Longevity and biohacking have become synonymous with the tech world, but an obsession with physical fitness wasn’t always the norm in Silicon Valley, according to one CEO.
Brian Chesky, the 44-year-old cofounder and CEO of Airbnb, said he felt like his interest in bodybuilding made him stand out when he first arrived in the late 2000s, and not in a good way.
When asked about the latest peptide craze during a “TBPN” livestream on Wednesday, Chesky said he’d been slightly surprised to see the way the tech community has embraced fitness.
“When I came to Silicon Valley, I was slightly self-conscious about wearing long-sleeve shirts because I thought if I wear a short-sleeve shirt, people will think I’m a meathead and therefore an idiot,” he told the “TBPN” hosts. “People just didn’t really lift weights in 2007, 2008.”
Before starting Airbnb, Chesky played hockey in college and was a competitive bodybuilder, an interest he said got sparked after an injury sent him to physical therapy.
He told the podcast hosts he was excited to see more people embracing fitness and following the science on nutrition and weightlifting. He also said that many of the things he learned through bodybuilding, he brought with him to Silicon Valley.
“You don’t get in shape in one workout. It’s 1% a day,” he said. Likewise, in Silicon Valley, “It’s not about one idea. It’s about grinding every single day year-over-year with consistency,” he said. “Overnight successes take thousands of days, actually, typically.”
Chesky also discussed Airbnb’s announcement on Wednesday that Ahmad Al-Dahle, formerly head of generative AI at Meta, was joining the company as CTO. Chesky has previously shared his plan for Airbnb to become an AI-first app.
Brian Chesky shares his arm routine
On the “TBPN” livestream, the topic of fitness initially came up after co-host John Coogan said, “The chat is begging us to ask you for an arm routine.”
Chesky, wearing a black, fitted, short-sleeve shirt, delivered.
“Genetically, I have better arms than shoulders or chests,” the CEO said, adding he doesn’t have a dedicated arm day and instead does arms with shoulders.
Chesky said he usually does two bicep exercises and two tricep exercises, “typically a compound free weight movement and a machine movement.” For example, he said his bicep workout might include a dumbbell curl followed by a Hammer Strength cable exercise with a rope or V bar, while his tricep workout includes a cable pushdown and maybe a skull crusher.
When asked if he’s using AI in the gym, Chesky said he has a personal trainer — a former Mr. Universe — for his workouts, but that he is using AI for nutrition and supplements.
He said he got bloodwork done and then uploaded the PDF to an AI chatbot to analyze it. He realized he was short on Vitamin D, so he started supplementing it.
Far from being out of place these days, the marriage of tech and fitness only appears to be growing, with major AI companies expanding into healthcare and tech billionaires going all in on longevity.
