By now there is no getting away from Joe Wicks (@thebodycoach), the high octane PT and wellness wunderkind from Surbiton, also known as The Bodycoach. Whether his frantic London accent in his 15 second Instagram video recipe tutorials floats your boat is neither here nor there, this Jamie Oliver on speed is definitely going places thanks to the astonishing before and after photos of devotees who’s fat loss and muscle gain beggars belief. He is also, let’s face it, rather easy on the eye.
At The Big Feastival 2015 he was sharing the stage with Jamie Oliver and Deliciously Ella, cooking live in front of hundreds of visitors interested in food and health. As if that and his massive following on Instagram was not enough, he is the also the cover boy on Men’s Fitness this month. He is simply the hottest new thing on the health block.
His popularity stems in part from what appears to be a relatively low investment in time and effort. The workouts take between 15 and 20 minutes of Hiit (High intensity interval Training) where you do intense exercises for 30 seconds and rest for the next 30, then repeat until 15 minutes have passed. No hour-long treadmill session here. His Hiit videos are freely available on YouTube and come in various levels of difficulty and his recipes are featured on Instagram. This is health and fitness 2015 brought to you by social media. Should you want more he has a 90 day programme for which he charges £150 – for that you get a personal plan and a coach who will hold your hand through the duration of the programme.
But it is his love of good food and eating a lot of it that is interesting to me. As a matter of fact, most of his before and after clients name the copious amounts of food they are advised to eat as being one of the hardest challenges on his 90 days fitness programme. Judging by the results posted on Instagram, his methods are working. This is not dieting as we know it. Instead it is letting plenty of good food do its work in our bodies in combination with short bursts of exercise so that we lose fat, gain muscle, feel energetic, satisfied, lean and healthy.
His recipes include a wide variety of vegetables, herbs and spices, lean meats and fish plus of course green juice, lots of good fats, coconut oil in particular, and plenty of water. Nothing new per se but worth repeating and packaged in a way that is inspiring. Here is a sample workout for beginners followed by this morning’s zingy green juice. Enjoy X!
Zingy Wednesday Juice
2 green apples
1 large handful of kale
1 lime
2 stalks celery
1 large piece ginger root
Juice all and enjoy! X
