The Netmums Podcast - S12 Ep10: Joe Wicks: Gentle parenting and happy healthy bodies

Episode Date: March 19, 2024

Joining Alison and Wendy on this final episode of series 12 of the Netmums podcast is the nation's favourite PE teacher, Joe Wicks. In his third appearance on the podcast, Joe opens up about his love of the chaos that comes with an expanding family, from the trials of travelling with toddlers, to how he and his wife Rosie navigate meal times. Joe delves into the importance of fostering a love for movement in our children and shares his personal approach to ensuring his kids embrace a healthy lifestyle without the reliance on constant snacking. Joe also talks about his new book, 'Fitter, Healthier, Happier,' and its focus on educating kids about both their bodies and their minds. Tune in for an honest, heartfelt conversation with the Body Coach himself, and maybe even pick up a tip or two for your next family adventure or mealtime strategy. Find out more about Joe's journey and his new book at his website and follow his adventures on Instagram @thebodycoach and grab your copy of Fitter, Healthier, Happier’. Stay connected with Netmums for more parenting tips, community support, engaging content: Website: netmums.com / Instagram: @netmums 

You're listening to the Netmums podcast with me, Wendy Gollich, and me, Alison Perry. Coming up on this week's show... I actually laughed so... because when I posted, I wasn't thinking, oh, this is going to get loads of comments and loads of people are going to recognise that and be zooming the photo, but Mark Wright wrote a really funny comment that had me in stits. He wrote, Wixie boy, you've got to trim the gangster. And I was laughing, and some of the comments in there from people like you know zooming in and all that but look I didn't plan on it it was silly and you know

I've had a trim since so yeah it's not like that now. Hello hello welcome to another episode. Now I think that this week has been a week of firsts for the parent hosts of this podcast. For me, it's been a first residential for my little girl. So she's eight years old and she's done her first two-night overnight stay, which has gone, frankly, disastrously. I've had a call at 9pm the first night and 10pm the second night to go and get a week in grace. I think eight years is all so young, Wendy, to be going away.

So I'm not surprised it's gone badly. Well, she's the youngest in the class. So I think all the others are nine and she's eight. So there's been weeping. And I believe that you two have been weeping this morning. I've been weeping, but for another reason. My five-year-old twins twins they're in separate reception classes and one of them it was their school assembly act of worship this morning and so they were lined up at

the front of the assembly hall and they all had a line to say and they all sang a song and i was trying so hard to keep it together and not be that crazy crying parent at the back. It was very emotional, Wendy. Now, I'm really hoping that today's guest, who is returning for not his second, but his third visit to the NetBumz podcast, hasn't been weeping. Alison, give us the blurb. Well, I think he has been weeping because I was watching his Instagram stories earlier

and he was getting very irate over a non-stick pan. So let's hear um but two words to describe today's guest wendy living legend because joe wicks pretty much single-handedly saved the sanity of millions of parents during lockdown with his daily youtube sessions pe with joe um as well as being a fitness phenomenon, Jo is also a dad of three with another one on the way. And he's a bestselling author with his new book, Fitter, Healthier, Happier, coming out soon. This new book is aimed at kids and it's a look at the key ingredients to a healthy, happy body. Jo, a massive welcome back to the Netmoms podcast.

Hello, Alison and Wendy. Thanks for having me back. It's lovely to be here chatting with you again. So before I ask our first question, why the nonstick pan rant? What's going on? Yeah, I've been pulling my hair out a little bit because, you know, I keep seeing all this stuff about Teflon and, you know, it all like, you know, when you see it all scratched up and it's sort of like, you can tell you're probably going to be eating some of that Teflon. It probably ain't good for you, right? So I thought I'll get some stainless steel pans. You know, I jumped on Amazon.

