Why VO2 Max Improvements Are Hiding Your Real Health Crisis — The Testosterone, Sleep & HRV Truth

He sits in the silence after asking the question—the one that makes high achievers stop scrolling. If the number goes up but everything else breaks, what exactly did you win? On Health Is a Skill, Todd Vande Hei examines the dangerous assumption embedded in modern health metrics: that the data leaders chase hardest are the ones most likely to destroy them. VO2 max has become a status symbol—executives post it, founders compete on it, wearables turned it into a leaderboard. But four to five weekly high-intensity sessions stacked on strength training, calorie restriction, and chronic sleep deprivation don't produce better health. They produce testosterone crashes, HRV collapse, sleep destruction, and abdominal fat accumulation while the watch celebrates the win. This conversation separates hard from effective. Leaders in their forties and beyond are playing a completely different game than the athletes they're trying to imitate. You'll leave with a reframed understanding of what optimization actually costs—and what it should deliver instead. Todd Vande Hei built Stark because he learned this the way most people do: by breaking first. His seizures, his firing, his financial collapse—they taught him that the assembly line model works for bodies the same way it works for Fortune 100 operations. Sustainable. Measurable. Built to last. Your health is a skill you can build. Start with the free resources at podtodd.com or explore team-based health optimization at stark.health