I used to think of my feet as just… feet. They got me from point A to point B, and as long as they didn’t hurt, I didn’t give them much thought. But then, a few years ago, I had a shoulder surgery. It was a labrum tear, and while I was rehabbing, I realized something profound: my body wasn’t as connected as I thought. I was strong in some areas, but completely lacking in others. It was like building a house with a strong roof but a shaky foundation. And that’s when I started working with my strength and conditioning coach, Bert Massey, who completely shifted my perspective on what it means to be truly strong and, more importantly, truly functional for the long haul.
Bert, a biomechanics and athletic performance specialist, has a philosophy that’s refreshingly simple: take bites you can handle. Don’t try to go from zero to hero overnight. But beyond that, he emphasizes the critical, often overlooked, importance of gait, walking, and rotation in the development of the human body. This isn’t about lifting the heaviest weights or looking like a bodybuilder; it’s about building a body that can move freely, efficiently, and without pain for decades to come. And a huge part of that, as I’ve learned, starts with your feet.
The Hidden Power of Your Feet: More Than Just Stepping Stones
When I first started with Bert, I had a shoulder injury. But what he noticed immediately was my lack of tension or rigidity in my body. I was all chaos and no structure. Think of it like this: there’s a balance between being too rigid (like a powerlifter who can’t turn their head) and being too loose (like me, flopping around without control).
The injury happened in the most ridiculous way possible – I was taking a hip-hop class here in Austin, dancing to Rihanna’s “Work,” and I did a simple twist and turn. My shoulder just popped out. It wasn’t the first time either. I’d had subluxations before, where the shoulder would slip out and back in. But this time was different.
Bert explained it perfectly using the Chinese finger trap analogy. You know those little woven tubes where if you pull your fingers apart, the trap gets tighter? Your body works the same way. If you pull on one side (like throwing your arm out while dancing), the other side needs to create tension to hold everything together. My problem was that when I flung my arm out, there was nothing holding my shoulder into my body. No tension, no stability.
The Foundation of Everything: Why Feet Matter More Than You Think
Here’s where things get interesting. Bert always talks about feet, and I’ll be honest – at first, I thought it was just his thing. Like how some trainers obsess over glutes or core work. But then I experienced something that completely changed my mind.
We did what Bert calls a “foot bath” – basically using electrical stimulation to activate all the muscles in my feet. For three minutes, my feet were cramping like crazy. I was thinking, “What are we doing here? This is torture.” But then we went through our normal workout routine, and I broke every single personal record that day. Pull-downs, rows, everything. I was stronger across the board, and all we’d done differently was work on my feet.
Bert calls feet “megaphones.” If you lose one degree of motion in your big toe, that amplifies to two or three degrees at your ankle, then six or seven at your knee, and by the time you get to your hip, you’ve lost 10-20 degrees of range of motion. It’s like a game of telephone, but with your body’s movement patterns.
Think about it this way: your feet have more nerve endings than almost anywhere else in your body (along with your hands, nose, and tongue). They’re designed to read the world underneath you. When our ancestors were hunting, do you think they were looking down at the ground, worried about stepping on a rock? No way. Their feet were their early warning system, constantly sending information up the chain to keep them balanced and moving efficiently.
The Modern Foot Problem (And Why It’s Killing Your Productivity)
Here’s the thing that blew my mind: most of us have completely destroyed our feet without even realizing it. We’ve stuffed them into narrow dress shoes that pinch our toes into arrow shapes, raised our heels, and basically turned our feet into non-functional blocks.
I see this everywhere now. When I’m on my regular trail here in Austin, I watch people run with their feet pointed outward. It’s painful to watch because I know what’s happening – they’re never fully extending their knees, never accessing their glutes properly, and setting themselves up for knee pain down the road.
Stand up right now and look at your feet. Are they pointing straight ahead, or are they angled outward? If they’re angled out, your arches are collapsed, and you’re only using the inside chain of muscles in your legs. You’re missing out on the outside chain entirely, which means you’re not getting the full rotational motion that makes humans uniquely powerful.
The Productivity Connection: Energy, Focus, and Longevity
You might be wondering what any of this has to do with productivity. Here’s the connection: when your body is working efficiently, everything else works better too. When I started working with Bert and focusing on functional movement, I noticed I had more energy throughout the day. I wasn’t dealing with the low-level aches and pains that used to drain my mental resources.
But there’s a deeper connection. Bert introduced me to this concept of “keeping the pump all day.” Instead of trying to cram a two-hour workout into your schedule, you spread movement throughout your day. Five minutes of bodyweight squats between meetings. A few pull-ups during a break. Some mace swings in your living room.
This approach aligns perfectly with how I think about productivity. It’s not about massive, unsustainable efforts. It’s about consistent, manageable actions that compound over time. Just like how I approach business systems and workflows, the key is creating sustainable habits that you can maintain for decades.
The 30-Minute Philosophy: Quality Over Quantity
One of the things I love about working with Bert is that our sessions are only 30 minutes. Most people think you need to spend an hour or two in the gym to get results, but that’s old-school thinking. Bert’s philosophy comes from turn-of-the-century physical culture – guys like George Hackenschmidt, who was absolutely ripped and recommended never working out for more than 20 minutes.
