The World’s Favorite P.E. Teacher Is Exactly Who Your Kids Need Right Now
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Published Apr 15, 2020
The best thing we can do to slow the spread of COVID-19 right now is to stay home and practice social distancing. So, that's exactly what we're doing. But keeping rambunctious kids indoors for most or all of the day is...rough. Enter this genius activity that will keep little bodies occupied while doing something good for their mental and physical wellbeing.
Joe Wicks aka The Body Coach is already a fitness sensation in the U.K. where his YouTube channel has racked up more than 2 million subscribers. And now he's offering 30-minute live fitness sessions every day Monday through Friday aimed at children to help them stay active while the country (and the world) is in lockdown and schools are closed. The classes kick off at 9 a.m. U.K. time (which is 4 a.m. EST) but don't worry—they're also available to stream after on his YouTube page.
And kids are loving the classes—in the first two days alone, the series had notched up more than 5 million views. Dubbed “the world's favorite P.E. teacher,” Wicks signature moves include the Pikachu, the kangaroo and spider-man lunges.
Wicks films the classes in his living room where you'll definitely want to pay attention to the decor—before each class he moves some of the items in the background around so that kids can play "spot the difference." He will also gives the kids P.E. homework like, “write a letter or a poem describing how you feel after a workout.” And to really ramp up the fun factor, Wick will also do fancy dress exercise classes giving parents a great excuse to get more mileage out of last year's Halloween costume.
No special equipment is required to partake in the sessions, but Wicks advises kids wear comfortable exercise clothes and keep some water close by. And grown-ups can join in, too.
Classes include a warm-up and cool-down, with high intensity exercises in between where kids do one exercise for 30 seconds, and then rest for 30 seconds. But if that sounds a little too intense, don't fret—Wicks provides easy and difficult versions of most exercises so everyone in the family can take part.
Extra bonus: It's all for a good cause. In a post shared on Instagram, Wicks said the popularity of his videos had increased his advertising revenue “unlike anything I’ve seen or experienced on my channel before.”
He said: “So I’ve decided that as long as I’m the nation’s PE teacher, every single penny of the money generated on these videos is going to the place where we need it the most right now. All of it is going straight to the NHS, to support the real heroes right now.” (The NHS is the publicly-funded healthcare system of the United Kingdom.)
What are you waiting for? Grab your kid's Elsa costume and (kangaroo) hop to it.
