The Receipts: Peloton’s Matt Wilpers Shows No Signs of Slowing Down
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Matt Wilpers’ voice is one I’ve cursed on numerous occasions, mid-effort, during his 90-minute Peloton Power Zone cycling classes. He’s one of the fitness behemoth’s toughest and most decorated instructors, and yet upon first glance, his unassuming, kind grin makes you think otherwise.
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While the stock for Peloton Interactive Inc. has plunged to a historic low post-pandemic and home fitness boom, their team of instructors has only risen to new levels of lucrative fame. Wilpers’ colleagues include The Today Show’s newest co-host Ally Love, two-time New York Times best-selling author Robin Arzón, and Cody Rigsby — one of Peloton’s most popular instructors whose forthcoming memoir landed him a profile in the Times earlier this month.
The cult-like following instructors like Wilpers have cultivated keeps dedicated fans clipping in month after month. His history before Peloton only further illustrates his ruthlessness.
Wilpers is a Tread, Bike, and Rowing instructor at the fitness streaming giant, and his athletic pursuits extend far beyond the studio. A former D1 track star at Georgia State who competed in baseball, soccer, and tennis before college, he’s run multiple marathons, broken his own personal record with a sub-5 hour half Iron Man this past July, and runs a mile in 4 minutes and 54 seconds.
SPY spoke with Wilpers about his career before Peloton, current athletic pursuits, favorite training gear, and the targeted ads he “loves” on his Instagram feed.
SPY: How did you arrive at Peloton? Were you always interested in fitness?
Matt Wilpers: I’m from a pretty athletic family. My mom was a ski patroller growing up, that was her high school job and she loved athletics. She and my dad got us into athletics early as kids. We were very active kids. We weren’t allowed to have cable TV — they told us to go outside and go play.
Post-college, I kept competing, but I’d double majored in accounting and finance and was going to check out the public accounting world on the finance side. I realized that, looking back on my life, athletics come easily to me. There’s so much I’ve learned from a lifetime of being coached by people, that I thought I would help a lot of people.
SPY: What was that pivot like? Away from the corporate world?
MW: I call it my quarter-life crisis. [laughs] When someone would ask me where I saw myself in five years I’d think “Not here!”
I wanted something academically challenging so I decided to go to med school. I had to keep working in fitness to pay the bills while I was back in school getting my credits, and during that time everything took off.
New York City is a fitness hub, it’s crazy, and I was a part of a few start-ups that have done well, but everyone was wondering who was going to be the big player. If you were working in the streaming space you knew who the key companies were. So when Peloton came and gave me an offer, I thought just put your money where your mouth is and do it. So I bet my money on Peloton.
SPY: What was your first big purchase after joining Peloton’s staff of trainers?
MW: You’re going to laugh…a bike. [laughs]
SPY: A Peloton Bike?!
MW: No, no, I get a good deal on those. I said, “If you want to be a coach and you’re riding a crappy bike, that’s not a good look.” So I got a Specialized Tarmac.
I’m riding the Ferrari of road bikes and it’s amazing. But on the flip side of that, just like Ferrari race cars, these expensive road bikes are very expensive to maintain. There’s a drawback to it.
SPY: After a really great workout on the Peloton Bike or Tread, or after you’ve accomplished one of these big fitness goals, how do you treat yourself? Anything you like to splurge on? It can be anything, doesn’t need to be food or drink.
MW: I go get a massage. When you’re doing something great, there’s a cost to that. You have to be operating at a very high level mentally. When you’re working hard or training hard you need to have a trough, you need to chill out. Absolutely massages, man. If I can go for 90 minutes to two hours, sign me up.
SPY: What is your favorite piece of training gear? What’s a non-negotiable in your locker at Peloton?
MW: My locker is full of Melin hats, I love their hats. They have these simple designs, they have cool colors, and they fit great. They’re super durable. You could run that thing over with a tractor and it would be fine.
When I first started at Peloton, I was the performance coach and they said “Matt, we have to dress you up a bit, you’re too scary.” [laughs] So they had me wear a hat and shorts that I would never wear. Luckily, I could get rid of the normal shorts and wear cycling shorts, but I kept the hat because it’s a nice pop of color on camera.
I think Nike Metcon shoes are amazing for strength training. NOBULL makes a pretty good shoe too, I like their clean looks.
And then for watches, the Garmin Forerunner 945. I swear by Garmin. I swear by Oakley glasses for outdoor cycling and running. I swear by cycling shoes by Specialized. I have like 10 pairs. And then Oars and Alps for skincare. I love that stuff.
Also, for cycling bibs, there’s a company called Wyn Republic. Their stuff is moisture-wicking, it fits fantastic. It’s snug, it moves with your body, and it breathes fantastic. It doesn’t even feel like you have anything on while you’re cycling.
SPY: What was the last thing you bought for your home?
MW: I just went through a major gut renovation of my apartment, so I’ve purchased a lot for my home recently. There’s one successful purchase that stands out, and one not-so-successful purchase.
I spend a lot of time working, I’m a workaholic, for better or for worse, I love it. Whatever. I purchased a Herman Miller sit-to-standing desk from Design Within Reach. I’m obsessed. There were many years when I was grinding it out through school and I had a crappy desk, a crappy chair. I spend so much time working that I want nice stuff.
And then I got the Herman Miller chair and I swear by it. It was expensive as hell but it was totally worth it.
The unsuccessful purchase: I want to get a security system for around the apartment and I bought something from Costco just thinking it would work. Then I dove in deeper and learned more about home security systems, and a lot of them are selling their equipment for cheap and then charging you a subscription. And I’m like nah, I don’t think this deserves a subscription, so I took it back.
Everyone is recommending Ring, but I don’t know what to get so I have to figure it out. I held a poll on Instagram and everyone had different answers. It’s not helpful!
SPY: Yes, I can imagine the crowd-sourcing on Instagram can get chaotic.
MW: Oh, it’s a train wreck.
SPY: What is your favorite t-shirt that you’ve ever owned?
MW: I pretty much live in Lululemon, because I’m 5’7” and thin so stuff doesn’t fit me that well. But they make extra-small and they have this DriSense Short Sleeve Shirt. I have every color they’ve ever made in that shirt. I love it. It’s my go-to.
Then for t-shirts outside of athleticwear, Club Monaco makes a great plain white t-shirt.
And then if I’m going super casual I pretty much only wear band t-shirts that I love, like Aerosmith.
SPY: We’ve been talking about Instagram. What ads does your social algorithm feed you? And do they feel spot on? Do they feel random? What do you notice you’re being targeted with?
MW: I get targeted with watches because my wife bought me a Rolex as a wedding gift and now I’m obsessed with watches. And so I get destroyed with watches every day, and I love it to death. [laughs]
I think people have the wrong impression about these algorithms! Successful marketing is going to turn you on to companies you’ve never thought of or heard about. That’s what happened to me with Melin hats, I’d never heard of them and I got targeted with one of their ads and it’s like ‘Thank you!’ Here’s all my private information, send me stuff I actually care about. [laughs]
SPY: I’ve discovered a whole bunch of brands through algorithms, I agree.
MW: I don’t know I’m probably a part of the generation who’s fine giving away our information and wants to be shown something we like. So watches — everything from Omega to Rolex to Patek Phillipe. I don’t know, man. It’s fun. I’m not against the algorithms.
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