The global coronavirus pandemic has not been good to a number of industries. However, British fitness personality Joe Wicks has managed to make a mint out of the pandemic with his The Body Coach app.
The Daily Mail reports that the 34-year-old, more popularly known in the United Kingdom as the Body Coach, recently made £9 million in the space of a week after launching his The Body Coach app on iPhones and iPads.
According to the publication, the massive windfall came after the app was discounted from £89.99 to £69.99. Since the discount, 130,000 people have reportedly downloaded the app, making Wicks an estimated £46,000 an hour.
The Sun quotes an insider saying that the app is a “runaway” success, eclipsing Wicks’ already popular Body Coach program. It also cited the end of the holiday season as a reason for the influx of downloads, as users are looking to get back in shape.
While Wicks’ Body Coach program has been around since 2015, the coronavirus-induced lockdowns helped propel the 34-year-old to stratospheric heights of popularity. During the lockdowns in the United Kingdom, Wicks put out free lockdown workouts that bolstered his popularity.
It is yet another bit of good news for Wicks, who in May last year managed to successfully recover from hand surgery. A bike accident had required Wicks to have his hand operated on, but an infection forced him to undergo another one.
Talking about the injury, Wicks said the pain was like “liquid hot magma.” Seeing as he could no longer bear the pain, he went to the Great Ormond Street Hospital after conducting one of his online physical education classes during the London lockdown.
The surgery required Wicks to change the way he conducted his online physical education classes for a time. Wicks’ wife Rosie led the workouts for a time, with Wicks providing explanations regarding the moves being made by his wife.
Given the state of the global coronavirus pandemic, Wicks may yet rake in more money as people continue to work out from their homes. In contrast, gyms continue to be possible coronavirus hotspots.
According to the Jan. 3 update from the World Health Organization, there are now 83,322,449 confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world. Deaths from COVID-19 worldwide are now at 1,831,412 people.
In the United Kingdom, specifically, there are now 2.65 million confirmed COVID-19 cases. The number of people that have died from COVID-19 in the United Kingdom is now at 75,024 people.