Actuality star-turned-athlete Spencer Matthews: ‘I operate better when I have goals to chase’

After experiencing lengthy durations the place he felt like he “lacked purpose”, the Spencer Matthews we see immediately is vastly completely different to the truth star who appeared on Made In Chelsea within the 2010s.

Matthews, 37, has now turned his focus to fatherhood, entrepreneurship and changing into a world record-holding endurance athlete.

“I’ve gone through years and years of not caring about anything and going out all the time,” says Matthews, who collaborated with The Turmeric Co. for the current London Marathon, which he ran in three hours and 4 seconds.

“I’ve certainly had long periods in my life where I’ve felt that I’ve really lacked purpose. I’ve not really enjoyed the things I’m doing and just been a half version of myself,” he suggests.

“I think for anyone ambitious, you want to try to live up to what you can be – and that only really started for me a few years ago.”

Matthews, who interviews athletes for the podcast Untapped, suggests a shift round health and wellbeing helped change his mindset.

“To me, my physical and mental health is probably the most important part of my life plan,” he says. “If you’re not well and healthy and living a full life, everything you’re striving for feels a little bit more pointless.”

In current years, Matthews has dedicated himself to gruelling endurance challenges – together with operating 30 marathons in 30 days throughout the Jordanian desert in 2024, then taking over seven triathlons on seven continents in 21 days in 2025 (which was dubbed ‘Project Se7en’). Matthews’ 30 In 30 problem earned him the Guinness World Record for “the most consecutive marathons run on sand”, and he clocked up two additional data throughout Project Se7en.

“Endurance challenges are great goals to have,” he explains. “I operate better when I have goals to chase.”

Matthews, who based non-alcoholic spirits model ClearCo in 2019, says staying centered helps him keep a way of course.

“Boredom is a bit of a trigger of mine,” he explains. “But now, I haven’t felt bored in a really very long time.

“For me, unless there’s something to target, it’s quite easy to bend the rules on exercise. I find having one massive goal a year fun to work towards.”

For Matthews, mindset is essential to success in any type of race – and having a way of function helps too.

“I feel very privileged to be able to do some of the events that I’ve done,” he says, including that “being able to travel the world and raise money has also felt quite purposeful to me”.

He means that having a trigger has helped him push by tough moments, pointing to his Project Se7en problem supporting James’ Place, which focuses on stopping male suicide within the UK.

Matthews remembers a very tough second throughout an Ironman triathlon problem, which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike journey and a 26.2-mile marathon run in Cape Town, South Africa. “I had about 15 minutes in the water where I was really struggling and felt quite frightened,” he says.

“But I needed to cease and suppose: I’m in Cape Town doing an Ironman – that is one thing particular.

“I myself don’t have any experience with suicidal thoughts, but I thought, imagine waking up and not wanting to be here anymore. All of sudden it rationalises where you are and I found that moment quite helpful to understand that what I was doing could potentially help some of these men who are not in a good headspace.”

For those that wish to tackle any type of problem themselves, Matthews says: “It sounds foolish, however actually making an effort to attempt to get pleasure from coaching and races helps.

“When you start to feel crushed, tired, full of lactic acid, slow and heavy, that becomes a pretty serious reality. If that’s all you’re thinking about, it’s pretty difficult. So try and enjoy it.”

He additionally stresses the significance of remembering that discomfort when exercising is short-term.

“Any pain you’re feeling is going to come to an end,” he says. “You will remorse giving up nearly instantly. Just strap in for the ache, attempt to get pleasure from it and it’s a lesson that you just’ll keep in mind.

“You’ll remember that pain and you could perhaps use it in other ways.”

On the opposite finish of the spectrum, Matthews means that going “too hard all the time” with train would possibly imply “there are consequences to pay”.

With analysis from The Turmeric Co discovering that 47% of individuals admit they use ache reduction simply to maintain exercising, Matthews says that restoration is simply as essential as coaching. “We’re human beings. We’re not machines. I focus on easy wins that exist to give myself an edge so I can train and not get injured,” he continues.

“Turmeric is a great example of a scientifically proven concept that is affordable and really easy to use. It’s one shot in the morning, full of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory.”

Away from coaching, Matthews, who’s anticipating his fourth little one with spouse Vogue Williams, says sustaining stability at house is important to his wellbeing.

“I spend time with my kids and my wife. I try not to sacrifice the things that matter,” he says. “I work very laborious and fortuitously so does my spouse.

“We spend our evenings together – we’re usually in bed early and our evenings are about winding down together.”

Having as soon as lived a really completely different life-style, he says the distinction is obvious.

“I’ve gone through years of not caring and going out all the time – I know which I prefer,” he says.

“If you put in the time and consistency, good things happen. It sounds obvious, but it took me a long time to realise that.”

Matthews collaborated with The Turmeric Co. to focus on supply free joint help turmeric photographs to those that ran a marathon this April – the general public can become involved too here.