Have you heard of the Body Coach?
The Body Coach is London boy Joe Wicks – The creator of the Lean-in-15 Programme.
Joe is a charismatic, good looking, internet marketer’s dream. (Honestly, go see).
In 2015 he took the industry by storm by using Instagram and loading up his quick recipes.
These videos on Instagram consisted of tasty, filling meals that you can make in 15 minutes and promise to help get you lean.
Sounds and looks good, hey?
These aren’t your typical recipe videos though
Joe’s sense of humour is what sets him apart from the rest.
He reminds me of Jamie Oliver when he was young and fresh on the TV scene. Riding around on his moped and saying that everything’s ‘pukka’!
The only difference is these meals probably won’t help you get fat!
The promise with this plan is that you can eat more and exercise less.
(Possibly some misuse of marketing there – but I can see why it attracts people to the plan.)
It’s a very bold statement: saying people can eat more and exercise less is completely ridiculous. It’s merely reinforcing what people want to hear to sell a product, and that’s not what I’d expect from a qualified Personal Trainer.
Joe is getting a lot of criticism at the moment as he’s recently teamed up with the Sun newspaper to help promote healthy living.
Now, for someone who’s goal is to help the nation become leaner, this is a real sell out!
He is making a lot of money now (it’s been reported that he hit £12 million last year) so I’m guessing people are quick to judge and trying to bring him down in some way. But still, I do think he’s sold out here.
A photo posted by Joe Wicks #Leanin15 (@thebodycoach) on
So what is this Lean In 15 thing all about?
The first phase is a low carb approach which is a common go-to method of Personal Trainers to make clients drop a lot of weight in a short period of time.
Now, most people do eat too many carbs, so lowering this is something most people should focus on anyway.
The thing is it’s not a simple as that; when we take something away we must replace it with something else.
So it’s just about swapping some things around to make better choices overall, yeah?
Also this approach is very hard to sustain for most.
Generic approaches like this only work for a short period of time. The mind-set side of it has never been covered so you’re set up to fail.
In a nutshell: people jump on the HOW TO rather than working out their WHY.
These are the things that I focus on a lot in my Inner Circle and the reason people get the longer lasting results. We can do quick fixes but we also look at the longevity of things.
So back to Joe and his system…
The problem is, if you have issues with cravings or you have any form of social life then this becomes near impossible to stick to.
Which is why people call themselves a failure and go looking for the next big hyped up fix.
Generic approaches don’t work
This is a 90 day program and it’s a decent program based around three meals and two snack a day.
This is good, as most try and starve you for results.
The exercise plans have warm ups and cool downs, which again is good as the safety aspect is there.
These routines are very generic and not individually specific, but they do help people get some results.
Joe does use a HIIT approach which will make you sweat and help you feel like you’ve done something in those 15 minutes.
(Possibly another marketing trick here so people start raving about it to their friends and Facebook.)
Look, this is good, but these types of approaches tend to be aimed at more the experienced trainer. I provide my clients in my Inner Circle this kind of stuff all the time to do at home.
If you’re a beginner then you may struggle with this part.
This isn’t me being negative towards Joe Wicks…
I kinda like the guy. I can connect well with him.
This is just an honest account of what I think about the plan.
I have a 12 Week Plan myself. It does require a bit more work, but with the mind-set work, tips and tricks I provide along the way I know it will help any individual get the longer lasting results. Which means they won’t be yo-yoing like many do.
I get why plenty of fit pros aren’t too keen on this guy.
He doesn’t count calories and encourage ‘clean eating’ as such… but who wants to keep recording what they are eating!? That’s a stress on its own and life is all about joy and fulfilment.
Personally I enjoy quick meals myself if I’m busy. It’s half the reason I created my Feed Me Fit cookbook.
Joe Wicks subscribes to a low-to-moderate carb intake (except around workouts) and uses terms like ‘healthy fats’.
Obviously his plans won’t get you jacked and shredded. But let’s face it: if the average couch potato did what he advised, the nation as a whole would be in a better shape and far healthier.
He’s doing good things, OK. The thing is this wouldn’t work for most people.
Most need help with implementation and that comes from 1-2-1 help from a coach.
What’s more, he’s getting people excited about a diet they can’t sustain.
But more fit-pro’s should take note and possibly learn something from this guy as he’s really got his message out there… it’s just the message isn’t exactly true!