I've got a couple of pans and saucepans and whatnot. Anyway, I started just doing the basic eggs, right? Fried eggs. And it sticks so much. And you think, now I realize why they invented Teflon. But basically, I was getting wound up with it and i saw everyone said oh there's a hack you you gotta really get the pan nice and hot and you put a little bit of water on it and if the water like goes into a ball and dances all over the

place then then you know the pan's hot enough and at that point then you add the oil and it kind of produces its own non-stick um surface and it did work for the first egg but when I put the other two in after it just stuck again and now back in the kitchen scrubbing it again so yeah I think non-stick is probably like the better one in the long run it's probably less hassle I've seen that documentary about non-stick too but I also it's it's eggs eggs on pans too stressful impossible so hard yeah it's annoying but I'm working around I reckon I'll. I reckon I'll crack the code soon. So let's get it out of the way, Jo. Let's talk about PE with Jo,

because you must be sick to death of talking about PE with Jo. But it's bloody incredible. Did you ever imagine that it would skyrocket you to fame like it did or that you'd be doing it for so blimmin' long? No, you know, I never get bored of of talking about because it was my proudest achievement you know i loved doing p with joe and i i felt like i was really living my purpose and i know i got a lot of people through a difficult time so although it's a long time ago i still have such fond memories of it and i you know i'm so proud i've got people moving through a difficult time but yeah i never had any clue how long it was

going to last never knew how long and i was going to do it for and also how many people were going to tune in on that first day it's nearly a million live streams so i was like completely blown away and i did it every week we were all desperate just for something we did yeah we got through and your kids were about what were they four or five at the time your children yeah Yeah. I had toddlers. They were like 18 months old. I had twins that were toddlers. I was not in a good place.

I tell you what, though, I'm so grateful to you, Joe, but I've got to be honest. I just have to hear the phrase PE with Joe and I'm not okay. I think I've got PTSD. I think that you trigger me. So if I get through this podcast conversation in one piece it will be something i tell you i'm sorry yeah a lot of people sort of started and in the end they were like fed up with it by the end of the end of the 18 weeks but i mean look thanks for taking part anyway and giving it a go i just used with you i wasn't fed up with you don't get me wrong it was

like it was the pandemic that i was i was not okay with yeah Yeah, true. So there is another baby Wix on the way. Congratulations. Did you always want loads of kids running around? Were you always like, yeah, I want loads of babies? Well, I come from a family of three boys. So I'm the middle child. And I don't know, I just, I love that closeness. I've got an older brother who's 18 months older than me

and there's a 10 year gap between me and my little brother, George. So yeah, I've always visualized having a big family. I don't know. I, I do these events. I do the P with Joe tours and I do like massive workouts and I, I love meeting families of like four or five kids.

And there's like the teenager right the way down in height to sort of the four year old. And yeah, I just love the chaos. I don't like quiet. I don't like, you know, they were away for a week and I really missed them because it's just so

quiet. And I'm so used to having kids running around and, you know, it is stressful. They annoy me a lot, but I also love them so much. I love being around them because I love seeing them learn and, you know, I'm teaching them and they're evolving and growing. And it's like, it's wonderful just seeing that my personality and my sort of DNA is rubbing off on them a little bit. And I, I like that. I like that. I'm raising kind humans. How does Rosie feel about being pregnant again? Well, I, she's one of these people that doesn't suffer too much when she's pregnant, luckily.

And I said to her, like, Rosie, is this the last time? Do you think this is the last time you're going to be pregnant? Because if it is, we've got to enjoy it. This is your last baby. She's like, no, 100%, no way. I'd love another one. So, you know, I think she's just quite maternal like that, you know, and we do visualize having a big family.

But who knows? Hopefully it will go to plan. We'll definitely have a break after this one. We've got to have a break because we've done five-year-old, four-year-old, one-year-old, and now another one. We've got to have a little bit of a break, I think. Yeah, it's only fair on Rosie. Take a minute.

But you asked your Instagram community, didn't you, to help you name the baby. I mean, that's a brave move. Did they come up with anything that you liked well there's been about 7 000 comments on that post because I just was like you know getting some ideas and I said you know you go on these websites but I thought someone out there might have a really unique name I haven't heard so um there's loads of comments I've had some funny ones some silly ones but I haven't really gone through the whole list, but yeah, I like the names that end in the E sound. So obviously Marley, Indy, Lenny.

