Warning: You Might Shrink 7 Inches In Height Following The Body Coach Programme

So the other night I was watching Joe Wicks’ TV show on Channel 4 The Body Coach, I couldn’t help but nose in. I must admit I chuckled at his early videos of him hanging over a balcony announcing his breakfast to a traffic warden in a squeaky voice and he exploded in popularity on social media. He has the looks, the charm and often described as a Russell Brand/Jamie Oliver hybrid. Nowadays, people generally like him or hate him, and it is commonly the latter with the people I speak to in the fitness industry. I can’t help but feel it is possibly jealousy of his success, fame and fortune that he has quickly amassed amongst other things.

That doesn’t really bother me, but what annoys me is when I have strong reason to believe people are being misled or taken advantage of with health products/services for the sake of profit. There will be more “health” professionals we will cover; however, let us start at the start with The Body Coach. If you haven’t seen any of the services he/they sell a 30-day plan (SAS – shape and sustain) and the 90-day plan (SSS – shape, shift and sustain, why is it not SSAS?). The site describes the plans to be tailored to you so it is a personal plan evolving around you, your body and your preferences. You also get online support with a hero coach. The foundation of the plan is based on HIIT (high-intensity interval training) and eating healthy foods, no quick fads. Great, sign me up! I have no complaints about this methodology and preach similar messages. So what’s the beef I have you ask?

On his website, he states that he has helped over 100,000 people in 2 years. I am taking this number as how many programmes he has sold, rather than truly had success with, I suspect a substantial difference between the two values. That is because I understand how much time and effort is required to fully support an individual and I try to cater for as many aspects as possible. I develop personal programmes, custom-made to the individual ,which means each one is different and based on the information they provide. So I performed some math, and straight away alarm bells were ringing. Logistically, you would need a sh*t load of hero coaches to personalise everyone’s program. Maybe they do? But I’ll break it down for you. How much time would you want each coach to dedicate to you per week? Agreed everyone is different, but imagine you needed an hour a week, I don’t mean contact time with you, but the amount of time they spend on you, to answer questions, for them to develop your programme, devise your food plan etc. This means each coach could only manage 40 people per week for 90 days or 160 people a year. If we take it as 50,00 people each year, it soon becomes clear how many coaches, sorry “heroes” they need.

But what if they reduced the amount of time needed per paying customer and developed efficient systems. They could quickly place people in similar age/weight/gender categories, that way they don’t need individual programmes, just enough to cover each bracket. Also, when you input your information into the system, your macros are automatically calculated using a formula. What if you were being matched to a programme rather than a programme being tailored made to you? There is a huge difference. Compare a premade, generic suit vs. a tailored made suit. Which one do you expect to be a better fit and to pay more for? Simple, but what if you paid for a tailored suit but were really just getting one from the back of the store that matches up to your height, gender and weight? If enough people buy the suit it is bound to fit some pretty good, we could use their testimonials and photos.

You only have to read some of the Facebook and online forums to realise they have developed an efficient system for generic exercise and meal plans. Many of the posts are complaints about the food plan containing foods they specifically said they couldn’t/don’t want. A major flaw in the efficient systems approach is when two friends decide to sign up to the programme at the same time. Of course, they feel hard done by when they discover their plan is the same. One of my favourite sites to look for brutally honest opinions is mums.net.com and without being stereotypical, mums probably make up a large percentage of the body coach’s clients. Here are a couple of posts from the body coach forum on mums.net

“They claim that part of the money is for a tailored plan & your own personal coach. I joined a FB support group though, with hundreds of people on it, and we all had the same plan, same portions, whether we were a size 6 or size 16”.

“Yes, this was my experience of it too, once I found some others to compare. I liked his enthusiasm and I see online people have had success on this but I just found it too hard going for me. I ended up thinking that this was ideal for the single person who can focus on themselves, clear the cupboards, only feed themselves etc etc, But I know others here are in the same position as me and still manage it. After two weeks of C1 I gave up feeling even more despondent about my weight and even poorer. It was definitely a one size fits all from what I could see”.

They body coach has cast a giant net and caught a lot of fish. If you then apply general weight loss principles to the swarm, based on the average Joe, then it’s no surprise you can find a lot of posts saying it worked well and they lost x amount of weight, then post their transformation pictures as evidence it works. However, if you go from eating poorly to eating better and not exercising to exercising 4-5 times a week… of course you will see results if you stick it out, that is the foundation for almost every good weight loss strategy there is.

This leads me to my second point that really gets on my Wick, and that is the transformation photos. This is not limited to The Body Coach, this is a universal issue I have as very few people post unbiased before and after pictures. Have a look at exhibit A. This is one of the several photos from the show, the left side being the before and right after (I have not altered anything). To be fair, the pose is similar, typically you see completely different body positions, one where they are unforgiving in the before and flattering in the after.

In this photo, there are multiple things that make for an unfair comparison. Firstly, I would like to point out that I am sure this person worked hard and has had some truly positive results and this post is no way aimed at her. Now, let’s play a game of spot the differences. I don’t think swimsuit matters much here, but why make the backgrounds so different? Why make the after photo person smaller? Why give the person a makeover + tan? Why let them wear high heels?

All these questions have the same answer but different mechanisms. They are all done to give the perception of looking healthier and better, thinner in this case. Studies have demonstrated that women appear more attractive in heels, elongating the leg without changing the mass will give the illusions that it is thinner. We now associate tans with wealth and health, as someone has the money and freedom to travel, hence the attraction. It was not always the case for bronze skin, it used to be associated with farmers and workers, making pale skin all the rage – if history repeats itself anytime soon I will laughing.  Moving the person further back will, of course, make them appear smaller.

At first glance, it’s a bit hard to catch all this unless you have a pet hate and trained eye for deceptive after photos. My first instincts were that this lady lost 7 inches in height on The Body Coach Programme. I have added some red lines to illustrate my point.

I am not knocking the product/programme as such, as I believe he is sending a good message and speaking about a sustainable lifestyle rather than fad diets. Nor do I criticise the price. I believe that we undervalue how important our health is when translated to money. We prioritise possessions that very quickly become worthless without health. My problem is not selling it for what it is and conning people into thinking they are getting the perfect programme for them when they are actually getting an ok programme for as many people as possible.

If you want time, effort and a properly tailored programme made to fit you, then I would advise using someone who limits the number of clients they mentor. Every trainer has a maximum capable number of athletes they can train and increase beyond that number simply dilutes the quality they can offer. So my advice to you is this: if you really believe this is the perfect solution for you and you feel it is value for money and you are an average person that doesn’t really require exercise alternatives or exercises to help your particular posture, aches and pains and aren’t that fussy an eater, then, by all means, go for it. But… you should probably split the cost with a friend or two.