Built from Broken: A Science-Based Guide to Healing Painful Joints, Preventing Injuries, and Rebuilding Your Body

by Scott H. Hogan

Heal painful joints, prevent injuries, and rebuild your body from the ground up.(If mainstream fitness advice has left you broken down and beat up, it’s time for a new strategy.)Most middle-aged fitness enthusiasts and athletes have been dragged down by joint pain, injuries, and other ailments commonly accepted as “part of getting older.”But it doesn’t have to be this way.In fact, anyone can conquer joint pain and rebuild their body.It simply requires understanding the hidden causes and a road map (this book) that leads to the solution.Built from Broken presents a paradigm shift in how to think about corrective exercise, sports nutrition, and joint health.Once you see how the system works, you’ll never look at exercise or joint health the same way again.Part 1 lays the foundation for understanding why your joints are breaking down.You’ll

The 5 primary causes of joint pain.

How to prevent the “Big 3” injuries that trap you in the Pain/Injury Cycle.

Why conventional pain management merely masks symptoms (and 3 natural pain relief techniques that actually work).

How to identify and fix muscle imbalances that lead to tension, pain, and injuries.

Natural injury recovery strategies that improve healing time and tissue repair quality.

Part 2 gives you a step-by-step corrective exercise guide and list of action steps to rebuild your body from the ground up.

The ideal training schedule to maximize muscle recovery and connective tissue repair (in as little as 2 days per week, at any age).

Illustrated corrective exercise instructions (with several home workout options).

How to strengthen joints with cutting-edge connective tissue training techniques.

A step-by-step training program complete with workout routines.

Whether you have been training for a few years, a few decades, or have never stepped foot in a weight room, it’s not too late to overhaul your body.If the conventional path of lifting and stretching has left you broken down, why not try a new strategy?This book is your way out of the pain/injury cycle.All you have to do is follow three simple steps.

Read the book.

Follow the action steps inside to resolve your pain.

Implement the 4-week corrective training program outlined in the book.

Just imagine, in 4-8 weeks from now, you could be in a pain-free, mobile, strong, and functional body.One that allows you to do the activities you love, push the limits of your capabilities, and achieve your true physical potential.This process can start for you right now.All you have to do is click the “buy” button and order your copy of Built from Broken.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Fitness, Self Help, Science, Reference, Sports

614 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 29, 2021

Reviews

[M1watch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well written and researched book. I have chronic pain in spine, tailbone, need a TKR on right leg etc Plus getting on in age. If you have no anatomical deterioration ie you hurt but your body is still built right then this book will help keep you that way. Great for muscle, tendon and nerve pain. For the rest of us you take what you can and try to apply it to your unique circumstances. As a psychologist I can tell tell you on average the people that do worse or die when broken are the people that do nothing (its even been found in twin studies). We suffer more in imagination than in life even when in chronic pain.

This book with a mix of Stoicism is a decent coping mechanism but highly unlikely to be a cure for those of us in long term harder pain. That said it will help you take what you can out of life and that is a better tactic than giving up.

[Lacey Meyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of great information. It’s like a textbook for protecting yourself from injury while building muscle. Even though it went deep into complex topics, I didn’t feel completely bored. After explaining the WHY, Scott Hogan details exactly HOW to exercise on a daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly/lifetime basis. I found it extremely helpful.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book about rebuilding from injury and how not to get another one. Goes into a ton of detail, almost too much, but does a pretty good job of bringing it together with the workout templates. I'll come back with more detail after I've used the program, but the book was exactly what I was after. If you're impatient with the why and want to get to the how, you'll need to skip ahead to almost 3/4 of the way through the book-but that section does not disappoint.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edit: switching to three stars because a review of his sources on just one topic (use of anti-inflammatories after an injury) showed that he was just citing opinion articles without real experiments or data. I still like his training plan and am going to try it, but it's pretty weak to have 287 references that are more like groupthink than rigorous science and experimentation.

Original review:
I instantly knew when I picked this up from the library that this was more of a school textbook than I had expected. The writing and recommendations were very dense. Had I not been super interested in the topic, it might have been too dense and boring to finish.

Each chapter has lengthy explanations and then lists of up to 10 recommendations that range from helpful and intuitive to speculative and presumptive. In fact, despite being one of the better researched books I've read (there are almost 300 references to scientific studies), there were a few causality assumptions that weren't convincing.

A lot of this book seems correct and good. The core principles (lots of varied movements, slow and deliberate resistance training, proactively preventing injury and minimizing pain) are solid. I'm going to try the 4 week workout cycle in the book and see how I like it.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solid information. Looking forward to the implementation of it. Counter to what I’ve been told in the past but what’s worked for me before isn’t working now and I’m finding myself looking for ways to get myself back to feeling ok. Hoping this will get me to an even better place.

[Brandon Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually avoid books of this type, however I like that this one had several pages of references to scientific literature to back up the claims. I learned a lot about the things I’ve been doing wrong and why I keep suffering injuries.

