The Netmums Podcast - S1 Ep16: Joe Wicks on parenting when your own parent was an addict

Episode Date: January 5, 2021

Listen as Annie and Wendy get up close and personal with the nation’s PT – Joe Wicks. From his own chaotic childhood to media beloved, Joe shares the thinking and determination that propel him forward, and that he believes we can all live by.

You're listening to Sweat, Snot and Tears, brought to you by Netmums. I'm Annie O'Leary. And I'm Wendy Gollage. And together we talk about all of this week's sweaty, snotty and tearful parenting moments. With guests who are far more interesting than we are. So Happy New Year, Sweat, Snot and Teary people. I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and you all stayed well, most importantly. I'm feeling very upbeat about the new year, although I know it's all feeling a bit shaky.

Wendy, how are you feeling? I am feeling like it's not the time to do dry January. No, I think that would be a very bad move. Yes, I am. I saw a meme that said, OK, nobody shock 2021. Just come in, whisper, just do everything quietly and it might be okay. That's really good. That's my approach. Okay, I like that.

I'll go with that. I'll go with that. So any sweat, snot or tears in your house this morning, Wend? There is a modicum of snot, but everything else is fine. And there is sweat. Our guest would be proud of me. I have just done a workout. All is good.

Oh, Wendend you really are living the dream in 2021 okay so we're not going to keep you hanging on any longer there was a little clue there in what wendy said our guest this morning is no other than joe wicks welcome joe good morning annie and wendy it's lovely to um finally chat to you and also well done on getting your morning workout done thank you very much she's good isn't she i feel bad that i haven't done mine yet so joe this podcast is called sweat snot and tears has there been any sweat snot or tears in the wicks household this morning oh there's plenty of yeah sweat snot and tears um my little daughter indy's she's running around then i've got marley my little boy he's teething so yeah it's um always changing isn't it but i do

love it i love that they're growing and learning and being more interactive and coming out their personalities are coming out now which is the best so how old are they Joe how old are they now so Indy is two and Marley was one on the 14th of December so he just had his first birthday um and yeah it's just um they seem to be growing up so fast I know you blink and it's gone so tell us what a normal morning is like in the Wix households what happens well I like to I like to do breakfast in the morning so I normally take um you know Marley and Indy downstairs and I might make a little stack of banana pancakes or some porridge with some berries and I like I get them involved Indy from a very young age has always enjoyed putting like the berries on top or putting some peanut butter in her porridge so it's I like to make that quite interactive and just yeah start our day off together and then

we try and sit down and i like to have um a bit of calm music so when she was a baby we've always i've played this playlist on spotify it's called lullaby baby playlist it's kind of like the soundtrack to the house so um we always have it on we're eating which is quite a nice way of just setting the kind of calm environment but yeah then after that we ate breakfast and it's pretty much chaos i'll go and do a workout the kids will be running around and on their scooters and you know and they're little they've got a little playroom which is nice it's so nice to have a room just just like for kids to play in yeah where you can throw all the toys and shut the door walk away we moved house just during the lockdown we moved house so it was nice to just get

that extra room where you can just throw everything in there. So that's where they spend a lot of their time now. Well, and you've got a toddler, Jo, toddlers, man. I'm not a fan of the humble toddler. I love a toddler. I'd swap a pregnancy for a toddler any day of the week. Now, Jo, do you ever work out with your kids? Like, how does that work? Or do you like to have your bit of Zen time on your own for your workout in the morning?

Well, one of the things that Indy has always done done she's always like running and send me working out she obviously during the lockdown p with joe's stuff she would come in and get involved so she knows she knows that work is like my exercise but she also knows that i do it to stay fit and healthy and she she likes kind of copying me so she does walk in sometimes we're not at the stage where we're kind of doing full-on workouts together but if she comes in and says oh can i do some exercise like i'll teach her how to do a plank or she'll do a couple of squats but yeah i really i think it's i think that what i'm doing in terms of cooking around them and you know also exercising i think it really imprints something in their mind like when when she sees me like a little

bit stressed maybe a little bit impatient and then i go upstairs and exercise and i come back and she sees i'm much more calm and relaxed and more patient and tolerant like that has an effect on her and i know that she's learning from that she's learning that it's good to exercise and that we do it because it's fun and it makes us feel good so i think you should exercise in your in front of your children as much as you possibly can yeah i try and i take mine on bike rides while i run it's just can get a bit frustrating because you want to sort of get into your little flow don't you you? And then you have this little voice going, Mummy, did you know rabbits are twice as intelligent as a cat? Yeah, it's not quite as relaxing. Yeah, and Andy's new thing is just why, why?