I like Poppy, you know, Daisy, those sorts of sounds. So I don't know. There's loads of ideas coming out, but we haven't sat down together yet to do it. The thing is the British public have got previous. I give you Boaty McBoatface. So I'm not sure I'd listen. What's that?

Oh, don't you remember? What's Boaty's Boatface? So the government was appealing for names. Was it a warship, Alison? It was a ship that they were appealing for names. I can't remember what kind of ship it was, but yeah, it was a good few years ago now, wasn't it? And they put it to the public vote, and the public, the unanimous vote,

the winning name was Boaty McBoatface. So that gives you all you need to know about the British public. It's a risk. How are the kids feeling about another sibling? Yeah, they're good, obviously. Like we've got three kids and they're all so different in their personalities. But one thing I love about them is they're very nurturing, although they're fighting a lot and they disagree on a lot of stuff,

but they're quite cuddly. They're quite tactile and they always kiss and lennie and they disagree on a lot of stuff, but they're quite cuddly, they're quite tactile, and they're always kissing Lenny and they look after her. They love carrying her and taking her into the other room and stuff. So I think they sort of like being nurturing to them. So I'm hoping the new baby comes along. I think Lenny, she's quite clingy. She's always on me, she's always on Rosie.

So I don't know how she's going to react to the new baby coming. But, yeah, they adapt, don't they, pretty quickly. And I've just got to spend a bit more time cuddling Lenny and looking after her and stuff so she doesn't feel left out when the new one comes along. Yeah. Now, something that you do that I'm always super impressed with is how much travelling abroad you've done with your kids

when they're so little. You know, I struggle just taking my kids to Bognor, never mind, you know, some far-flung destination. What are your tips on doing that and staying sane? Well, I'm really fortunate I can travel, you know some far-flung destination what are your tips on doing that and staying sane well I'm really fortunate I can travel you know and I've always loved it even before I was a even before I was the body coach and I was a skint student I always used to blow my loan my student loan on traveling because I'm quite nomadic so I've always loved traveling and I I always didn't want to give that up you know when I met Rosie obviously we didn't have kids

we could travel it was amazing but I said to her like when we have kids I don't want to give that up. You know, when I met Rosie, obviously, we didn't have kids. We could travel. It was amazing. But I said to her, like, when we have kids, I don't want to give that up. Like, that part of my life and that part of adventure that I live for, like, we've got to keep going. So, yeah, like, as soon as we could, we got the kids on a plane. We took them. Obviously, we go to L.A. sometimes. We've been to Costa Rica and we've done Australia and stuff as part of a work trip. So, yeah, we've jumped on planes. You know, we've gone on long-haul international flights.

And I'll be honest with you, like, it's not a fun part of the journey. That's the hardest part of it work trip so yeah we've jumped on planes you know we've gone long haul international flights and i'll be honest with you like it's not a fun part of the journey that's the hardest part of it right but when you just accept it and you just take it on the chin you're right this is about me distracting my kids for 10 11 hours on a plane um giving them snacks you know all rules go out the window snacks um ipads ipads movies games um We get Dobble and, you know, Uno. It's like hour by hour almost. And so it is stressful and it's a long journey. Now we've got three kids. We're outnumbered.

We don't have nannies. We don't travel anyone. It's just me and Rosie. But, you know, it's part of it. And we know when we get to the other end, we're going to have a lovely hotel, a lovely place to stay, and we're going to have two or three nights of jet lag, jet lag which is also a laugh but when that's done then you have a great time to give a wonderful experience you're in the swimming pool you know you're doing like nice restaurants and things so it is the traveling's the most anxious part of it but if you just take it in

your stride and be more relaxed about it and accept that it's going to be a long day once you're there it's worth it it's always worth it i traveled to florida when my youngest daughter was about 14 months old and one of my friends recommended that you um so you have lots of little presents wrapped up really tiny things for like every couple of hours of the flight and you wrap them really tightly with lots of sellotapes so it kills a bit of time opening them and so i did this and it was a great idea and she said, what you do is take a pot of Play-Doh that you're going to

sacrifice because you know it will get messed up and you just bin it at the end of the flight. Worst thing ever. She got Play-Doh. Why was it the worst thing ever? Can you imagine? There was Play-Doh on every surface of that plane seat. And me, because she didn't have a seat. She was on my lap. Never again. Don't take Play-Doh on every surface of that plane seat. And me, because she didn't have a seat.

