How a Division-1 Athlete Built a Healthcare Company That Transformed 60,000 Lives

About this Podcast

Zach Dancel's journey from the football field to the executive suite reads like two completely different playbooks. Yet the thread connecting them runs deeper than most people realize. As Chief Operating Officer of Nava Health, he's helped transform the lives of over 60,000 patients through personalized functional and longevity medicine. But before the boardrooms and patient transformations, there was a Division I quarterback at the University of Maryland who woke up at 2 AM every night to drink protein shakes, believing that extra fuel during the body's repair cycle would give him an edge over the competition.

That level of discipline didn't disappear when his NFL dreams shifted. It evolved.  As host of the Legacy and Longevity Podcast, Zach explores the intersection where peak health meets peak performance, challenging high-achievers to think beyond quarterly results and Instagram metrics. His message cuts through the noise: your legacy isn't measured by what you leave behind when you're gone, but by what you show up with every single day. This philosophy, forged in athletic competition and tested in healthcare transformation, offers a blueprint for anyone serious about playing the long game in both their health and their impact.

 The Athletic Foundation That Built a Healthcare Leader   

According to the NCAA, less than 7% of high school athletes go on to compete at the collegiate level, and only 2% reach Division I programs. Zach Dancel was part of that elite 2%. But the real story isn't about making the team. It's about what happened when no one was watching.

While most college freshmen were figuring out their social lives, Zach had already structured every hour of his day around a singular goal: playing professional football. He kept a mini refrigerator next to his bed and set an alarm for 2 AM. Every night, he would wake up, consume a protein shake, and go back to sleep. The logic was simple but obsessive. He'd read that the body does its most significant repair work during sleep, so why not fuel that process with additional protein? Most people would consider this extreme. Zach considered it the baseline for competing at the highest level.

This wasn't just about football. It was about understanding a principle that would later define his approach to healthcare and business: incremental gains compound over time. The discipline to show up when motivation fails. The commitment to do what others won't. The understanding that excellence isn't built in moments of inspiration but in the thousand small decisions made when everything inside you wants to quit. These lessons from athletics would become the operational philosophy that helped scale Nava Health from a startup vision to a company serving tens of thousands of patients across multiple states.

 When the System Fails: A Family Crisis That Sparked a Revolution   

The healthcare system in America presents a sobering reality. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, national health spending reached $4.5 trillion in 2022, representing 17.3% of GDP. Yet despite this massive investment, the CDC reports that six in ten American adults live with at least one chronic disease, and four in ten have two or more. The math doesn't add up. More spending hasn't translated to better health outcomes.

Zach's family learned this the hard way. His mother, who had never missed one of his games, suddenly stopped coming. For a college athlete focused on performance, the absence registered but didn't fully compute until later. What he eventually discovered was that his mother had been bouncing between specialists for years, accumulating prescriptions like frequent flier miles. At one point, she was taking 20 different medications from various doctors who never communicated with each other. Each specialist treated their isolated system without considering how it connected to the whole body. Some prescriptions contradicted others. None addressed root causes.

The breaking point came when doctors sat his parents down and delivered the verdict that no family wants to hear: "We don't know what's wrong. All we can do is manage symptoms and make her comfortable." That's when Zach's father refused to accept the answer. He took his wife's health into his own hands and found a functional medicine provider who did what no one else had done. This doctor slowed down, listened, ran advanced testing, and looked for actual root causes instead of just suppressing symptoms. That approach saved her life and planted the seed for what would become Nava Health. The company was founded in 2014 with a mission to prove that healthcare doesn't have to be a broken system designed around pharmaceutical profits and insurance billing codes.

 The Multiplier Effect: How One Life Touches Thousands   

Leadership experts often discuss return on investment, but rarely apply it to human health. Zach uses an exercise he conducted with his team at Nava Health that reveals something most people miss. When you transform one person's health, you don't just change one life. You give a spouse their partner back, full of energy and presence. You give children their parent back, capable of playing after a long workday instead of collapsing on the couch. You give companies their leader back, sharp and focused instead of functioning in a brain fog.