What's in your mouth? The why child. Yeah, it's just every minute of the day and I'm like, after a while you think, I don't know what to say now because she's asking like, why are there clouds? Why are you eating porridge? What is porridge? You know, like she's breaking everything down, but she's so inquisitive i do love that about

her now joe i'm gonna set the tone this is the first question i have to ask you and this has bugged me for as long as i have been watching your workouts how do you not put your hair up does it not just do your nut having your hair in your face? I've got curly hair. I don't know how you do it. No, it definitely gets on my nerves, especially when I look back at lockdown. My hair was so long.

I mean, I did wear it down, but then in the end I would tie it up. Yeah, it was really long, Joe. It was really long, yeah, during lockdown because I couldn't get a haircut. So it's not a style thing. You don't do it because that's your look. No, I know, but in my more recent videos,

I do like a high ponytail and I do or like a half you know half up half down but no the minute it's long enough to tie up i'm always tying up because it does it gets on my nerves as well i mean i'm sweating and you know i've got to do the workout and talk through it and kind of you know be really clear about the instructions so it does irritate me but if it's you know if you've had it cut short and you can't fully tie up that's the worst part when i can get the top the front bit up i'm okay okay you've you've made me feel better now that's okay the curly hair gang can disband now i'll take it into a more serious territory thank you very much so i've actually been a bit worried about you joe i know after the success of p with joe you said you were feeling a bit blue and you were anxious about COVID and

it was all just starting to feel a bit much for you a what was all that about and b how are you now yeah I really shared quite an open video on my story the night that Boris announced the lockdown too I was I was just like it felt like this feeling of like it never ending and I just felt really confused and a bit lost and a bit disconnected from family and friends and I just shared you know that yes this is how I'm feeling to show that I'm not Mr. Happy I'm not buzzing around like optimistic every single minute of the day there are days and it really gets me down like even now the Christmas thing like it it does get me down but I shared that because I thought it'd be nice to open up the conversation and say that it's okay to say you're

having a bad day and you're feeling a little bit um upset or or you know I wasn't depressed it was the wrong feeling but it was more like really disconnected i just wanted to be in my family and friends and all these things are like we couldn't see each other again it just made it kind of more more more real yeah so i did feel really flat you know especially after p which i ended i felt like really flat like i missed that purpose that i had and i was so excited to do it every day and obviously um you know i've reconnected that i've got my mission and my kind of purpose back now i'm doing a lot of videos online i'm still sharing a lot of content but yeah it was just that moment of like you know feeling a bit confused and disconnected but i'm staying positive now i'm just trying to stay in the moment and you know enjoy what i've got

and not like look back at what i did have if you know i mean and i think oh sorry annie no i'm just gonna say i think it's important that you did share that though because that's how we were all feeling and i think what everyone needs to know is that it's okay to feel like that. It's normal to feel like that. We'd be crazy if we were all just bouncing around feeling happy all the time, wouldn't we? it makes me feel happier but there's still days where it doesn't always work that way sometimes I do my exercise but I'm still like well I feel really upset and still a bit disconnected and you know it's just I'm constantly trying to promote that that mesh of just try and exercise to change the way you feel and do it for your do it for your mental health it's so important so how are you handling the continuing covid situation are we going to see you back on our tellies every morning anytime soon or are you kind of is that moment over and now you're focusing on a more family-centric approach to dealing with all of this well i'm still doing um you know i still obviously i've got a new fitness app out now so

i'm doing a lot yes i've heard about this which is exciting so for the whole month of january i'm doing a boot camp within the app it's called the body coach app and i'm doing five days a week i love a boot camp so it's like an online thing but i'm but although that's a business and that's my you know that's kind of my um the body coach if you like the company but i'm also really i really believe in free content and and reaching people that can't afford that who may never sign up to my app so i'm still sharing regular workouts on my youtube channel there's over 350 workouts so although there's the um the body coach brand side of it, really my passion is fitness for all. And I really want people to feel like they can access it anytime. So yeah, there's loads of workouts and all of the

