Body Coach Joe Wicks has come under fire from his followers after a post about his wife Rosie's post-partum body and her training regime, six months after she gave birth to their third child, Leni.
Women called out the fitness trainer (who has 4.6 million followers) not only for not understanding the privilege the post inferred, but for his comments that the weightloss was 'more impressive' because their child wasn't sleeping through the night.
While many were careful to give fair credit to Rosie, some called his comments 'kinda gross' with others claiming his statement could 'cause a lot of women to have nervous breakdown'.
Fitness influencer Joe wrote: 'So proud of Rosie ❤️ I think she looks absolutely phenomenal💪🏽 She exercised all the way through her pregnancy with Leni and has really stepped up her training in the last 6 months to rebuild her strength.
'There is no doubt genetics has an impact and plays a role but but I’ve seen her work so hard to rebuild her strength and fitness. She’s lifting heavier weights than ever and is in the best physical and mental shape of her life 🙌🏽
'What’s more impressive is Leni has never slept through the night and since 4 months old continues to wake multiple times through the night. She still makes the commitment to a healthy and active lifestyle and when she does train she really pushes herself and I admire her for that. She hates cardio and currently lifts heavy weights 3 times a week for around 45 mins 💪🏽 If you want to try some strength workouts download the @bodycoachapp and give the “Strength Week Challenge” a try 💪🏽😀'
The combination of the expectation on women post-partum, the 'she still makes the commitment' after the sleepless comments and to round it off with a push to his app... well, it didn't go down well.
'Credit to Rosie for achieving something she set out to but also come on @thebodycoach there is something kinda gross about showing off your wife's postnatal bod in itself and then also adding to the "get your body back" narrative laid on women and further not acknowledging the layers and layers of privilege that enabled this to happen in the first place - maybe that's something you could work on Joe,' wrote one commenter.
No matter how much 'commitment' women might have to their fitness, the reality is the opportunity to get out and exercise when you might be feeding, back to work or a sole carer (or the main carer while a partner works even) or just be ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTED speaks to a privilege most commenters felt upset Joe hadn't acknowledged.
'I actually think this is a very irresponsible post,' one follower said. 'The public look up to you and you have to acknowledge that Rosie is in a very privileged position. This is not a ‘normal life’ and I honestly think posts like this make ‘real’ people feel very inadequate. I feel for those who may be experiencing symptoms of post-natal depression reading a post like this.'
'She looks amazing and not to detract from Rosie’s hard work but are you comparing your norm to the average working family?' said one follower. 'Does everyone has access to the same resources and support you have? If not then shame on you for trying to suggest that this is achievable for everyone and putting another pressure on mothers. You’re playing with fire trying to connect with women, let alone mothers on this level. 🔥'
'Showing off like this just make other mamas feel bad,' said another. While one chimed in: 'Well this isn't going to crush 99% of most new mums is it? Or any mum of young children for that matter. Doesn't bother me but I can imagine seeing after a bad day would crush most women. If you're going to keep gushing about what is unachievable for most mums, please don't follow up with your mental health preaching. How cruel can you be when women are struggling enough with society's expectations of how they should look.' Another added: 'This is so unrealistic. I can barely get out the house on my own and I’m 6 months post partum. What about the 4th trimester?! Did you forget about this? Not cool Joe…'
Speaking to their experience, one mother wrote: 'I didn’t exercise for 2 years after my first child as I recall, other than endlessly walking.He didn’t sleep a wink at night. I was told to get on with it and ended up with a level of PND as did many many mums I knew. Husband at work, family far away so it’s difficult to rest. It was 13 years ago but it’ll never leave me. I now do yoga 4 times a week and feel fit and healthy, there’s always time for it to come back. But if you batter yourself with more “ should dos” as a new/ young mum I think it’s really dangerous. Plus our bodies do and SHOULD change post pregnancy not be snapped back to the size we were before.I think your wording/tone here will make a lot of women feel really inadequate especially young mums. I’m pretty disappointed as I’ve always admired your attitude towards health.'
Thinking about all the different mothers who could be seeing Joe's post, one person wrote: 'There will be plenty of mums who face other barriers on top of sleep deprivation, such as a complicated pregnancy, birth of post partum period or those trying to juggle a full-time job and raising small children who are trying their damn best but will sadly find the rhetoric of this post particularly triggering, disappointing and demoralising.'