His lockdown PE lessons raised £580,000 for the NHS and at the end of last year he completed a 24-hour workout challenge which raised more than £2m for Children In Need. In Januar y, when the third lockdown was announced, he resumed his 9am YouTube PE classes three mornings a week.

“If you just follow me now you might be [thinking]: ‘Oh,