When Airbnb cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky appeared on stage at the company’s latest event, there were murmurs that he looked ‘ripped’. He wore a black t shirt which seemed to be straining against his chest, and his biceps looked ready to tear his sleeve open. But while not many had seen Chesky in an avatar like this, it does have a precedent — Brian Chesky was once a very serious bodybuilder.
Airbnb founder Brian Chesky has a history in bodybuilding. In his twenties, he had attended the Rhode Island School of Design, and had also played hockey. Around that time, he was also seriously into fitness, and also was bodybuilder. There’s a picture of his that’s floating around the internet, showing him competing in an event in 2001. Brian Chesky, at the age of 20, was competing in the NPC Teen and Collegiate Nationals. The picture shows Brian Chesky with the ripped physique of a professional bodybuilder, and posing backstage.
There are other pictures from the same photoshoot, which were taking during the Bodybuilding Championships in 2001.
There’s another picture in which Brian Chesky is showing off his ripped abs.
So Brian Chesky was very clearly into bodybuilding in his twenties. It appears that he stopped competing seriously by the time he founded Airbnb in 2008 — a screengrab from a video when Airbnb was still operating out of an apartment shows Chesky looking fit, but not nearly as buff as when he was competing in bodybuilding competitions.
Over the years, Chesky has always looked fit, but it appears that he’s once again focusing on his bodybuilding, and it’s drawing comment from observers who’re doing double-takes looking at his physique. And Chesky’s fitness should serve as an inspiration for corporate workers and entrepreneurs everywhere to work on their fitness — if the CEO of a $100 billion company can take time to work out and look ripped, what excuse do the rest of us have?