The Body Coach: The fitness guru and Instagram millionaire dubbed the Jamie Oliver of the fitness world

Joe Wicks aka ‘The Body Coach’ aka 'The Jamie Oliver of the fitness world’ is the latest figure to emerge from the so-called 'Fitstagram' explosion. Blasting onto the screens of Britain’s iPhones, the 30-year-old personal trainer’s quirky fitness videos and 15-minute healthy meals have won the hearts and laughs of the British public.

Hailing from the humdrum suburbia of Surbiton, Wicks has gone from bartender to Instagram millionaire in the space of a few years. Amassing a following of one million on Instagram and raking in one million a month, the fitness guru is testimony to the growing reach and lucrative potential of sites like Instagram.

Wicks’ empire has mushroomed beyond belief in recent years. To put this into context, his first cookbook Lean in 15 has earned him a spot in the 20 best-selling cookbooks of all time – an achievement even Gordon Ramsay and Mary Berry haven’t accomplished. It’s also been number one in the Amazon.co.uk book charts for 12 weeks.

As well as signing a six-figure contract with Bluebird, the Body Coach is coming to a screen near you soon. He was recently selected to front a new Channel 4 show which will air in the summer. On top of this, he is also hoping to conquer America in the near future.

Reminiscent of a more muscular Russell Brand, Wicks’ effusive humour and self-deprecating quips set him apart from your run-of-the-mill fitness blogger or puritanical pundit. From joking that he’s had “the Ross Geller” and his spray tans turned him into an “Oompa Loompa” to filming himself singing out of his window, Wicks never takes himself too seriously.

Wicks has become famed for his trademark one-liners. ‘Midget trees’ are his moniker for tenderstem broccoli while he uses the word ‘guilty’ to describe something especially tasty. What’s more, in classic cockney fashion, he also uses ‘naughty’ to describe his prized meals.

And unlike fitness Instagrammers who only post photos of their “courgetti” and egg white omelettes, Wicks is more than happy to share the occasional flick of him scoffing a brownie or a stack of maple syrup-clad pancakes. What’s more, the food he promotes is not calorie-phobic. A world away from questionable detoxes or clean eating regimes, he is all for hearty, wholesome fare, including the likes of chorizo, goats cheese and pesto.

Having graduated with a Sport Science degree from St Mary’s University in Twickenham, Wicks never set out to make money and envisaged a career as a PE teacher. But after getting side-tracked running boot camps in his local area, he set up an Instagram account in 2014 and everything took off from there. But it is exactly this which he sees as the secret of his success. “I have 500 people signing up to my plan every day, and the business keeps growing and growing. I think the reason I’ve become successful is because I never set out to make money,” he tells The Mirror.

And Wicks maintains this down to earth spirit to this very day. “I just want to be me,” he goes on to say. “I’ve worked really hard not to be a celebrity trainer and I don’t want to be linked to celebrities all the time. I genuinely mean that. You can send me to America and ask Jessica Alba to train with me, but I’m not interested. I just want to help people, normal people".