PE with Joe stuff is all on there as well. So you can always go back and relive those experiences that you did last year. Which kept us all going, to be honest. So you said that exercise is your therapy. What happens if you don't exercise like do you struggle mental health wise normally or do you think covid's just kind of tested all of us a bit i don't think i struggle with mental health issues i think i just get like stressed and i get a little bit short and impatient and a little bit snappy you know i don't like being like that i don't want to be like especially with the kids i want to be calm and try and you know be be kind of really emotionally um stable and show good emotional control so for me like if i'm having a day where i feel stressed i just say look rosie i'm just going to run up and

do a quick workout and and and it's the same for her like if she feels that and i can see she's had a really rough night's sleep or she's a bit stressed i say look let me have the kids and you go and do a quick workout so we kind of encourage each other because we know that when we do that we do come down to that living room or the playroom as better parents and we come down there with a much better mindset so yeah it's a habit i think for me everyone asks me is it motivation but for me it's discipline it's just i'm disciplined and i know that i need to exercise because it makes me better it makes me happier and i get more done so it's really about discipline over motivation i think it sounds like you're a very sort of present parent like constantly evaluating how you feel now I know

you've been very candid about your dad's struggles as an addict and your mum's experience of OCD when you're a child and the effect that had on you do you think all of that's impacted how you are as a dad do you think that's what's made you so aware of how you parent and aware of your moods and the effects that that could have on your kids oh without doubt you know I definitely think we're so shaped by our childhood experiences and like my house was very chaotic it was very shouty it was doors getting slammed it was impatience and you know we're all swearing and arguing and punching walls and frying stuff you know it was just it was like it was just chaos but that was all i knew but now as an adult and a parent i really don't want to be like that you know i really want to be someone who can who can be calm

and and also show indy that you know we speak to each other respect and and i really value all these things and it's definitely i've got a growth mindset so if i can if i acknowledge that i'm doing something wrong or i'm not doing well i really want to improve and so i'll watch rosie i'll see how she interacts with indy and marley and she's got this amazing ability to stay calm like for ages even when marley's crying all through the night whereas me my tolerance and my level of patience is much shorter so i'm kind of training that if you like as a muscle because yes my default in my head is just scream and shout like i just want to scream and shout and i but i know it's not going to help and so i do um internalize it a little bit have a little breath have that moment um and i did read a great book called um calm parents happy kids and it really like opened

my mind up to kind of that sounds good yeah to not like fight is scream back and shout and flight is like run out of the room and just leave them to it and not do anything. But it's really hard not to sometimes, you know. Yeah, it is difficult. But the other option is have a breath and just take a moment to breathe. And then that way you can like come at it at a different angle, if you like. Yeah. Now, I've also read that you're very clear that the antidote to addiction is connection, something only those with experience of addiction tend to know how big are you on trying to instill that in indian mali so that they grow up with kind of

a very well-balanced well-rounded sense of self and how to stay well yeah i heard that quote on a podcast i think it was russell brand's podcast um it's it's the truth though isn't it yeah it's an author called i think it's johan harari he wrote a book called lost connections and yeah i i love that sentence and that that thought because when i was growing up i didn't understand why my dad was addicted to heroin i didn't understand why i couldn't just stop like we're all there why wouldn't why wouldn't that be enough but it's and i was angry i was an angry teenager i was resentful i didn't understand it but as i've grown up i've realized that that that is so true that when my dad's suffering when he's low and when he's not feeling good he just wants to be loved and valued and

appreciated and connected and so I reach out I'll text him I'll invite him around go for a bike ride or walk and I know that that lifts his mood it helps him so yeah it's something that I've learned and evolved as I've grown up it wasn't it wasn't a feeling that I could ever imagine when I was a teenager because I was so in the middle of it and so upset by what the damage that drugs were causing to my family and what do your mum and dad make of Joe Wicks now the Joe Wicks that you've become I mean my mum and dad are constantly telling me that they're proud of me you know because I was I was a very distracted kid I was very disruptive I didn't have I can't imagine you like that I can't imagine you like yeah I can't imagine you like

