Time to boost your energy and mood
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In his latest book, The Body Coach is focusing on the mental benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Prudence Wade finds out more.
For someone who made his name five years ago with a food and fitness empire based around shedding body fat, Joe Wicks – aka The Body Coach – has a remarkably different perspective on life now.
“My Lean In 15 brand was all about physical transformation and how you’re going to lose weight,” Wicks admits. “But as time has gone on, I’ve realised that the most important thing is the mental health benefits of exercise.”
The 34-year-old added: “When you’re younger, it’s very much about body image and looking a certain way, but then I started to realise I exercise to feel good, to have energy, to be better with my kids and more patient. Do it for yourself, change your mood – that’s the important message that people don’t often think about.”
30 Day Kick Start Plan is Wicks’ ninth book in five years, and he’s been a constant online presence throughout 2020 with his virtual PE lessons – for which he was awarded an MBE in October.
To be clear – his latest book isn’t about encouraging a crash diet. Wicks doesn’t think anyone can “transform their life in 30 days”, he says. But he believes you can start good habits and feel some momentum. He sees 30 days as a “nice, manageable timeframe” to start your journey to wellness – “with the hope that it’s going to have a longer-term effect on people’s mental health”.
Wicks has realised if people want to permanently change their life for the better, looking good is “not a big enough motivator”.
“In this book I talk a lot about how exercise is going to make you feel, how it’s going to give you more energy and change your mood,” Wicks explains. “And by focusing on that and focusing on sleep, goal setting and all these emotional things, I believe that is a really positive way of transforming your life.”
30 Day Kick Start Plan: 100 Delicious Recipes with Energy Boosting Workouts by Joe Wicks, photography by Andrew Burton, is published by Bluebird, priced £18.99. Available now.