She was on my lap. Never again. Don't take Play-Doh, Jo. Don't do it. It's a disaster. Yeah, no, it's a mess. You know, it's a mess. I mean, yeah, you look round now and, like, the whole floor is a state.

I throw my kids on the floor and let them sleep, but they always tell me often. Yeah, they do. We get the bulkhead seats and I try and sort of stick one on the floor and they don't like it. But, yeah, luckily Lenny will sleep in the bassinet sort of thing. But yeah, it's stressful, but you should never give up traveling because as a family, like you think about your memories as a kid. Like it's the thing you remember the most.

It's where you, you know, you absorb culture, you make friends, you have memories, you bond as a family. So, you know, if you can try and do a little bit, even a weekend away in the UK is still beautiful. It's still a wonderful thing to do. So we've just had Mother's Day day what did you do to spoil rosie well um my mum actually came around on mother's day so we had a little sleepover in the evening but um i just took rosie for a nice lunch with the kids so it's never a calm you know when you go for dinner with kids like you don't get a chance to talk it's pointless so really it's like get there you know you've got we don't really have the screens at the dinner table so we have like you know your double your

uno we have coloring books and it's just basically we're just distracting the kids while we eat we scoff our food then we go home it's only when you go out with with your wife about your kids oh my god we actually have a lot in common we can talk we can interact i can have a conversation with you but you just don't when you've got a four-year-old a five-year-old a one-year-old you don't get a word in edgeways ever they don't get it i'm so glad to hear though that you have the same experience as me because yeah when i go out with my kids it at least really is like you're just entertaining them and if you're if you can shove some food in your mouth in between then you're onto a winner yeah we always laugh about how you know i'll try and say

something to her and i'll be like i just shake my head and go what's the point i speak too late and then by the time you get to bed you forget what you're going to say so like you just go days and days about getting a conversation do your kids ever do that thing where like you're having conversation with rosie and they're trying to interrupt you and then when you say to them right okay what is it they've either forgotten or it wasn't actually anything at all they're just trying to get your attention they want nothing to say oh yeah all the time yeah that's that's that's just part of it especially with my little boy marley because he's always so excited and stuff but yeah you know it's one of the joys of parenting isn't it you just gotta accept you know you're not going to talk to your partner for a few years yeah oh my goodness um

no you seem like a pretty chilled dad you know when i've seen like on your instagram stories you're there kicking with them and you know chatting away to them you seem really chilled out is that is that accurate i kind of think that even with um super chilled parents there's always things that wind us up like for me it's stepping on a random little toy that they've dropped and haven't picked up and you know not taken away um it really really winds me up what are the things even as a super chill dad what are the things that winds you up yeah well look i obviously i try to be patient as much as i can that's that's what we try and do as parents be kind and compassionate but there's definitely things that i struggle with i grew up in a very chaotic home right so my mum had extreme ocd like i'm talking deep clean in the house three or four

times a day so i couldn't leave my shoes anywhere i had to iron my bed i started to iron my bed sheets i had to like fold everything away so i'm quite relaxed around that sort of mess and i don't mind a bit of chaos and mess around the house because i think it's part of you know it's a part of being a kid and mud and dirt and i just i've let all that go like that that part of my um personality I just think if you scratch something or you write on the carpet or you if you you know you've drawn on the sofa I just don't care let it go and with the kitchen as well like you know it's messy there's always gonna be mess I get them making pasta no it's not it's dead tidy no it's I mean it's so it's always messy I'm always I'm either cooking or cleaning because I'm obviously making recipes for Instagram.