yeah I just well look you've got to imagine so I'm a I grew up in a council house and I you know it's chaotic living in a council block because there's so many people and it's so many different characters and personalities that everyone's struggling in a way if you like and then I had you know my dad's addiction addiction terror and the fact that he was in and out of rehab so I was I didn't have a positive role model so I was I was just a clown I was you know probably kicking up a bit of a fuss at school and I didn't focus on anything so for me to like go on and achieve what I have and and and help so many people you know my mum and dad are really proud of me they tell me every day and I can't believe what you've done I'm just so inspired by you and it's lovely because I didn't have a lot of opportunity and

you probably wouldn't have thought much of me if you met me as a kid you wouldn't have thought he's going to go garden to do good things. So when I got the MBE this year, my mum and dad were just over the moon. And it was a really wonderful moment to celebrate that together, really. So what do you think was the turning point for Joe Wicks? What was the key moment that turned you from being the distracted, angry teen into the nation's superhero? because that's kind of how you are to us now I think when I left school like and went traveling I went traveling for a year to

Australia and sort of you know lived on my own quite independently was backpacking and cooking in hostels and working and kind of being independent and traveling I think I grew up a lot during that time and I started to you know be less selfish be selfish, be kinder, be more open to people. And I just loved, I've always loved helping people. I've always loved helping people, whether it's like, you know, get confident in sport or to learn a recipe or to cook. I've always just enjoyed helping people. So I think when I turned to personal training and got into that career, I just knew that that was what I was meant to be doing. I loved taking people on a journey from having very little self-belief and self-confidence to really going on a physical and mental kind of transformation so that's

something I've always been passionate about and I never knew that the P with Joe thing was going to reach so many I honestly didn't think I was ever going to have a book deal or DVD everything I've done really has come through opportunities coming to me I've never like hunted them down and kind of had this vision of becoming a you know an online celebrity coach or everyone called it i i think it happened quite organically because i genuinely love to help people and because of that opportunities came from it so joe what is all this we hear about you going to the amazon to take hallucinogenic drugs do you know like when you do a podcast every single podcast you say something you go oh that when you do a podcast, every single podcast, you say something, you go, oh, that's going to be a headline. I know, and it gets ripped apart. Yeah, and I knew when I said it, I said to Steve, I said, is that bad that I've said that?

Because basically I listen to a lot of podcasts around, you know, ayahuasca and plant-based medicine. This isn't like chemicals and drugs. You know, I'm not someone who's experienced that. But people that do it say that it's like it's a really, you get connected to Mother Earth and have this feeling of kind of. It sounds amazing. Yeah. Yeah, it's basically like a plant from the amazon it's been thousands of years people have been using it and i just said in the podcast i i would like to experience it one day and then obviously the sun or whatever newspaper was like joe wicks wants to go and do like lsd fueled drug things and i was like no that isn't what i said i'm just

asking you about it when you just when's your such a sucker no no no it was producer Russ's fault he's the one who told us I'm only kidding no one day I would I'm interested

I think it would be a nice things experience but as I said it's not like going and doing like a dirty drug on the streets it would be in a ceremony in the Amazon

with like a shaman have been doing it for thousands of years so it's it's something I'd like to do but I may never do it anyway it was just a comment I said

and it like became a daily mail. But it does sound like an amazing thing to do actually. Yeah. It sounds super cool. So what they say is it can show you like childhood trauma. It can help with addiction and depression and postnatal depression and PTSD. So it's something that I like.

I don't think I need it, but I always think, will it open my heart and my mind a little bit more to the world? And it can allow you to feel more connected to humans and Mother Earth. And I think that's a positive thing. Yeah. I get the sense from talking to you, Jo,

that you're like on this perpetual quest for self-improvement and self-awareness. Is that something you're very aware of in yourself? I think it's since I became a dad. I think, you know, when I was coming up as a teenager and as a young adult like you feel selfish it's about you it's your ego it's you you you and then once I met Rosie it was like wow I'm so in love with this person now it's actually about Rosie it's about her feelings it's about what does she think and then having kids again another level of like empathy and love and patience but what I've realized is that as it since I've become a parent I now care so much about other

