Joe Wicks raises £80,000 for NHS with PE lesson videos on YouTube

'I saw the number and I was blown away and said, "That number needs to go somewhere special",' fitness instructor says

Joe Wicks has revealed the live PE lessons he has been offering online for children have raised around £80,000 for the NHS.

The fitness instructor announced he was going to offer live exercise sessions for young people following the closure of schools amid the nationwide lockdown.

On Monday 23 March, Wicks, who goes by the name The Body Coach, held his first live PE lesson on YouTube.

Wicks’s PE lessons have soared in popularity, with numerous people across the globe taking part from Monday to Friday.

On Wednesday 1 April, the 33-year-old was interviewed by Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on ITV’s Good Morning Britain about the huge impact his fitness initiative has had.

Wicks explained that the PE lessons he has released have accumulated significant advertising revenue from YouTube, the entirety of which he is going to donate to the NHS.

“In the past week alone, the ad cents is almost at $100,000 [£80,810] — every penny of every workout that we do from now and forever, all of the money is going to the NHS in the UK,” he said.

“I saw the views and it’s unprecedented. YouTube isn’t a massive part of my business, it’s something I do, it’s free content, I love sharing it, but obviously with the views comes more ad cents, the revenue, so I saw the number and I was blown away and said, ‘That number needs to go somewhere special’ and the NHS felt right. I’m so proud I’m doing that.”

The first video from Wicks’s daily PE lessons currently has nearly six million views.

Wicks has just over two million subscribers on YouTube and boasts 3.4 million followers on Instagram, where he first gained renown as a fitness instructor and influencer.

The Body Coach recently opened up about the impact the coronavirus lockdown has had on his mental health.

He explained that he has been feeling “down and stressed and frustrated with being indoors”.

“So if you’re feeling low, anxious or depressed it’s completely normal and everyone is feeling it on some level,” he stated.

“With kids it heightens it, there’s screaming and crying and it is intense. But after exercise I instantly feel better. You can change your mental state by changing your physiological state. Those mental lows suddenly just fade away.”

To find out how to join in Wicks’s PE lessons, click here.

For everything you need to know about the fitness instructor, click here.