to ask if you think Joe Wicks is tone deaf of just supportive of his wife?

[moderationincludingmoderation]

Joe Wicks has caused a bit of a stir with a recent Instagram post - thoughts?

www.instagram.com/p/Cq8Q3XvrXqL/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I've a feeling people like yourself would take offence at photos of this beautiful, fit, strong mother no matter what words accompanied them 🤷‍♀️

If she’s really 4 months pp I can see why this has gone down badly. I have been pregnant recently and gone through this return to fitness journey so definitely in that zone of social media.

The ethos nowadays is more take your time! I suppose as a backlash to these types of posts. Even those who have done perfect vaginal births there’s a lot of advice to work on abdominals intra muscles, check abdominals recti, pelvic floor, pelvic tilt etc. very gently before jumping. Running is rarely recommended before 6 months to allow pelvic floor to repair. Obviously they are experts so know what they are doing/ have support/ personal 1-1 trainers etc but in general these types of posts are frowned upon because they are not realistic for normal women and could actually be harmful if encouraging people to do similar.

Belle method on Instagram is good IMO. Strikes balance perfectly - motivating, inspiring but realistic and caring.

What was the point of this post?

If other women feel like shit because Joe's wife looks amazing then that is their issue. He hasn't made anyone feel like shit. People might feel shit after seeing this post, but that is not his fault.

Baby is 7 months old.

I never said it 'upset' me. I said I found it a bit tone deaf, that that was my take on it, but was aware others wouldnt see it that way, and just thought it was interesting as clesrly people were reacting differently and wanted to hear people's differrent takes on it as it's a subject I'm interested in.

I take on all the points, my own take remains pretty much the same, but I can appreciate the other views.

They make their entire living from extolling the virtue of fitness and the post is completely in line with that.
As a society are we really so self absorbed that we internalise a post about a super fit recent mother as a judgement on less fit recent mothers or women who aren't able for physical or logistical reasons to exercise to the same extent? Is there really no way it could just be a post from a fitness fanatic praising another one?

Of course it’s tone deaf

clue is in the fact he opens the post with she LOOKS amazing. We don’t get the platitudes about mental health and strength til the 3rd paragraph.

but he’s a fitness bore what do you expect?

Thanks that does change things quite a bit. I think this information should have been provided in the post.

It’s a sensitive area as it’s not so much ‘get off your arse and get moving’, it’s more ‘your body has morphed into a life support machine and gone through a metaphorical car crash so it is possible to get back but you do need to work consciously of what your body has been through’ type post.

As a fitness guy I would of thought this level of info where there is reference to the specifics of post partum fitness or at least a nod too it would have been expected.

All this "exercise when you're pregnant!" rhetoric is bullshit IMO and serves to make mothers feel bad if they don't.

Completely disagree. Exercise could simply be taking gentle walks, doing prenatal Yoga or Pilates, light stretches, seated stretches, etc. Even dancing around to music is fine. No one is expecting pregnant mothers to climb mountains, lift weights, run, etc .. and no decent doctor would tell a woman to do so unless she was already doing those things pre-pregnancy and was choosing to and even then they would tell them to be cautious.

I thought that social media in general was a bizarre concept when it first came about. I could only think someone really gloaty or narc would put stuff up. It seems to have become acceptable though so perhaps his comments should be considered in that context.

I can’t read the whole post, as I don’t have Instagram, but I do think it’s a little bit insensitive. She has a really fantastic body and the bit I can see says he’s proud of her exercising through pregnancy - well ok, but lots of women are floored with sickness, sciatica or any number of things that prohibit exercise. Some have nasty post partum haemorrhages leading to hysterectomy. Personally, I was so sick, that my mum or h had to hold me up so that I could get to the toilet. I was slim when I got pregnant, and I became skeletal whilst pregnant. I could not have exercised and I felt the worst I’d ever felt in my life. I couldn’t eat or move without immediately throwing up.

if they have 3 kids and they are both in the gym, someone’s taking care of the kids/baby. Again, loads of people don’t have that kind of support - paid or unpaid.

plus I guess it’s easier to get fit if your h is a fitness coach?

overall, a bit gloaty I think. He could be proud of her in private. It wouldn’t be acceptable to put up a bank statement with £1m on it and say, I’m so proud of my hardworking spouse for earning this and I think this is possibly similar.