people and other people's children and what's going on in their lives and that's why what really drove the the pee with joe thing was to like get families moving and to help them for a really difficult time so yeah I do think as you grow your heart can open up and you start to feel a lot more for other people I think I think yeah parenthood is fascinating isn't it it can either really stress you out to the point where you don't know what day it is or it can make you very kind of focused on what it is you want from your life and everybody else's life around you can't it I think parenting like having two screaming babies in your head and your face and all through the night is one of the most stressful things it's because it goes from zero to 100 it's instant it's irrational it's like it's really really tough but the only way i can get through it is to kind of yeah like

just to learn from my mistakes and also if i do have a day where i shout indy i don't sit there and feel like oh she's going to hold that against me because i know when my mom shouted me as a kid it was just one moment in time the rest of the time she's completely loving and nurturing so i think there's that thing of if you do make a mistake and you do have a shout and your kid screams and you have you lose it the plot a little bit don't let that affect you emotionally i think you can learn from it and learn to kind of deal with things better but yeah i think we're constantly being challenged by kids and it's so hard because they're irrational that you can't have conversations with toddlers it's like it's tough but yeah i do i think that the positives far outweigh the negatives in terms

of parenting and children. So what else can we expect to see from Jo Wicks next? So you're talking about these boot camps. What else are we going to see from Jo in 2021? Well, you'll be excited about this because I'm one of my favourite things to do is to read books with Indy and, you know, practice her handwriting and just like learning and teaching. And she really absorbs a lot of the stuff we do together because she's she's really into it so i've actually got a um a book deal with harper collins to do children's books so this this came about um really because of wean in 15 and i was building this massive audience of young families and children and obviously the p with joe i reached 80 million families globally so that's insane oh it's a lot of people so harper collins said oh would you like

to do some children's books and i thought yeah like what a great idea so i'm working on that this year which will be around my philosophy around healthy food and fitness and motivation and inspiring little picture books and stories to get kids you know thinking about that and and yeah so that's an exciting chapter going into children's publishing are your kids good eaters do you have the classic toddlers throwing food at the walls because they don't know eat it you know do they demand mcdonald's or are they just good eaters there's food being thrown around everywhere and there's days where they don't eat and they you know they're annoying and stuff but i just i've been so consistent from the start because i did that weaning book yeah i had charlotte sterling reed constantly saying joe be consistent keep offering them stuff

you know don't crack don't um give in all the time, and that kind of reinforced it in my mind that I need to be consistent, so there's, you know, I still let Indy have chocolate, she still has the odd treat, but we don't have fast food very often, we obviously, we cook at home a lot, so I think the reason they're still good is because I'm just so consistent, I say to Indy, if you're not going to eat that now, don't worry, we'll come back in an hour. And I did it last night. She didn't, I made this, it was a gusto recipe. It was a jackfruit curry and she didn't want it. And then an hour later I said, all right, do you want me to reheat?

I reheated, she ate the whole thing. So that is an example of just being consistent and not offering them alternatives. Yeah. I'm quite bad cop like that. Like I just, dinner is dinner and there isn't anything else. So if you want to eat you'll eat i can learn from this because it's so easy i'll just give her egg on toast i know she'll have a bowl of um wheat a bit so she'll eat some porridge but i know that she will eat that it's

not she hates it she's just right now because i get when i picked up from nursery we shared a flapjack so i thought she just had a big like flapjack she's not hungry so rather than make it a stressful thing and i just say look it's fine darling let's go and play or watch a bit of tv and when we come back and so i think that consistency to my own nutrition and theirs is why they eat well but you can easily give in you can easily crack and they go well i know that if i don't eat this now dad is going to make me some beans on toast or you know he's going to make me a little bit of pasta or whatever so i actually try and offer them um very alternatives and she always eats it and marley's the same that's good what about rosie if she ever fancies a doner kebab on a friday night is it allowed or is rosie pretty good with food as well oh look rosie can

eat what she wants and she loves her food and one of the reasons we i think we fell in love is because we just were obsessed with food and we used to love going for you know restaurants and going for dinners together but we we eat together i i'm i probably do most of the cooking because i do obviously the gusto recipes and recipes for instagram um we don't really eat you know fast food like takeaway delivery stuff but we do we like that when we can we like going to restaurants and we love we do love a burger you know burger and chips is our favorite but we we really enjoy cooking at home together are you veggies or vegans at home we're like more veggie but we still i still love a steak like when we go out we'll have a steak or a burger or you know lamb chops

whatever we do love meat but we're i just think at home i'm just i don't enjoy cooking with it as much i don't enjoy like buying the mince and the chicken from supermarket i don't i don't know i still eat it when i'm out but you know i mean i've just gone off it a bit so i'm cooking a lot more veggie food at home now which is good now i'm going to ask you a question about that joe because your 30 minute book is my go-to oh christ i haven't got anything for dinner book and i at the moment i'm not eating any carbs because of a health condition and i find it really hard to do low carb veggie meals so how does that work for you is there first of all can you write me a book if if possible, please, on low carb menu meals? Small request.