The idea is simple: by the time you’re dry from your bath, you should be done with your workout. It’s about intensity and focus, not duration. This resonates with me because it’s the same principle I apply to work. I’d rather have a focused 30-minute work session than a distracted two-hour marathon.
Benchmarks That Actually Matter
Forget about how much you can bench press or squat. Here are the benchmarks that actually predict long-term health and functionality:
Basic Level:
- Can you do a proper push-up?
- Can you sit in a deep squat (feet flat, comfortable) for a couple of minutes?
- Can you touch your toes without strain?
- Can you jump and land without knee or ankle pain?
Intermediate Level:
- Can you do a pull-up?
- Can you do a pull-up with your knees tucked to your chest?
- Can you hold 50% of your body weight and squat down and back up?
Advanced Level:
- Can you do a one-arm push-up?
- Can you do a pistol squat (single-leg squat)?
These aren’t about ego or showing off. They’re about building a body that can handle whatever life throws at you, whether that’s carrying groceries, playing with your kids, or still being active when you’re 80.
The Longevity Game: Building Your Future Self
This brings me to the bigger picture. I want to be the 80-year-old who can still get on a plane, walk around a new city, and play with his grandkids on the beach. I recently saw a woman in her late seventies on a trip to Mexico who was doing exactly that – active, engaged, and fully functional. That’s my goal.
According to Bert, the key to longevity isn’t complicated:
- Never stop lifting – whether it’s bodyweight exercises or actual weights, keep challenging your muscles
- Take care of your feet – they’re the foundation of everything
- Keep moving – but you can’t keep moving if your feet don’t work
The foot thing keeps coming back because it’s that important. Plantar fasciitis leads to Morton’s neuroma, which leads to neuropathy, and suddenly you have shooting pains in your feet all day. This progression happens to people in their 40s and 50s, and once you lose the nerve function in your feet, it’s incredibly difficult to get back.
Practical Steps You Can Take Today
Here’s what you can start doing right now:
For Your Feet:
- Stand with your feet pointing straight ahead (not angled out)
- Practice balancing on one foot
- Try to move your toes individually
- Consider minimalist shoes or going barefoot when possible
For Overall Strength:
- Start with bodyweight movements you can do throughout the day
- Focus on functional patterns rather than isolated muscle groups
- Work on that deep squat – use a kettlebell or doorframe for support if needed
- Add some hanging from a pull-up bar, even if you can’t do a full pull-up yet
For Longevity:
- Think in terms of decades, not weeks
- Take “bites you can chew” – small, sustainable changes
- Focus on movement quality over quantity
- Address imbalances before they become injuries
The Bigger Picture: Systems Thinking for Your Body
Working with Bert has taught me to think about my body the same way I think about business systems. Everything is connected. A problem in one area affects everything else. The solution isn’t to focus on the symptom (like knee pain) but to address the root cause (often foot dysfunction).
This systems thinking extends to how I approach health and productivity overall. Instead of chasing the latest biohack or productivity trend, I focus on the fundamentals that compound over time. Good sleep, consistent movement, proper nutrition, and stress management. These aren’t sexy, but they work.
The Investment Mindset
Bert often talks about “bulletproofing” your body, and I think of it as an investment in my future self. Every session we do, every movement pattern we work on, is like putting money in a retirement account. The compound interest is incredible, but you have to start early and be consistent.
The same principle applies to productivity systems. The time you invest in setting up proper workflows, learning keyboard shortcuts, or building good habits pays dividends for years. It’s not about the immediate payoff; it’s about the long-term compound effect.
Why This Matters for High Performers
If you’re someone who pushes hard in your career, this stuff becomes even more important. High performers tend to ignore their bodies until something breaks. We’ll optimize our workflows, our tech stack, our morning routines, but we’ll neglect the hardware that makes it all possible.
I learned this lesson the hard way with my shoulder injury. I was strong in some areas but had glaring weaknesses in others. It’s like building a business with great marketing but terrible operations – eventually, something’s going to give.
The beauty of Bert’s approach is that it doesn’t require massive time investment. Thirty minutes of focused work, spread throughout the day if needed, is enough to build and maintain the physical foundation that supports everything else you want to do.
Looking Forward: The Next 40 Years
I’m in my late 30s now, and I’m thinking about the next 40 years. I want to be the entrepreneur who’s still sharp and energetic in his 70s. I want to be the grandfather who can keep up with his grandkids. I want to be the 80-year-old who doesn’t need help carrying his luggage.
This isn’t about vanity or trying to look like a fitness model. It’s about maintaining the physical capacity to live the life I want to live, for as long as possible. And it all starts with the foundation – literally, the ground you stand on.
Your feet are the interface between you and the world. They’re your early warning system, your stability platform, and the starting point for every movement you make. Take care of them, and they’ll take care of you.
The productivity hack isn’t a new app or a better morning routine (though those help). It’s building a body that can sustain high performance for decades. It’s investing in your physical infrastructure the same way you invest in your business systems.
Start with your feet. Stand up straight. Take a deep breath. And take the first step toward a more functional, more resilient, more productive you.
*Want to learn more about functional fitness and longevity? Check out Bert Massey’s work at adapt.fitness, or follow him on Instagram @MasseyBV. And if you’re interested in the electrical stimulation work we discussed, look into NeuFit technology – it’s been a game-changer for my training.*
