Joe Wicks is More Human

April, 2026

Joe Wicks is more human. He's a YouTube fitness coach, a COVID lockdown PE teacher, and a fully-realised person.

More human not just because...more abs, though that's certainly true. More human because he has built his career on being a different kind of trainer. Relatable, real, and supportive. Not for Joe the permanent manic grin of the aerobics instructor. Instead, he freely reveals the cost of his own physical effort. He grunts and gasps and hopes in vain for the set to end in exactly the same way as his global audience of lesser-abbed followers do.

Joe is someone you can relate to and be encouraged by, and it's no surprise that he rose to prominence at a time of global pandemic when we were all in desperate need of emotional uplift as well as physical exercise.

The Joe Wicks approach is not for everyone; self-motivated fitness types don't need the gentle encouragement, and some people respond better to bootcamp-style shouted instruction. "Not for everyone" is fine. That still leaves plenty of people he is perfectly suited to.

For them, Joe's admission of his own discomfort, his imperfections, makes him an engaging and encouraging teacher. He is trustworthy because he reveals his own limits, and then works openly to exceed them.

Being human does not mean incompetent, or making deliberate errors. It means positioning yourself alongside the people you are helping, showing them that the path can be followed even when it is not perfectly smooth.

There may be fields in which the perception of perfection is the only acceptable option. Maybe you don't want your doctor to admit to struggling to pass their exams. But when you are a small business, or a sole trader, then consider adding a little Joe Wicks into your customer communications.

Tell them stories of your early days. Reveal the mistakes you've made along the way. Don't hide behind a shiny polished facade; let people see you.

You know what your customers are trying to do, and how hard it can be. Sharing some of your own challenges might be exactly what they need to keep trying. Walk ahead of them on the path, instead of shouting from beyond the finish line.

Thanks for subscribing to More Human. If you know of a small business who could use some help talking to their customers, why not send them to morehumancontent.com.

I'm Joe Wicks enough to admit that I could use the business!

This article first appeared in the April 16th, 2026 edition of the More Human newsletter.

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