But for those of us who kind of like don't eat carbs very often, how do you follow that kind of slightly more vegetarian way? Yeah, it's difficult because a lot of carbohydrates, like a lot of vegetables, even like chickpeas and lentils and grains and vegetables are carbohydrates. So what type of carbs you have to cut all carbohydrate can you still yeah i'm insulin resistant so i'm not allowed any carbs really oh wow but you can still have vegetables like with fiber and things can't you like yeah yeah like pasta and sort of sugary stuff that elevate your insulin and cakes um no i am i won't bore the podcast with it but basically my body is rubbish at insulin it's the solution it's after two lots of gestational diabetes oh well it's difficult i mean

it's a specialist thing i suppose there must be forums and websites and people that have dedicated to like low carb um low carb recipes and stuff but yeah i'm not because i'm not really into the whole keto thing i really love carbs i haven't really focused much on those type of recipes no but there's some on some of your books you do kind of like low carb alternatives which is why they're so good for me oh that's good i'm glad you're enjoying the book thank you you'll have to cut all this bit russ no one wants to listen to me talking about no it's interesting well and there's probably a lot of mums who had gestational diabetes who after their pregnancy are struggling with this kind of thing when you won't be the only one it's really record i'm not cutting this out

gestational diabetes is incredibly hard because when you are pregnant often the only thing especially if you get sick like i did you just want to eat toast with butter yeah and if you have been told by your obstetrician that you're not supposed to be eating carbs it's really difficult because it's the last thing you want is a chicken breast and vegetables you just want bread and you're not allowed it so for anyone who's gestationally diabetic I feel your pain okay write to Wendy and she'll help you just for the record toast and marmalade is my like um my kryptonite if it's in the house there's bread and there's orange marmalade in the fridge i can't stop eating it i'm obsessed of it oh sour

dough and orange marmalade i'm with you joe it's the best thing okay well i'm allergic to oranges so i feel really left out of this conversation but do you still eat it anyway no you have to have really cheap orange marmalade that's not got real oranges in and then it's fine okay fair enough so come on what other simple switches can we make to be healthier in 2021 as families joe come on tell us well the first thing you want to focus on is exercising you know being more active as much as you can like doing things together like go back to that pee with joe like style where you just did like stuff in the living room like have fun with it because our children learn from us so much and

if they don't see mummy and daddy exercising why would they ever be inspired and why would they ever kind of be motivated by it so i think that's the first thing you should do and it doesn't need to be um high intensity you could go for walks or bike rides and i think getting out in nature is really important as a family um but with food it's really about just keeping it simple like taking it back to basics like i do a lot of like you know one pot stuff so like a big chili or bolognese or i'll make a um like a veggie lasagna or stick a big like risotto baked risotto in the oven and then you've got like two days i think if you can make a dinner which has leftovers for the next day it's this nice yeah it's a lovely knock on effect you go at least lunch is ready tomorrow and you

can just reheat that and that's one meal less stressful where you can move on and that can really help just keeping it like that you know nice and simple and avoiding obviously like the really fast food and the processed foods because they're the foods that really just drain the energy from your body is there a new cookbook on the way joe is there something coming up or is it all on the app at the moment well the um the last book i done was called um 30 day kickstart plan which came out just before christmas that was a kind of health and fitness book my my next book coming out is actually um it's called joe's family food so it's going to be a book aimed at you know young families so perfect for us um that's coming out in it's coming out in the

summer yeah so it's kind of a follow-on from wean and 15 so it's taking your children from like babies to toddlers and then up to kind of you know teenage years where it's about really incorporating like healthy food but also um quick simple i just it's all about stress free isn't it when you're a parent it's about quick quick and simple food so yeah all of my books really have that theme of speed simplicity and just like loads of taste at the end of it do you feel under pressure to be the person who answers all of our questions like we've just basically used you like a food and exercise agony aunt do people stop you on the street and say joe my toddler won't eat chickpeas what shall i do not really in real life like that but i get a lot

