It’s late afternoon on a Tuesday at Farm Fitness gym in the Essex countryside, and Sam Thompson has a brief window between his Men’s Health video shoot and his four-nights-a-week presenting job on Hits Radio. As he sits down to talk in a corner of the gym, a barbell clatters to the floor in the distance, briefly disrupting our conversation.
He’s unfazed. ‘I absolutely love that,’ he says earnestly, of the very un-soundproof interview location. ‘This has been great… just training next to people who’ve taken time out of their day to come and lift heavy stuff.’
Between his various presenting roles, the former reality TV star (he won last year’s I’m A Celebrity…) doesn’t have as much time to lift heavy stuff as he’d like. Which means he’s had to prioritise.
‘I want to tailor my training now for things that are actually gonna help me in life,’ he says. ‘I don’t want to be 80 years old and not be able to touch my toes. I don’t want to get out of breath walking up stairs.’
A skinny kid, Thompson spent most of his twenties – which included a run on Made In Chelsea – trying to put on muscle. This invariably meant bench-pressing as much weight as he could, with little attention paid to form or fitness. ‘I never focused on my legs, I never focused on my cardio,’ he says.
Since turning 30, however, his ambitions are more holistic. He runs, he squats, he makes time for mobility. ‘I want to stretch now,’ he says. ‘I want to do, like, Pilates… Five years ago, I just wanted to look good. And now I want to feel good.’
A couple of years ago, Thompson was diagnosed with the neurodevelopmental disorder ADHD. Has his fitness routine helped him to manage its symptoms?
‘Yeah, massively,’ he says. ‘[The gym is] a place where I can focus on just the one thing that I’m doing… it really allows my brain to centre. And I don’t get that from many things.’ Activities that other people find stimulating can often have a soporific effect on him. ‘If I need to zen out, I’ll go to the gym,’ he explains.
Ultimately, he feels that the work he does in the gym helps him be a better man outside of it.
‘I feel like you become a bit more of an adult when you take it upon yourself to go and do these things,’ he says, gesturing to the space around him. ‘You have to parent yourself. No one’s going to do it for you; no one’s going to carry you. I’m really trying to coach myself, mentally. It’s been a great journey.’
You can join Sam's 2.5 million followers on Instagram or have a listen to his podcast, Staying Relevant.
This piece originally featured in the May 2024 issue of Men's Health, out now!
Scarlett Wrench is the Senior Editor at Men’s Health UK.
With more than 12 years’ experience as a health and lifestyle editor, Scarlett has a keen interest in new science, emerging trends, mental well-being, and food and nutrition. For Men’s Health, she has carried out extensive research into areas such as wellness in the workplace, male body image, the paradoxes of modern masculinity, and mental health among school-age boys.
Her words have also appeared in Women’s Health, Runner’s World and The Sunday Times.