Joe Wicks MBE has long been the nation's favourite P.E. teacher after inspiring the country to get moving in lockdown with his family-friendly, motivational YouTube workouts.
MORE: Joe Wicks reveals dream to have four children and crack America
The fitness star has since raised half a million pounds for the NHS, received royal honours and is bringing P.E. with Joe back on the road with MINI for the second time. In an exclusive chat with HELLO!, the soon to be father-of-three opened up about his recent achievements, the joys of parenting and his third baby excitement with wife Rosie.
WATCH: What's in Joe Wicks fridge?
How does it feel to be taking P.E. with Joe on the road with MINI?
I'm really excited! It's so fun being on tour because I get to travel to parts of the country that I probably wouldn't visit on my own. I love the energy when I'm amongst families and young people doing my workouts. I'm grateful I get the chance to say thank you to all the people who took part in my lockdown workouts at the end. I stand for 3 - 4 hours meeting every single person and getting a selfie with them. It’s so much fun.
P.E. with Joe is on the road with MINI from Sunday 31 July
It's nice to see people feeling inspired by my videos. Lots of kids wear their P.E with Joe T-shirts from lockdown and you can see they've outgrown them from when they were tiny (at the time of lockdown). It's a real diverse range of people and age ranges.
MORE: Watch: Joe Wicks' kids are so cute helping him make breakfast muffins
READ: Joe Wicks reveals insane garden transformation – and it could be a wellness retreat
You’re so busy. How do you manage your work-life balance whilst also being a parent?
I think it just comes down to prioritising what’s important to me. I love being busy, love working and I love writing books and doing new shows, creating new content. But I also love slowing down and being present with my kids and my wife Rosie.
P.E. with Joe is raising money for Children in Need
I think the biggest challenge for me is phone addiction and separating myself from the device, so I’ve had to learn to have better boundaries with that.
READ: Joe Wicks admits addiction struggle that's impacting his family
Congratulations on Rosie expecting her third baby! Have you always anticipated having a big family?
Ever since we fell in love and decided we wanted to be parents, I’ve always loved the idea of having a big family. When I look at the kids joining in when I’m doing the P.E with Joe tours, I always imagine the fun of having your own unit, you’re a proper team of people. We’ve got our heart set on four – a fifth maybe – but definitely four.
Do you think you’ll ever outgrow your family home?
I don’t think so, we love this house. We are in a lovely part of Surrey and it’s nice and peaceful. The roads are really quiet, there are no cars driving around, we can go on our scooters and the kids can skateboard around. It feels really safe. We’ve definitely got space to grow, we could easily spend our life in this house. But you never know if there are four or five teenagers running around – we might feel like we need more room!
You asked your Instagram followers for baby name advice. Would you ever use a royal name?
Well, my little brother’s called George which is a royal name. I love all those old names, but I think I’ve got some great ideas from that (Instagram) post. There are so many comments – it’s had 7,000 comments! I’ve gotta look through it with Rosie. With our first, I knew if it was a boy or girl it was gonna be Indie. And then with Marley, we loved that too.
Joe and Rosie are expecting their third baby
I want it to be a similar sounding name. I like the sounds that end in an ’e’ – Poppy, Marley, Indie, Peggy. Maybe it’s gonna be one of them.
Or Louis even?
Oh yeah! Prince Louis. I like that.
What is the best thing about being a dad?
It’s probably seeing my kids learn, teaching them and seeing my influence on them. I notice how kind they are or how generous they are. I think that really comes across. When I look at Indie interacting with people at school, I can see she’s really chatty and really open like Rosie and I. So I think that’s the joyous thing, to see that they are becoming kind little human beings.
Joe said he 'always dreamed' of having a big family
Congratulations on getting your doctorate from Saint Mary’s! That must have been such a proud moment for you. Did you ever expect that your 'Lean in 15’ videos would have got you to that point?
Thank you! It was a surreal day, I’ve had a crazy career – but to get an MBE and a doctorate in the same year seems mad. That’s why I got emotional in the speech because I was really proud of myself. I never could have predicted I would end up with a doctorate and MBE from my university.
I was there at uni (Saint Mary’s) but I scraped through, I wasn’t a super smart student. But I think they awarded it to me because of my dedication and commitment to wanting to get people healthy. And obviously the money we raised for charity. But it’s been a great week!
If you could go back and say one thing to young Joe – knowing what you’ve achieved now – what would you say?
I’d definitely say you’re not the ‘bad kid’ that everyone thinks you are. You’re not like a ‘naughty’ kid and going to go down a bad path. You’re just a bit lost and distracted. But if you actually persevere through those school years then you’re going to go out and do some great stuff. So keep being yourself.
Joe continues to get the nation moving with free workouts
I was full of energy when I was a kid and really, I’m still full of energy now. I’ve just channelled it in a certain way. But when you’re a kid it looks like you’re disruptive - but I just needed to release all of that.
I’d say – keep doing your thing, don’t change and you’re going to go on to change a lot of people’s lives.
From Sunday 31 July to Saturday 6 August The Body Coach, aka Joe Wicks, is taking ‘P.E with Joe’ on the road with MINI for the second year running to bring people together for wellness wins – staged as the ultimate event to get families feeling energised, mentally and physically. To book tickets visit https://www.mini.co.uk/pewithjoe