But, you know, the hardest part of it for me is this whole thing around gentle parenting, right? Like I was shouted at as a kid so much, you know, doors were slammed. It was a very aggressive confrontation, not physically abusive, but verbally abusive and shout at your house. So I really try to be a different parent. So when my kids are whinging and arguing and fighting, and it goes from zero to 100, my stress levels got really high. My cortisol goes really high, and I want to scream and shout. So in my head, I'm screaming and shouting at my kids.

But I try my best to kind of have a breath, trying to sort of have a moment, and then I obviously try and react differently. But no, it doesn't always happen. Sometimes I'm in the car and I'm screaming, or I'm trying to get Marn a moment and then i obviously try and react differently but no it doesn't always happen sometimes i'm in the car and they're screaming or you know i'm trying to get marley ready for bed and you'll just try you do all those things you do all the kind gentle parenting things and it doesn't work and then eventually everyone has a breaking point and even rosie who is way more calm and patient than me she actually you know she shouts and screams and we we we feel terrible but it's part of parenting right you have to just acknowledge

it and accept it and apologize and let your children know that it's okay to you know sometimes lose your temper but you can regulate and you can talk about it and you can actually apologize but yeah for me it's the whinging and the whining and the in the uncontrollable um like you know like um irrational meltdowns over like the smallest thing like oh you gave her that bowl you gave me five blueberries and she got four and all that sort of stuff and it it's so it's relentless isn't it really the fighting but then but then that is because i'm the same as you i grew up in a household that was very like you know uh shouty and you know very verbal but yeah the reason that you find that difficult is because you weren't allowed to do any of that stuff when you were a kid. And so I used to think our generation of kids are so lucky that people like us

are trying to reprogram the way that we're parenting and shouting in our heads, but trying not to shout out, you know, at our kids. They're so lucky. It's hard though. Yeah, we're the first generation of that gentle. If you think about you know the psychology around child learning development and understanding you know how we interact with children it's changed it's new science because you know in the old days it was

like you know shout and control your kids and you know make them do what you need them to do but you know we know now that doesn't necessarily work so yeah yeah, I think being a kind, gentle, compassionate parent is exhausting. Being a shouty parent and sticking in front of the TV and just going, I'll piss off, get out of the room and slamming the doors and walking out. That's easier, but obviously it's not going to teach your child to self-regulate and their emotions, and then they might become aggressive teenagers. Because me and my mum, I remember we used to slam doors and slam doors into each other's faces. And I'd punch walls as a teenager.

And I don't want my kids to ever be like that. I don't want to see my children be like that. And so for me, I'm trying to be a better role model. I'm trying to demonstrate that even when I'm stressed, I can regulate a little bit. And they learn so much. They really are like picking up everything you do. So you're not going to do it perfectly every time. But it's key to come back to that thing of, you know, can can i interact differently can i ask my kid for a cuddle when they're

screaming of an attention as opposed to screaming in their face and that getting that making it even even worse so let's talk about your book joe fitter healthier happier now as far as i remember apart from burpee bears which was a picture book, this is your first kids book. Is that right? Yeah, it's my first nonfiction children's book aimed at sort of, say, six to 12 year old kids who are sort of learning about, you know, themselves learning about the human body. So it's a lot of it to do with kind of the systems in the body. So the muscular system, the digestive system, mus musculature system so quite educational in a sense then i talk about the importance of um diet and nutrition how how certain foods affect our mood and our energy so nice gentle kind of introduction to nutrition

um and then there's a section all around the mind and looking after yourself so it could be around breathing around meditation around mindfulness and sort of dealing with um feelings of anxiety and stress which a lot of children experiencing um i talk about screen time you know devices getting a better sleep routine like as a parent you'd really be happy if you saw your kid reading this you'd be really happy because the information they're going to get is very uplifting it's very inspiring and it's all about you know learning about your body and mind and looking after yourself yeah it's so it's so good it's like i just think the way you've broken it up into those different sections it's really easy for kids to like just dip into and learn some facts that they can then you know what kids are like my kids love repeating

