Joe Wicks celebrates as he is joined by 120,000 people for return of PE With Joe

Joe Wicks has said he was joined by more than 120,000 people from all over the world as he resumed his PE With Joe classes.

The fitness coach announced he would resume the live classes, which were a hit during the first lockdown last year, after England entered a third national lockdown last week.

Wicks will be teaching live classes on his YouTube channel at 9am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and when he announced the return, he wrote on Instagram: “We all need this for our mental health more than ever and exercising can help.”

Celebrating after the first class, he wrote: “Day one of PE with Joe complete and we had 121k live steamers from all over the world.

“I hope you and your children enjoyed the session. I’m doing it every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9am.”

Wicks also encouraged people to set short-term fitness goals for the new year and told BBC Breakfast: “I’ve been setting myself a new challenge each month, in December it was to run a 5k as quick as I could, this month I’m trying to do a pull up challenge.

“And I just think having small little fitness or strength goals really give you something to focus on and something that is actually achievable and you can measure it, whereas if it’s just about fat loss and weighing yourself it can be quite demotivating if you don’t reach those goals.

“So I think this year, shift your focus from being about how you look to how you feel and it’s really going to help you to stay motivated.”

He continued: “I’ve become a bit of a walking fan. I never used to like walking, I thought it was boring but recently since lockdown I go out for like 15/20 mins to get some fresh air because when you’re in the house all day it’s good for your mental health just to get out and have a break and feel the fresh air.

“So if you’re not into HIIT training and doing high intensity exercise, going for a dog walk, going for a bike ride, that is your solution, that is what you should be doing.”