This multiplier effect means that Nava Health's 60,000 transformed patients have created ripples that touched an estimated 600,000 additional lives. Each person who reclaims their health becomes a better parent, partner, leader, and community member. They teach their children different habits. They model different standards. They break generational cycles of chronic disease and learned helplessness around health. This is what Zach means when he talks about legacy—not the plaques on walls or the LinkedIn posts celebrating achievements, but the daily impact that compounds across relationships and generations.

The Legacy and Longevity Podcast exists to amplify this message beyond Nava Health's walls. High-performing executives and entrepreneurs often sacrifice their health on the altar of success, operating under the dangerous assumption that they can always fix it later. According to a Harvard Business School study, 96% of senior leaders report experiencing burnout, with a third describing it as extreme. Yet these same leaders rarely apply the same strategic thinking to their health that they apply to their businesses. They wouldn't run a company on borrowed capital forever, but they run their bodies on borrowed energy until the bill comes due.

 Key principles from Zach's approach to sustainable high performance: 

• Health is the foundation, not an afterthought. Without energy and vitality, peak performance becomes impossible to sustain.

• Proactive beats reactive every time. Regular advanced testing catches problems before they become crises.

• Systems thinking applies to bodies, not just businesses. Everything connects; treating symptoms in isolation misses the bigger picture.

• Long-term optimization requires short-term discipline. Daily habits compound into a health span and performance capacity over decades.

• Legacy lives in daily choices, not final achievements. What you do consistently matters more than what you accomplish occasionally.

 Playing the Long Game: Discipline Over Motivation   

One question Zach asks every guest on his podcast cuts to the core of what separates peak performers from everyone else: "What's one thing you do every single day that you believe will matter 20 years from now?" The question forces people to think beyond immediate results and consider compound effects. Most people optimize for the next quarter or the next year. THE ELITE THINK IN DECADES.

Research from the American Psychological Association shows that grit and perseverance predict success more accurately than talent or intelligence. But grit isn't about motivation. Motivation comes and goes based on mood, energy levels, and circumstances. Discipline is showing up regardless of how you feel. It's the decision made once that eliminates a thousand daily debates. Zach learned this on the football field, where the difference between good and great often came down to who kept showing up when their body hurt and their mind screamed to quit.

This philosophy extends beyond athletics. Research published in the European Journal of Social Psychology found that it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit, though the range varies from 18 to 254 days depending on the behavior and individual. The critical insight is that motivation isn't required for habit formation—only consistency. The compound interest of stacked days eventually creates momentum that carries you through periods when willpower runs low.

For Zach, this meant sacrificing summer breaks and winter vacations to stay on campus training while others went home. It meant maintaining structured schedules when classmates stayed up late at parties. It meant choosing the 2 AM protein shake ritual because he'd read it might give him a slight edge. These weren't heroic one-time decisions. They were daily commitments to a future version of himself that he believed was worth the present sacrifice. That same mindset now drives his approach to running Nava Health and raising three children while building a podcast that challenges thousands of listeners to raise their standards.

The football career ended when he didn't make the Green Bay Packers roster after being invited to their rookie camp. But the discipline didn't end. It simply found a new field. Today, instead of game films, he studies functional medicine protocols. Instead of playbooks, he analyzes patient outcomes. Instead of teammates, he leads a company dedicated to proving that healthcare can create health, not just manage disease. The 2 AM alarm doesn't ring anymore, but the commitment to incremental gains that compound over time remains the operating system behind everything he builds.

 Building Something That Lasts Beyond Yourself   

Zach's kids don't care about the 60,000 lives their father has helped transform through Nava Health. They care about whether he shows up to play after work. They care about whether he's present at dinner or distracted by his phone. They care about the example he sets through his daily actions, not his quarterly earnings or LinkedIn accolades. This tension between professional achievement and personal presence defines modern leadership for many executives.

