Why Your Body Won't Give You Full Strength (It's Your Feet)

He assumed discipline would carry him through. For forty years, it didn't—because the foundation he stood on was broken in ways he never examined. The knee pain, the back pain, the stress that wouldn't release: all of it traced to one place most people never look. The ground beneath them. In this episode of Health Is a Skill, you'll discover why your shoes are quietly disabling your foundation, how midfoot collapse creates a chain reaction through your ankles, knees, hips, and breathing, and why highly cushioned comfort actively prevents your body from accessing real strength. You'll learn the specific mechanics of force transfer, the connection between foot stability and stress resilience, and what corrective work actually looks like—so you can stop treating symptoms and start rebuilding from the ground up. Todd Vande Hei, CEO of Stark, carried the weight of running a manufacturing company at scale, where margin for error was thin. His health couldn't keep pace with the pressure until he understood that his feet—literally his foundation—had been broken for decades. This conversation is for anyone whose performance is slipping despite discipline, and who suspects the answer isn't another supplement but something more foundational. 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