Joe Wicks on his plans for kids’ exercise and post pandemic advice

Joe Wicks has told The Londoner of his determination to keep promoting children’s exercise. Wicks became a household name with his daily PE With Joe workouts during the pandemic. “My work is not done, it’s not like I did PE With Joe and it’s ended” he said. “I’m always thinking of how can I reach younger people, how to get people inspired and engaged.”

Wicks said he hopes to champion the idea of exercise “ambassadors” in schools who promote positive body movement. “All you really need is one adult in the school who believes in it, and they can champion exercise for the whole school” he said. Wicks regularly does school visits and films exercise videos with TV show Hey Duggee.

The PT was speaking at the BST HIIT work out in Hyde Park on Wednesday, a collaboration with brand LuluLemon. He said the day was a personal milestone for him. “It’s my ten-year anniversary of becoming a personal trainer, I started in 2012” he said, recalling standing outside Richmond station with flyers for his boot camp, struggling to persuade punters to sign up. Later, on stage, Wicks told a similar story, and became emotional. The crowd tried to break the world record for largest number of people at a workout, but fell just short.

Wicks’ kids and nephew stole the show before the event by coming onto the stage and waving at the crowd, while his wife Rosie, brother Nicky, and parents were in the crowd, making it feel like a family affair. “It’s great to come out of lockdown and do something as a community” he said.

But Wicks told us he wouldn’t do direct political campaigns like his friend Jamie Oliver. “I love Jamie, and I love what he does and I always support his campaigns, but sometimes I see how hard he works and then they get reversed” he said. “I don’t have that desire to want to go campaigning, because my energy has to be put into things that have a real impact straight away.”

He also said the effects of the pandemic on people’s mental health shouldn’t be underestimated. “I think everyone’s got to take time to reflect on things” he said. “It just happened so quick and you had to adapt really fast. You should always be open to talking about it: how you felt at the time how you are feeling now because a lot of people are struggling still.”

“I still think exercise should be a part of your life” he said. “Keep that as part of your routine because that’s really going to help you unlock that stress and release that negative energy.”

Wicks said PE with Joe made him feel “truly alive”. He said: “I was living my purpose. “I could feel that I was actually making an impact and helping people get through a difficult time. For that 30 minutes I never mentioned Covid, I never mentioned the word lockdown, I just thought look, ‘Let’s just have a work out’, and I think people felt safe in that environment, they felt like they had something on every day, which helped them.”