Yes, we know it's aimed at kids, but The Body Coach's new daily live stream is the most positive start to lockdown mornings we can think of
In times of self-isolation we're all craving something to make us feel like part of a community, and Joe Wicks kids workout - P.E. with Joe - on YouTube workouts does exactly that.
Every day Joe is live-streaming a P.E. workout at 9am on his YouTube channel , which comprises a five-minute warm-up followed by 20 minutes of HIIT exercise. We've missed him, his YouTube Channel has been a little fallow in recent months as he's focused on fatherhood, schools fitness projects and his best-selling books .
Don't let the name 'P.E' fool you, it's a far cry from the hula hoops and bean bags we remember from school - and even though it's designed for kids (and indeed many schools have put it on their at-home curriculum) it's a genuinely challenging work out. Plus, we can't help but smile when Joe is on our screens; I defy you to find anyone more upbeat and positive. I didn't even hate him when he busted out the mountain climbers, and they're my absolute worst work out move.
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The videos are racking up more and more views at the days pass - his first one has had 5.5 million views now! Some people are even building the morning routine into part of their home-school curriculum. Me? I just fancied a live stream at-home work out a bit different to the yoga and legs bums and tums sessions I've been doing.
Every session is a bit different; the one I did saw Joe coach us through 20 different moves which you do for 30 seconds each with 30 seconds rest in between each. After ten exercises there's a two-minute rest where Joe gives shout outs out his viewers as far-flung as Jamaica. He didn't shout me out today, but there's always tomorrow. After the two minutes' rest, it's straight back in again, with sit-ups, bunny hops, bicycle crunches, power squats, starfish crunches, planks, star jumps and boxing-style punches. I finished the work out rather tired and red in the face - but if you're working from home, there's nobody was here to care!
GTG's associate editor Ophelia Froud is homeschooling her four children and like many families across the globe is tuning in.
"When a class teacher gives you homeschooling notes to tune into Joe Wicks with your kids you know it has to be something special. We tuned in on Day 2 at 8.59am and to see Joe in his empty sitting room cleared of all furniture. As Joe walks in our YouTube went crazy as thousands signed in from across the world. I’ve never seen so many people join a live stream so fast at once - it rapidly grew to almost one million. Joe nurtured this global community from the start calling out the names of children around the UK and the world as they joined and messaged him. There was a sense of excitement before he began, knowing that our own sitting room full of children was joining in with millions of other children in their sitting rooms from Newcastle to New York in these extraordinary times. We were all in this and exercising through this together.
"Joe makes things easy by carefully explaining how the 30 minutes are going to roll (crucial if you have got little ones with short attention spans) and sets his digital timer at 30-second HIIT intervals. In the quick rests between exercises, he listened to his helper Nikki on his Bluetooth headphones telling him the names of children around the world which he then called out and which only added to the fun and global community feeling. After the workout Our eight year old daughter said “it was tiring, fun and enjoyable. I loved how he interacted with us by showing us what to do then doing it with us.
"We were expecting something slow and easy but this was fast-paced and a great workout for everyone. Never have I been prouder of Joe Wicks keeping the world exercised in these unusual times. We will be tuning in every day from now on."
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