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Boris Johnson hires celeb personal trainer to get fit after Covid-19
26 August 2020, 17:04
Boris Johnson has hired a celebrity personal trainer to help him get fit after admitting he wanted to lose weight when recovering from coronavirus.
The Prime Minister was spotted jogging around London on Wednesday with Harry Jameson, an "elite performance coach", who has previously worked with Love Island presenter Laura Whitmore, former England footballer Way Bridge and boxer Oriance Lungu.
A Downing Street source later confirmed to the newspaper that the prime minister had hired a personal trainer as he was "really serious about getting fit".
They added: "Boris is raring to go."
The news comes just a month after Mr Johnson said he had wanted to get into better shape, especially after his serious bout of COVID-19 that put him in intensive care.
"I've always wanted to lose weight for ages and, I think like many people, I struggle with my weight - I go up and down," Mr Johnson said on Twitter.
"But since I recovered from coronavirus, I've been steadily building up my fitness.
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"I don't want to make any excessive claims because I've only really just started concentrating on it, but I'm at least a stone down, I'm more than a stone down.
"But when I went into ICU when I was really ill ... I was way overweight. I'm only 5ft 10in.
"I start the day by going for a run with the dog, quite a gentle run but actually getting faster and faster now as I get fitter.
"There are health reasons, but it also makes you feel much better."
A Public Health England report from July also found the chances of hospital admissions and death from the virus can be greatly increased when a patient is overweight or obese.
What followed was the launch of the government's Better Health campaign, encouraging the nation to get fit and reduce pressure on the NHS.