facts that they've learned so it's it's so good um but i think pe's had a bit of a reputation um overhaul over the years like when we were kids they had a really bad reputation like I would have done anything to get out of doing PE oh we used to forge notes to get out of PE and sign you know like write it and try and get it in your mum's hand and forge it and I think I had a period a week at secondary school so that I didn't have to do PE and all those sorts of things you know you'd do anything to get out of it wouldn't't you? But it does feel like it's changed. Like my kids love PE. And I think that it feels like you've definitely been on a bit of a mission,

Jo, to try and rebrand it as something fun. Would you say that's a fair analysis? Yeah, I think sport and exercise should be fun. And I think it really comes down to how children are introduced to it, right? Are you in a really hyper competitive sports school where if you're not doing the best and winning you're a loser and it's not worth doing it and i just think children need to be like encouraged and supported and it's i don't think you know necessarily competitive sport is always the answer for people it might be you know offering

something different classes can do dance and yoga and hip workouts and you know like um just hiking anything different i think I think there's a pressure for children to be super athletic and super like performing at a high level but I was never a talented athlete I just loved sport because I really enjoyed the physicality of it and moving my body and getting stronger and obviously like dealing with my my crazy childhood that I was going through but yeah you know in this book I talk about all these things I talk about activities you can do there's little facts there's quizzes But yeah, you know, in this book, I talk about all these things. I talk about activities you can do. There's little facts, there's quizzes, there's, you know, little homework you can do in your bedroom, have a little stretch, do a little twist. You know, it's not like you've

got to be doing structured, regimented training every day, but it's just all movement is good for you. And as a young person, if you can tap into that and realize that if you're anxious and going to school with negative feelings and you're overwhelmed, like you have this amazing thing at your disposal called exercise and movement to release some of that from your body. And yeah, I think it should be fun. And I think sometimes it's just like one wonderful PE teacher can

transform the whole school, you know, or one passionate head teacher who really promotes activity or even a dinner lady or, or someone who's like a teaching assistant to say, right, come on kids. I know it's a bit wet,

but let's get out and have a little work, you know, have a little run around or let's go for the daily mile. These things are really small, but they actually make a huge impact on the children. But I love the fact the book is also as focused on the brain and looking after your brain in the same way that you look after the rest of your body. I think as the parent of an almost teenager, that bit is what struck home with me is that you're doing something to help them realize, first of all, that physicality can help with the mental stuff, but also how important it is to focus on the mental stuff. Yeah, I mean, it's going to I know it's going to be more challenging as you go into those teen years.

I'm really aware of that. So I think it's about trying to set them up with the tools that they can they can they can turn to. So, yeah, it's not just about exercise. It's about communication. It's opening up. It's mindfulness. It's breathing. It's relaxing. It's trying to, like, step away from the chaos and the addiction of devices and social media so that you can actually self-regulate and calm yourself down just by having an hour a day where you're not on your phone.

Or having, you know, a conversation with your mom or ringing up your nan or someone you used to love and speak to and hang out with and now you don't like i really believe in all these things i believe that you know sleep so important family's important like you know connecting rather than just be you know snapchat and and and tiktok and stuff like actually you might feel close to your friends but you're probably not because you're not seeing them so i believe that you know you've got to be more human like interact with people again and I think it's becoming harder isn't it for kids these days because everyone just wants to be on their phones the whole time yeah it's really hard um now you're clearly somebody who you know lives and breathes this stuff um what are the stuff that you're doing with your kids at home to teach them all of this but

just in like a day-to-day routine like Like I saw there was an Instagram video recently of you and Marley doing pull-ups together. Is that kind of like a regular occurrence where you're just hanging out, doing exercise with them? Yeah, well, look, I'll be honest with you, right? Nothing stimulates my children more than Disney Plus and the PlayStation, right? Nothing gets them more excited than knowing like I can have half an hour on the PlayStation or let Indy wants to watch princess films at disney so it will always be

