EXCLUSIVE: Joe Wicks takes on 'Jamie Oliver style mission' to get kids exercising EVERYDAY

Celebrity fitness trainer, author and Instagram sensation Joe Wicks is on a “Jamie Oliver” style “mission” to change government curriculum and make it compulsory for children to exercise everyday in schools across the country.

At present, it is up to schools in Britain to determine how much time is devoted to Physical Education and many offer only one hour per week, which may explain why nearly a third of kids aged 2 to 15 are overweight or obese.

Today marks the end of Joe’s School Fitness Week initiative in schools, which saw a whopping one million youngsters take part in his online exercise classes as far and wide as New Zealand, Dubai, Norway, Sweden, Singapore & UK and Ireland.

And with the NHS splashing out £5.1 billion on overweight and obesity-related illness in 2014/15, it makes the 30-year-old Body Coach’s dream of tackling the problem at the source more relevant – just like how celebrity chef Jamie’s Feed Me Better campaign revolutionised school dinners.

Joe sees the legendary chef as a role model, and he is using his new-found celebrity status to drive his plan, with the hope of making kids feel better and more productive before they hit the books in the classroom.

Speaking about his new mission, he told Yahoo Celebrity UK: “I want to be known as someone who really made a massive impact on loads of people’s lives.

“It should be compulsory that the kids do some exercise everyday before they start school. I think if we could do that they would be more productive, they’d have happier childhoods. Obesity, diabetes would improve.

“The government spend billions on drugs at the end of it but if they could switch a little bit of that to the beginning on education in training and exercise, and making it compulsory, you know, it would have a huge impact. I think I’ll be like Jamie Oliver, still cracking the health thing in twenty years and I’ll be doing this in twenty years.

“So I think my mission has just begun really.”

Asked if he had contacted Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening MP – who released a Childhood Obesity plan of action in January with guidelines, that are not compulsory – he said: “I don’t like spending months trying to convince the government. I go straight to the source. I go into the schools and speak to the kids, the parents, the teachers, the dinner ladies, and I say, ‘Guess what guys, I’m doing workouts on my YouTube page tomorrow’.

“It’s been unbelievable, I can’t even explain how many kids have got involved, hundreds of thousands a day are taking part.

“And the messages are, ‘let’s do this to get lean, let’s do this to feel happy today let’s do this to feel productive and energised.’ It’s powerful, it’s so amazing.”

Joe has built an empire with his Lean In 15 workout regime that essentially revolves around a short burst (15 minutes!) of high intensity training (HIT) and quick and easy to make healthy dinners. He has another book on the way, and was also snapped up by Channel 4 earlier this year and filmed his own TV show, with him putting people through their paces on his popular 90 Day Challenge.

Speaking about his forthcoming book and many projects, he said: “This is still Lean in 15, but with tonnes of new recipes. I’ve also got a DVD that I filmed in Italy. And I’ve got a TV show which was supposed to come out in September but it’s been delayed, it’s on Channel 4, it’s a two part show where I meet people and transform them over 90 days.”

Asked how he feels about his achievements, Joe said it happened naturally, but because people believed in his message, it caught on.

And he promised that he will be striving to improve the health of the nation, like Jamie, for decades.

He added: “It took two years to build my (Instagram) audience, so when I finally released books, the support and the love was there. So that’s what it takes. People have to believe in what you’re doing. But this thing with schools is just what I love doing. It’s direct, it’s the feedback that’s amazing. I don’t get paid for doing it, and I’m reaching the kids and it’s awesome.”