of people obviously on dms and i really like interacting with people because most people just want a quick question or quick answer sometimes i'll send a voice note because it's quicker so yeah i've heard you're really good at being interactive with people like that i've heard that's what you're really well known for yeah i mean people can't believe that i even read their messages but i think to send a reply and just quickly acknowledge something whether it's someone that's just finished your plan or they want a bit of advice on their weaning you know i really value that and i want to reach out and let people know that they can ask questions and it's okay because i was the same when i didn't know about weaning i had no clue so i got char got Charlotte who was an amazing nutritionist to help me and I've always shared

everything I've learned I like to share so whether it's anything about cooking or fitness or even something about parenting or that thing about connection with you know family with addiction like that I just like sharing positive messages really that people can actually maybe use and take away themselves but I like that you're honest and you're not passing it off as all this isn't all just Joe you know you're really honest about the fact that you used someone to help you with the weaning book because it wasn't your specialty you had no idea and that kind of thing I it's much more refreshing that you fess up to the fact you're just using what you learn and then you're sharing that yeah that is so important a lot of people um wouldn't want

to admit they have help no i think you should always let people know you're using experts because then it means the advice you're giving is really good and it means that at the end of the day me and charlotte have the same mission we want to get parents feeding their children really lovely healthy food and so we shared the same mission i just had my own book and she's obviously got her own book and you know we're on the same mission to help people so yeah i think you should it's always good to be transparent isn't it? It is. And I think social media and your use of it,

i.e. that you use it not just to share, but then to interact with people is kind of crucial here. How much of your success do you think is down to social media? Like you're very savvy with it and your use of it is kind of, well, it must have been pivotal to your success. Oh, without a doubt. I would have been pivotal to your success oh without a doubt you know i would i would have been a personal trainer running a boot camp in surbiton and richmond i still would have just been you know working with one-to-one clients but instagram and social media and just

the video content allowed me to just share videos you know share instagram recipes and then share youtube videos and again it was i obviously had an ability to connect but it was still very slow and sticky at the start like nobody was following very few people were like subscribing to the channel it took me eight or nine years to get where i am so i think consistency is important but yeah the fact that you could you could message me every day for a few days and and the chances are you're going to get a reply from me and that that is something that not a lot of people are willing to do they kind of get to a certain level it's like well i can sell books now through bookshops and supermarkets i don't need to communicate with these people but i really value that and i really love i love to know that i'm helping people and when i disconnect if i have a

few days off where i don't speak to people and communicate i feel like why am i doing it why am i just filming all the time what am i sharing these videos for it's when i actually look at the dms and the youtube comments that i realize this video has helped someone like on the other side of the world who's having a really tough time like get through something and so it's important for me i need it more than just as much as they do i love that i absolutely love that about you did you ever think in your wildest dreams while you were doing your boot camps in surbiton and you had hardly any followers on insta that it would ever end up like this no i had no idea my ambition really was to become a personal trainer and to you know have a few boot camps and maybe franchise it and have a

few trainers working for me that was as far as my mind could believe and imagine and kind of dream but when i started to kind of you know connect and get more followers and then i started to help massive amounts of people i thought you know i can do amazing things i can reach more people and like i said i never intended to do a DVD or books all these things came to me all these opportunities that you see the only one I actually looked for myself was the Gusto partnership but everything else came to me and and so that was just through like sheer determination and passion you know never giving up and always having that mentality of like you know just keep coming back and doing a video and turning up to your bootcamp

and someone else will come and it will grow. And that was all I've done really from the start. It's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. Right, Wendy, I know you've got a very important question to ask.

