How Rivian’s CEO Stays Fit and Sharp

“SEND IT,” WHOOPS RJ Scaringe before pointing his mountain bike down a swath of single track that descends steeply through a redwood forest in northern California’s El Corte de Madera Creek Preserve. His tone is joking, but as he bombs over roots and rocks, he looks focused—not surprising, seeing as he recently completed 12 weeks of post-surgery rehab for a torn labrum, thanks to a mountain-bike accident last year.

“I’m a fan of mountain biking, because I love being out in nature,” he says. “You get the adrenaline rush of going fast downhill and the cardio challenge of riding uphill.”

In high school in Florida, Scaringe played basketball and was “super competitive,” he says. At 41, the CEO of Rivian, the EV company that makes adventure-ready SUVs and trucks (and Amazon’s e-delivery vans), now relies on mountain biking, as well as mellow hikes and burly surf sessions, to create balance in his body, mind, and pedal-to-the-metal life. “For me, exercise is about finding a way to feel comprehensively healthy,” he says. “It helps me think clearly, de-stress, and make better decisions. It puts me in the right headspace to handle all the demands of my job.”

The tricky part is finding the time. Between courting investors—Rivian just inked a deal with Volkswagen worth up to $5 billion—and traveling from his new home in the San Francisco Bay Area to his production plant in Illinois, Scaringe is always on the go. “Over the past few years, I’ve had to become more intentional about finding pockets, even on the busiest days, to fit in a hike or walk or bike ride. I try to avoid going more than a few days without exercise, especially if things are particularly stressful at work.”

In addition to mountain biking, Scaringe, a six-foot-one, 175-pound vegan, snow-skis, climbs, and, as of last year, skate-skis. “It’s a challenging workout,” he says. “I can’t wait to do more of it.” He also hits the gym three or four days a week to maintain his strength and overall balance. “I’m more interested in gaining endurance than muscle mass, so my trainer and I focus on medium- to high-rep exercises that combine compound movements and balance. To keep my legs strong for riding and surfing, I do a combination of goblet squats, walking lunges, leg press, and box stepups. I also work on upper-body strength so I can lift my kids.”

His three sons, ages five, seven, and eight, are avid hikers already, and he gets out on the trail with them as often as he can. “It’s a great time to connect. When they get in the car after school and I ask how their day was, all I get is ‘Good.’ Then we go for a hike and all of a sudden I’m hearing about the intricacies of their lives. There’s something about walking that helps them let their guard down and open up.”

A similar phenomenon occurs, he says, when he’s alone with his thoughts on the trail. “If there’s a problem I need to solve, I’ll go for a ride or hike; by the time I’m done, I often see the whole picture more clearly. For smaller issues, sometimes that’s all it takes to get clarity,” he says. “But as the company has grown, so has the complexity of the challenges, whether it’s strategic pivots with Rivian or issues around teams and making sure we have the right organization. One of the things I’ve learned is I often know the right answer before I’m ready to accept it. The more nuanced and emotional the problem, the more I resist it. Getting outside and moving gives my mind time to settle, which helps me accept the difficult answer I know is the right one.”

Scaringe’s ability to think 360 degrees around a problem—and identify what he already knows deep down—is, in large part, why Rivian exists. “As a kid, I loved working on cars. My bedroom was littered with car parts. In college, I became consumed with learning about climate change, and I saw how these two worlds I loved—the outdoors and automobiles—were in conflict,” he says. “For a long time, I was caught up in trying to rationalize that conflict. I realized my desire to participate in addressing climate change and my love of cars could come together if I created an electric-car company.”

After earning a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT’s Sloan Automotive Laboratory in 2009 (the year both General Motors and Chrysler declared bankruptcy), Scaringe founded Rivian the same year. Today the company’s off-road SUVs and pickups merge technological innovation with fun features only an outdoorsy gearhead could dream up. A flashlight pops out of the door panel. The key fob is a carabiner.

At the moment, that outdoorsy gearhead is sweating—and grinning—as he crests the top of the ride’s final climb. It’s easy to imagine how being in nature, with red-tailed hawks circling overhead and a rutted trail beneath his wheels, helped Scaringe come up with his idea of what an EV could be—and now helps him reconnect with the why of Rivian. “The mission is to help create a carbon-free future by replacing the 1.5 billion cars on the planet with EVs. We’re trying to do that by building products that can carry kids and pets and gear, that allow people to have an active, adventurous lifestyle and do the things they love.

RJ’s Rules for Road Warriors

Always Pack Bands

“Resistance bands are lightweight and don’t take up any space. I’ll pull them out in meetings and work my upper body. I use them to maintain mobility, especially for my shoulders and back.”

Rise Before the Sun

“I usually get up between 4:45 and 5:00 a.m., regardless of the time zone I’m in, and go for a walk or run or do some bodyweight exercises. I’ll have a vegan protein shake with some fruit and be working by 7:00.”

Walk, Think, Walk, Repeat

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