According to research from Deloitte, 77% of workers have experienced burnout at their current job, with 91% saying unmanageable stress negatively impacts their work quality. Yet the same research shows that companies with strong health and wellness programs see 11% higher revenue per employee. The long game isn't about choosing between success and wellbeing—it's about understanding that sustainable success requires both.

Zach frames legacy in terms that transcend business metrics. When he thinks about what he wants his children to remember, it's not his title or company valuation. It's whether he was their protector, provider, and biggest fan. Whether he showed them through daily actions what it means to love with everything you have, to give your family your best energy instead of your leftovers. Whether he demonstrated that building something great in the world never comes at the expense of the people who matter most.

This philosophy extends to his podcast guests and listeners. The Legacy and Longevity Podcast doesn't exist to add another show to someone's queue. It exists to challenge people to think differently about what they're building and whether it will last beyond their lifetime. Not in terms of monuments or foundations, but in terms of impact on the people closest to them. The way they raise their children. The standards they model. The health they maintain so they can show up fully for decades instead of burning out in years.

 Questions Zach believes every leader should ask themselves: 

1. 'Am' I building success at the expense of the relationships that matter most?

2. Will my daily habits allow me to be present and energetic for the people I love in 20 years?

3. What example am I setting through my actions when no one is watching?

4. 'Am' I optimizing for quarterly results or generational impact?

5. Will the people who know me best remember how I showed up, or just what I achieved?

 Your Legacy Starts Now   

The healthcare system won't fix itself. The relationship between peak health and peak performance won't become clearer without intentional focus. The daily disciplines that compound into extraordinary results won't build themselves. Legacy—real legacy—doesn't wait for retirement or some future moment when you finally have time. It's being written in the decisions you make today about how you take care of your body, how you show up for your people, and what standards you refuse to compromise.

Zach Dancel went from setting 2 AM alarms to drink protein shakes to leading a healthcare revolution that has transformed tens of thousands of lives. Not because he's superhuman, but because he understood a simple truth: excellence isn't built in moments of inspiration. It's built in the thousand small decisions made when everything inside you wants to quit. The discipline to show up when motivation fails. The commitment to play the long game when everyone around you optimizes for the short term.

Whether you're an executive running a company, an entrepreneur building something new, or someone who simply wants to feel alive and present for the people you love, the principles remain the same. Your health is your foundation. Your daily habits compound over time. Your legacy lives in how you show up, not just what you accomplish.

Subscribe to the Legacy and Longevity Podcast and discover what happens when championship discipline meets healthcare leadership. Because the long game isn't just about living longer. It's about living stronger, leading with purpose, and creating something that endures far beyond yourself.

KEY TAKEAWAYS  

1. Discipline beats motivation every time. Show up especially on days when you don't feel like it. Stacking consistent days builds compound interest over time.

2. The healthcare system isn't broken—it functions exactly as designed. It's a sick care model built for managing disease, not creating health, with 90% of $4.5 trillion spent on preventable chronic conditions.

3. One transformed life creates a ripple effect touching hundreds of others. When you restore someone's health, you give families their parents back, companies their leaders back, and communities their strength back.

4. Elite performance requires invisible sacrifice. Zach set alarms for 2 AM to drink protein shakes in high school. Championship-level commitment happens when no one is watching.

5. Your biggest failures become your greatest teachers. Life isn't always won. The red and yellow days teach lessons that the green days never could.

6. Legacy is measured in daily impact, not final achievements. It's not what you leave behind when you're gone but what you show up with every single day.

7. Modern medicine treats symptoms in isolation instead of the whole body system. Twenty prescriptions from different specialists who never communicate leads to contraindications and zero healing.

8. Functional medicine looks for root causes, not quick fixes. Advanced testing, listening to patients, and treating the body as connected systems produces real results where traditional medicine fails.

9. The same disciplines that create elite athletes create strong leaders. Leading by example, showing up at ground level, and refusing to settle for mediocrity applies equally to sports and business.

10. Your kids are watching everything you build. The example you set at home matters as much as the one you set at work. Legacy starts with being the protector, provider, and biggest fan for your family.