It's one of the questions we ask all of our guests, Joe. What's for tea tonight? Oh, good question. So I've got a recipe. It's like a pasta bake. So it's just pasta you throw in like some vegetables a few tomatoes and you just put some grated cheese on top and you

bung it in the oven for about 20 minutes and it sort of comes out all nice and that sounds so nice and comforting yeah burnt and crispy on top it's oh it's lovely good recipe that one oh yeah we fight over the crispy bits in our house so from the person who can't eat pasta thanks guys can't you have like is there not like carb free pasta that's disgusting it's like slugs i've tried it but you swap you swap your pasta for courgette and stuff i do i do i'm only joking joe that sounds bloody delicious it does i'm sorry i can't i can't think of another one on the spot i'm sure no you need a low carb you need a ketogenic cookbook where they've got recipes, which is high fat and protein, essentially. There's loads of good books out there, but that's because it's quite niche.

I haven't ever done a book specifically on that. No? Well, we're waiting, Jo, okay? We're waiting. Wendy's going to be hungry until you write one. Now, do you and Rosie eat with the kids? Are family meal times a big thing in your house? Yeah, and I talk about this a lot because when I was a kid,

we did sit together, but it's really like stressful. It was rushed, you know. It was basically frozen, you know, dinners and put it in the oven and then eat it and run off to your bedroom and watch The Simpsons. But I think, yeah, I just want that time. I want that time together as a family. And so however busy I am, I always find time. I put my phone either downstairs or upstairs and leave it

because I was so addicted to my phone at one point. You know, I was filming everything, like every Ween in 15 recipe, every single recipe on Instagram. And now I've kind of, I've just gone off that idea of just having the camera in their face all the time and recording everything. So I normally like to film a recipe in the afternoon if I'm going to do that. But at dinner time, I like to just leave the phone, put some music on, we eat together and, you know, try and catch up on each other's days. Because sometimes I'm in to do that but at dinner time I like to um just leave the phone put some music on we eat together and you know try and catch up on each other's days because sometimes I'm in the

house all day upstairs working and I don't get to see them so I want to come down and catch up and I think it's a nice I think food should be about connection it's the time to sit down and slow down I completely agree okay so the next big question the penultimate question on every podcast episode is Joe Wicks how do you want to be remembered I want to be remembered as someone that really like okay so the next big question the penultimate question on every podcast episode is joe wicks how do you want to be remembered i want to be remembered as someone that really like helped people that help people feel happier and i do that through my videos and my recipes but i'd love to know that when people you know when i'm out of the picture that the body coach the brand and the kind of the workouts and the recipes that that legacy lives on long beyond me so that people always

have that to go to the place to kind of get fit and healthy and strong um so at the moment it's obviously all on me but i hope to build a team of amazing trainers that can one day be as inspiring as me and just keep continuing that mission to get people all over the world exercising and getting them fitter and healthier and happier well i think it's going to happen because essentially what you're doing is raising a new generation of kids who will always associate food and exercise with you you know wean in 15 and pee with joe like that's that's growing that little seed in their minds isn't it yeah that's the aim i'd love i'd love to because obviously if otherwise if i just if it just fizzles out and i'm gone and the body coach was just like a mr motivator of his time but

i'd love to think nothing wrong with mr motivator by the way with less lycra i love mr motivate but i mean like i just want to be able to build a team of amazing trainers that can carry it on forward so that in years to come i can look around and say to indy i started that like that was me i was the body coach i started that and pete is still helping millions of people that that would be an amazing thing to say and a nice legacy i think when you're a little old man under a blanket watching telly oh that was me yeah that'd be so good be fun I mean I'd love to do that I'd love to say you know oh yeah it carried on beyond me so we ask all of our guests to imagine that you are tucking Annie and I into bed and you have to sing us your family lullaby, Joe,

what do you sing to the kids when they can't sleep? Oh, that's a nice question. Well, I love the song You Are My Sunshine. So I sing... Oh, I'm going to cry now. You know that one? You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You know that one?

We do. That's the one I sing of Indy. I've gone. You make me happy when skies are grey you'll never know Indie how much I love you please don't take

my sunshine away I'm not a good singer obviously but that's our favourite song to sing together it's absolutely gorgeous haven't heard that for ages

thank you for sharing that with us Jo and thank you for talking to us Jo it was lovely to chat to you it was and I feel very

motivated now for 2021. I feel like I'm going to do your boot camps. I'm going to eat less carbs to help accompany Wendy. And I like your positive mindset. This is going to be my vibe for 2021. Thank you, Joe. Oh, thank you so much for having me. It's been a lovely chat,

and I really wish all the listeners a wonderful 2021, and good luck to everybody.