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It is 9am on a drab Monday morning. Between desperate yawns and frantic gulps of coffee, tens of thousands of people are shaking off their lockdown fug by doing chest-pounding rounds of toe touches and mountain climbers. Putting them through their paces is a beaming, bouncy instructor cast onto their screens, alternating exercises with shoutouts to his virtual class. The stream will go on to clock up more than 300,000 views – the comment thread will feature more praise than an evangelical church service.
The instructor is Joe Wicks. “There’s been a massive shift in the use of technology in the fitness industry,” he explains, fresh from his latest ‘PE With Joe’ session. The YouTube series, which started during the spring lockdown, is now approaching its first birthday. It’s seen Wicks graduate from Instagram-famous celebrity to British fitness royalty. “I’m trying to inspire a younger generation. They’ll still