Many working parents wake up to more than one type of chaos—often balancing school prep with an onslaught of work emails detailing new fires that need to be put out. For Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the work fires come every morning like clockwork.
When Zuckerberg wakes up between 7:00 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., usually to the sound of one of his three daughters, he is immediately pulled into his phone.
“I look at my phone, and it’s all these things that these people are doing. I’m like, you did what? Are you f****** kidding me, I have to go f****** deal with this?” he said on a recent podcast with comedian Theo Von.
But the tech billionaire has a morning hack to manage stress and better launch into problem-solving mode. It’s essential as remote work and 24/7 communication have blurred the lines between work and home life.
“I compose myself and go fight for two hours, recenter myself, and it’s like, now I can go deal with this stuff,” he said on the podcast.
Exercise is a proven way to improve overall health and manage stress. Routine exercise can boost mood by releasing endorphins, reduce the risk of anxiety and depression, and improve sleep quality.
A few years ago, the Silicon Valley star began practicing Brazilian jiujitsu, a type of martial art. It seemed the whole internet was talking about how Zuckerberg got buff (in 2023, even the New York Times called him “completely shredded”). Zuckerberg, who has publicly shared his love for strength training, MMA fighting, and running, told Von that fighting in the morning is “better than caffeine for me.”
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“I wake up and I fight people,” he told Von.
And Zuckerberg adds that he fights for about two hours in the morning. “I’m doing more striking, and that’s really fun,” he said. “I think it’s the greatest sport. It’s neurologically stimulating. It’s good cardio.”
Zuckerberg previously told Joe Rogan that he adheres to intense bouts of exercise because he enjoys and looks forward to it. Experts have told Fortune that loving your type of exercise is the surest way to stick to a regular regimen.
“What’s a thing that’s both super engaging physically, but also intellectually, where you can’t afford to focus on something else?” he said to Rogan. “After an hour or two of working out or rolling or wrestling with friends or training with different folks, now I’m ready to go solve whatever problem at work for the day.”
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