A YouTube livestream hosted by fitness coach Joe Wicks attracted nearly one million simultaneous views this morning, as School children around the UK began their first day of home study due the Cornavirus.
Wicks, who is known as ‘The Body Coach’ on his popular YouTube channel, is hosting live PE classes from Monday to Friday until children go back to school as the coronavirus crisis escalates.
The first lesson attracted more than 800,000 viewers to his YouTube channel.
Last week PM Boris Johnson announced that all schools would close in a bid to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.
😀 PE WITH JOE starting Monday morning at 9am on my YOUTUBE channel: The Body Coach TV 📺 Please please share this with as many people as you can ❤️ Our kids need this more than ever. Share it on your stories, your wall, your Twitter, whatsapp and school newsletters ❤️ pic.twitter.com/ioFGeFRpuK
— The Body Coach (@thebodycoach) March 19, 2020
Parents, grateful to Wicks for helping their offspring burn off some energy on what was for many the first day of school closures, posted pictures and comments on social media of children taking part.
Wicks announced last week that he would be running the sessions five days a week, Monday to Friday, pledging to “get your kids moving, feeling energised, positive, optimistic”.
At the start of Monday’s almost 40-minute session, Wicks said: “I’m going to be your PE teacher for the nation”, before adding that, while he thought it was just going to be for the UK, “it’s turned out to be so much bigger”.
He could be heard saying that there were 614,000 viewers at the start of the class.
He added: “This is so important, I’m a man on a mission.”
Wicks was not the only coach offering to help keep the UK fit. Nineties favourite Mr Motivator was due to host a live workout on Monday lunchtime on the Truck Festival’s Facebook page.
Those taking part in the free stream are being encouraged to donate to The Trussell Trust, which supports more than 1,200 UK food banks.