they don't have ipads right so they the only thing i have an ipad for is for an app for the piano she's learning the piano but i really try and stimulate them with like activities because i know that otherwise you know and i'm someone who wants to be busy and wants to be working but i also know that i've got to put in the effort for them because they don't want to be out they don't like they don't want to be out in the rain and running around and going out on their bikes and playing football but i'm the one that says come we've got to do this we've got to do this together so you know i'll do things like you know boxing pads with indy or a little bit of football with marley but i'm talking a little like 15 20 minute blast i'm not

like out doing pe lessons all day long but i think those little moments where you just get out the house get some fresh air they make a huge difference on their behavior on their focus on their energy um but yeah you know I think it's about making it fun like I don't push my kids but I give them opportunities so like little things like I've got a little guitar and a little keyboard and I've said look it's there do you want to give it a go and it took a while and now we sit together but again like I think with children what I've come to realize is you get out what you put in. You know, if I give I gave Marley the PlayStation over Christmas time and like within a few days, I could not believe how he was navigating around the controller playing this game called Astro's Playroom on the PlayStation. Like it blew my mind. So if I give Marley an iPad, he's going to get very good at an iPad.

If I give Marley a PlayStation, he becomes amazing at using the PlayStation. So, you know, the reason indy is learning spanish is because i'm sitting with her for 20 minutes teaching her spanish and the reason marley is getting good at football is because i'm out there in the rain when it's freezing cold and pissing down because i said marley like the the only way to get good at that is if i practice him and so i i see the i see the impact that role modeling has on children and i know it's hard when you're really busy you've got loads going on but you've got to find those little 10-15 minute windows to get your kids doing something that's active that's physical i really think it's so important the role modeling side of

it it's impressive now speaking of instagram joe i have to ask about that photo um i know you're gonna ask about i didn't you know what firstly i didn't know before i posted that i even that towel is low man it's low and it got a lot of attention so go on what's it like when something like that goes viral i obviously you didn't expect it to and i presume you had no idea when you posted it that it was going to go you should have had an idea but you didn't that it was going to go quite so mad have had an idea, but you didn't, that it was going to go quite so mad. Look, firstly, for the record, like, I have a little trim down there, right? It's not completely au naturel, but in this photo,

it looked like I had a right old bush going on, right? The towel's a little bit low. You can see my line. And the truth is, I actually laughed so, because when I posted, I wasn't thinking, oh, this is going to get loads of comments and loads of people are going to recognize that and be zooming the photo.

But Mark Wright wrote a really funny comment that Admin Stitsy wrote. Mark, he goes, Wixie boy, you've got to trim the gangster. And I was laughing. And some of the comments in there from people, like, you know, zooming in and all that. But, look, I didn't plan on it. It was silly. And, you know, I've had a trim since.

So, yeah, it's not like that now. I think my favorite comment was, we're all pregnant now. Oh, yeah. And they said, I can see why Rose is always pregnant. But yeah, look, of course, look, I don't do it all the time. But every now and again, because I think it's important, like as a parent and as someone who's got three kids and who's running a business, like to show that I'm not just saying it on Instagram.

I do live this life. I do eat treats. I do have a night out, but I'm still fit and healthy because I make decisions that help me stay lean, that help me stay strong. And so, you know, every, every few months I'll drop a picture like that, but it's, it's, my Instagram is not really about me doing top of the self. The next time just pull the towel up a bit.

Yeah. Pull the towel up. Yeah. But just for the record, I, I always like, I, I text my brother. Cause Nikki's my, he's my CEO. he's my brother, he's my best friend. And I said, look, I'm going to share his pictures. Is it all right? And he went, yeah.

Oh, it's his fault then. And then everyone was going, oh, you can see your bikini line and all that. I was like, oh, bloody hell. But yeah, it was quite funny. Let's blame Nicky. Wendy, I feel like you've lowered the tone there. So let's just try and get it back up again.