I don’t think it’s true to say that anyone can be fit like that. Because otherwise there wouldn’t be so many millions of people struggling with their weight.

"As a fitness guy I would of thought this level of info where there is reference to the specifics of post partum fitness or at least a nod too it would have been expected."

Yes this! i think this is what I found surprising about it. That there is no acknowledgment or guidance mentioned and I think it would be responsible of him to do so.

I haven't got a problem with it all and I'm not a huge Joe WIcks fan at all!

After DS 1 was born I went back to the gym exactly a week later. Looking back it was probably a bit daft but I got two hours free creche care at the gym I went to so I had one hour gym and 1 hour swim. A few weeks later I was doing spinning and body pump. It's fair to say I was a bit of a gym addict. DH was supportive. I wish I was like that now. I have lost my motivation and put several stone on since those days. The only thing that hasn't changed is that DH is still supportive of me and tells me how lovely I am!

I find the love posts a bit nauseating and i would absolutely cringe if my husband were to do the same thing to me. I follow him for the recipes.

There's been several over the last few days, I wonder if he's making a point.

I noticed the posts of Rosie are getting the most likes so maybe that's egging him on to post more?!

I can see how the post could make new mums feel a bit shit about themselves and I also wonder if he would go on about how proud he is of her if she wasn't exercising so much and didn't have the amazing figure.
He does seem like a great father though.

I've just clicked the link and had a look. wow gorgeous healthy people, doing what people pay them to do. It's an Instagram account which you can choose to look at or not. After the birth of my babies I probably wouldn't have chosen to look at it until I felt ready, and then may have found it inspiring. I presume that he has regimes to suit all.

Those that claim not to be jealous, or overweight and unhealthy, are presumably just being offended on behalf of other people then. I personally find the body positivity accounts more damaging but I recognise their right to exist.

No. I’m just not reading it in the same tone you are.

He is a hypocritical tone deaf twonk. He constantly flouted lockdowns, showed off holidays, large purchases and nights out but thought he was above it all because he was the nations “PE teacher”. He cares not one jot about anybody but himself and even though he’s faced a backlash in the media about his Instagram post he won’t address it and will just move on.

And I’m not jealous, I just prefer honest people who acknowledge their privilege and understand that life is different for everyone.

If I didn't have to work, had tailored gym plans, and tailored earring plans, all available easily, I'm sure things would be very different for me too. Also, I fed king hope that they are both getting up equally with the kid overnight, but that smacks more of it being her job. Absolutely be proud of your partner, but also don't minimise the vast advantages they (and you) have, and don't compare to 'normal' women who have none of them!

She looks amazing. She’s worked hard. He’s proud of her. Sweet.
Where’s the tone deafness? I have a feeling the majority of people thinking it’s tone deaf are simply envious.

I just don't think it's fair to tell pregnant women they should be exercising, or that it's easy to exercise in pregnancy.

I tried so hard to exercise, and it was bad for me and my baby. I was so shocked when the midwives and doctors told me not to exercise - even walking - and said that I wasn't unusual, lots of women can't exercise in pregnancy. I thought everyone could exercise when pregnant because of social media and seeing all the pregnancy fitness posts - but it's just not true.

You should always do what's best for you and your baby.

I get what you're saying about gentle exercise, but at the end of my pregnancy I couldn't even stand safely, so doing basic things like showering, walking or yoga were out of the question

I don’t like him, I don’t know why.

but I don’t think he’s done anything particularly wrong here, he’s just proud of his wife. so long as he recognises that some new Mums don’t have the time, energy, money or resources to be able to achieve what his wife has.

Go Rosie! She looks great and it does take masses of hard work and commitment to get into that shape. There are loads like her at gyms all over the world. We don't see them though..... because we are at home on our arses on Mumsnet!

It was not a judgement of you all, it was meant as, I don’t recognize hardly any of the names in the news anymore (not talking about politics) I noticed that today as I was scanning headlines. Who are all these people? 😀

By "it" do you mean his stories tonight on his IG? Not the original one that caused this thread.