Working Out Helps Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev Maintain a Healthy Lifestyle

Vlad Tenev, CEO and President of Robinhood, the commission-free trading platform, is in the firm’s basement gym in Menlo Park, California, working out by shooting punches and uppercuts at his trainer, Adam Azevedo.

“It’s cathartic,” Tenev adds, beaming, wiping a sweaty black fringe from his face after several fierce bouts. Training boosts my mood. Reduces tension. Routines help me feel in control of myself and my surroundings.” He wants control because of the stock market’s unpredictability. Robinhood, a $7.6 billion company with 23 million customers, requires “nonstop strategizing, building and testing new products while also problem-solving.” Tenev, 36, exercises for three days a week with Azevedo at the gym with the same intensity.

“I’ve always been competitive,” he admits. “As a kid, I wanted the best grades and soccer, basketball, and baseball skills. My family fought hard to stay in Delaware after moving from Bulgaria when I was five. My parents constantly said, ‘Our future in this nation is uncertain.’ My immigrant status made me work 10 times harder than everyone else.”

He thought so in 2017 when he started a strength-building program alone. He says, “It felt like a game, focusing on heavy squats and deadlifts and watching my numbers go up.” Then game over. A ruptured L5-S1 disc in his lower back caused his right leg’s terrible agony, according to his doctor. Tenev skipped surgery before his first child’s birth. “I had heard too many horror stories of back surgeries gone wrong,” he adds. Getting up from a chair caused pulsing pain for six months. Physical treatment two years after the injury left him pain-free. He hasn’t hurt since. “Knock on wood,” he adds. But the experience taught him that working hard is different from working wisely. “I didn’t spend time perfecting the movement, so when the weights got heavier and the stakes were higher, even small mistakes could cause problems.” Regaining fitness took time.

“First, we had to make Vlad’s back and core strong and his hips mobile,” adds Azevedo. Online training and dumbbell strength work began in 2020.Tenev remarks, “That was really good for me,” with fintech CEO humility seldom seen. “I learned proper form and felt more comfortable, so by the time I was going after barbells again, I felt more knowledgeable.”

He climbs onto a 300-pound trap bar today after doing handstand pushups, weighted pullups, and bench presses. As he bends his knees, positions his six-foot-one body, grips the handles, exhales, and powers up for six reps, you’d never know he had a back ailment.

Of fact, Tenev’s Robinhood path is similar to the race to become larger and stronger, the catastrophic setback, and the gradual, cautious recovery. Robinhood had a promising beginning in 2015, but the GameStop disaster in 2021 damaged its reputation and spawned Dumb Money. Sebastian Stan portrays Tenev. Tenev is drawing on his fitness success’s philosophical lessons now that the firm is recovering and providing retirement accounts and a credit card.

Even though operating a firm is difficult, he believes keeping to a training schedule and working out has helped him mentally. “I used to be very goal-oriented,” he admits. “Now I think consistency, showing up, and giving 100% in fitness and work is more powerful. I care more about being above average in flexibility, strength, balance, and coordination than reaching a goal. Long-term planning is my goal. That includes business.”

Journey of self discovery