Always. Sorry. um wendy i feel like you've lowered the tone there so let's just try and get it back up again always sorry um joe you clearly cook a lot at home and um you know we see you cooking with your kids and cooking really interesting yummy food for your kids but do your kids eat actually eat everything that you cook for them and if so how do you manage it what is the secret to getting them to eating everything that you cook? I'm going to do a live on this soon because I'm so passionate about it. But it's one of those things, it's hard to talk about because it's very triggering for people. Same when you talk about sleep, right? You know, you need more sleep, get more sleep. It's very difficult to hear that when you're a parent with young kids.

But the truth is, I'm super passionate because I care about young children's health. And I had a very unhealthy diet as a kid so it's not the end of the world like honestly my diet was 95% ultra processed foods my mum didn't know how to cook she didn't fail me like she just that's all she knew you know so I was super hyperactive there's no doubt the food I was eating affected my behavior at school and my energy and so from what we know now about diet I just try and and lead by example. So I don't say do this, do that, cut this out, cut this out. I try to show the recipes that I cook, you know, the family meals I eat together and like the cooking side of things with them to show that actually you can bring kids into the picture a little bit. The truth, you know, the simple truth

is there's only one option. There's only one meal that I put on the table. So my children, they don't dictate to me how much iPad time, how much TV time they get. I decide. And it's the same with the food. I decide what I'm putting on the table. And sometimes, you know, they won't like it or they say, oh, it's not my thing.

But nine times out of 10, they'll go away and play for an hour and they come back and eat the food. So I think the most important thing is one option. And the second thing is don't depend on snacks. We've been convinced and we've been lied to that we need to be in snacks all the time, right? That we need to feed our kids X, Y, Z, blah, blah, blah. But truth is, if I give my kids snacks, even if I give them a banana or some healthy stuff like some nuts or, you know, some rice cakes or peanut butter.

If I give them to that when they come home from school or they're coming from being outside, they're not going to eat their dinner an hour later. Their stomachs are tiny. So the two rules I would give, the two bits of advice is cook and eat one thing together as a family. Don't allow them to dictate what they're going to eat. And the second thing is don't depend on snacks. Let them build up an appetite.

Genuinely, let them get hungry because then when you put a nice curry or b bolognese or you know make a stir fry on their table they you know they will eat the food they'll be so much more inclined to eat the food um and so yeah i'm going to talk about that a little bit more and hopefully get people like inspired a little bit with it so what's next joe prime minister is there anything left for you to actually do you wouldn't be able to wear the towel if you were prime minister but what are you gonna do next more babies i mean i'm just i'm just passionate more babies yeah i just love you know i i see my job as this right i see my job as this i want to i want to get people feeling good right and i think that comes from two things i think comes from movement and from nutrition and the food we eat so i just try and share recipes that can inspire i share workouts that you know obviously got the

body coach app which is a subscription it's a paid for thing but beyond that is all my free content i still share loads of workouts on youtube every week i try to make it accessible um and ultimately yeah i just i just want to keep doing that if i can impact and influence people in a positive way and same with the parenting if i learn something i really value and i find helpful i try to share it so that other people can go maybe i could try that in my kids and you know everything i ever do is always my positive positive place i'm always trying to you know act with kindness as opposed to criticize and judgment judge and make people feel like they're not doing a good job because there's so much confusion around that with social media these days that you feel like i'm failing my kids, everything I'm doing is wrong, the food's wrong. But ultimately,

I don't want to be part of the problem, I want to be part of the solution. So I try to focus on the positive things. So yeah, I'm going to keep doing that, keep exercising, keep trying to inspire people and, you know, just be a good role model as a dad and as a husband and hopefully as a fitness coach online so I can reach more people in the future. Sounds brilliant. Well, Jill, a massive, massive thank you for coming back to chat to us it's been so so great thank you so much and yeah love what you do I think it's great and um yeah really inspiring so thanks for having me on the podcast again thanks Joe bye thank you have a great day thank you