Joe Wicks
Taking the world of fitness and nutrition by storm, Joe Wicks, or at least his stage name The Body Coach, has become somewhat of a household name and his new cookbook, Lean in 15, will be sitting on bookshelves throughout the country and beyond. Described as a breath of fresh air to the industry, his road to success began on social media through his quick and easy meal plans and accessible workout videos. Now with nearly 1million Instagram followers, a record-breaking cookbook and his revolutionary 90 day SSS plan, Joe Wicks is truly the king of body transformation. Joe’s 90 day Shape Shift and Sustain plan is available at www.thebodycoach.co.uk
1. What was your biggest career break?
Getting the book deal was a massive game changer for me. I had a literary agent who spoke to publishers, which then turned into an 8 way bidding war. I signed to Bluebird and have a 4 book deal. The first book has been at number 1 now for 8 weeks, broken tons of records and sold nearly half a million copies! It’s already in the top 20 selling cookbook of all time which is amazing. The success of it really blows me away.
2. Have you had a notable mentor – and if so what was it about them that was so inspiring?
My business mentor Bev James is incredible. I met her a few years ago when I’d started running boot camps and I told her my dreams. Bev made me make this dream a reality by pushing me, setting me goals and making me believe in myself. It’s like she has a crystal ball; she tells me I’ll have a book and I say “no, that won’t happen”, then it does. Then she said I’d have my own TV show and I’m like “No, never”... and now I’ve just started filming my own show! She’s amazing.
3. What one piece of advice would you give to the 20-year-old you?
Believe you can do it – do what you love and you will be successful. When you love what you do, the money will follow you. You don’t have to follow the money.
4. What qualities to do you look for in the people you work with?
Ambitious, enthusiastic, positive energy. I’ve got a team of 50 people working at Body Coach HQ and all of them are awesome positive people.
5. Who do you admire and why?
Richard Branson, Jamie Oliver, Mark Zuckerberg and entrepreneurs who constantly work and reach a lot of people. Jamal Edwards is all about self-belief and setting goals and I really admire him for that.
6. What does the future of your career look like?
World domination and smashing diets for good! I’m currently working on a TV project and my book is released in America in May so I’m going there to promote it, plus the book has been translated into loads of other languages included Norwegian and Polish. The book is doing well in Australia and of course it’s been number 1 for 8 weeks over here, so it’s pretty busy. I’m not going to stop until I’ve got the world lean!
7. If you hadn’t chosen your current career, what would you have done instead?
I’d definitely be doing something connected to fitness, I’d probably still be running my Bootcamps.
8. What is your biggest extravagance?
I’m not a very extravagant person - I still live in my 1 bedroom flat in Surbiton. I guess my biggest extravagance last year was taking my mates to Las Vegas and LA for 2 weeks - we had such a brilliant time.
9. Who would you invite to your dream dinner party and why? (you can invite three people – they must be alive)
Ricky Gervais as David Brent or even just as Ricky, I don’t mind. David Attenborough because he’s full of incredible stories and Connor McGregor because he’s got a massive personality and is really funny.
10. What do you do to relax away from work?
I love going to the cinema, training in the gym always clears my head and I love a spa weekend too.
11. If you could change one thing about Britain today, what would it be?
Nutrition needs to be made simpler. It’s still so confusing for people. I’ve visited a couple of schools recently and taken a cookery class with them and was amazed that’s it’s only compulsory until the age of 14 and even then it’s only one lesson a week. Surely nutrition and how to cook is one of the most important things kids need to know. There’s so much focus on academic subjects, but if we’re not teaching key life skills such as nutrition then we’re never going to have a healthy society.
12. What would your last meal be? (please choose a starter, a main course and a pudding)
Starter - Chicken Satay skewers
Main - Chicken Massaman curry
Pudding - Chocolate Fondant with Vanilla ice-cream