[M Kelley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ridiculous waste of time. I have sever-chronic pin from osteoarthritis and the suggestions on this book were not at all helpful. I’m glad I did not pay for this book and it was on kindle unlimited.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who exercises. Things I'd never thought about to build healthy joints and rehab new or old injuries.

[Aayush Kucheria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is dense, comprehensive, and actionable. It’s my 3rd book this year on physical fitness, one of my priorities this year, and I absolutely devoured and loved it.

It focuses a lot on injury prevention, correction, and cultivating *overall* physical fitness - which makes a lot of sense to me, and also seems obvious in retrospect.

Give yourself a gift, and read this book.

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply outstanding and much needed book on how to prevent and resolve joint and connective tissue injuries so you can continue to exercise and remain strong throughout your life. I have dealt with ongoing tendinopathy for at least the past 15 years, which has impacted my ability to exercise and even led to rotator cuff surgery in 2021. I feel like I’ve found a treasure trove of cutting edge science-backed material to help me finally resolve my Achilles tendinopathy( Hogan explains in the book why the term “tendinitis” is no longer used by professionals) and give me hope that I can indeed maintain and gain strength as I enter my golden years.

For those like me, plagued by tendon issues,here is the key takeaway: tendon issues are not primarily caused by inflammation, and the traditional RICE method is outmoded. Connective tissue needs heavy load training( weight training) to rebuild and repair itself- “heavy” meaning at 80% of your capacity.This would be doing 8 reps until failure. Yes, it will not be comfortable,but as long as your pain is no more than a 3 out of 10 and you allow 3 days in between workouts, you will gradually improve and heal that tissue. This advice is the exact opposite of what I ( and many others) do- believing that inflammation was the cause, I would back off when exercise caused discomfort and would focus on applying heat or ice to help with the inflammation.

For some, this may be all you need to know, but this book has so much more insight to offer. Hogan’s first chapter is all about the many benefits of load training. He details the 5 causes of joint pain-posture,movement quality,muscle imbalances,tendinopathy, and collagen degradation. Instead of focusing on pain relief ( which, in the end, doesn’t fix things),he says to work on modulating inflammation, resolving tendinopathy, improving synovial fluid health ( especially important as we age), and protecting collagen health. He discusses injury recovery strategies and then moves into training strategies, giving specific exercises to do and training programs to follow.

The book is so good that I intend to immediately read through it again in an effort to absorb all the helpful information it contains.

Highly, highly recommended for anyone who struggles with exercise injury or, really, anyone interested in having a healthy body as they age.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book all around, especially for those who have injured themselves and/or are afraid of doing so. (I believe I got more out of this book after a sprain and separated shoulder).

As someone who likes to do things for functional reasons (i.e. prefer running over weightlifting), this is nice because it serves as a way to strengthen myself for health and fulfills the functional desire to be better supported whilst I do various activities that put stress on the body. Much more confident about landing jumps better in parkour versus trying to more healthily just lift heavier weights.

The appendix has some training plans and after reading the whole book it was super nice to feel like I not only understand the composition of each plan, but have all the pieces to swap things out and make the most of the “build your own” kind of section.

[Lloyd Downey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This seems to be a very comprehensive guide to what is promised in the title. I haven't read it from cover to cover but I've read the sections that most interested me and it all seems to be pretty sensible stuff. Is it science based? Well I'm not sure. I am always suspicious of citations of a single science based study because it's nearly always possible to find another study showing the opposite effect or nil effect....and very few people are really able to interpret the statistics correctly. Also, there is a placebo effect with virtually every sort of intervention which should be taken into account. Be that as it may, there are a range of exercises recommended that look sensible and reasonable to me for knee and shoulder pains and for hamstring injuries. (Which are the sections that I focussed on). Almost half the book is given over to detailed training programs and mastering the movements. But I'm not sure that I'm disciplined enough to tackle this level of formality.
Here are some extracts from the book that give a bit of the "flavour" of the contents:
Book Extracts: Built from Broken: A science based guide to healing painful joints
Hogan, Scott H
Chapter 1: A Case for Load Training
People age 65 or older [were tracked] over the course of 15 years. Researchers found that those who lifted weights had a 46% lower death rate......Resistance training has even been shown to reduce age-related cognitive decline, slowing down neurodegeneration in people at risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
A study published in Frontiers in Physiology demonstrated that previously untrained seniors can build muscle and strength comparable to masters athletes who have been training for decades.
Joint degeneration (often without symptoms) reaches a tipping point in your mid-30s. In your 40s and 50s, the risk of connective tissue injuries (like Achilles tendon ruptures) peaks as decreased load tolerance combines with continued high activity levels. The path of least resistance (and the one typically recommended by conventional medicine) is to stop doing the things that hurt—avoid uncomfortable movements and find easier forms of exercise. As I hope you are starting to see, that’s the exact opposite of what you should do.
Most fitness enthusiasts are riddled with joint dysfunction but soldier on anyway......Another problem with bodybuilding programming is the obsessive focus on splitting up all the muscles of the upper body, dedicating an entire training day to each, while neglecting the biggest muscles in the body: the legs.
One of the most damaging bits of dogma in the fitness world is that you must continuously increase the amount of weight you can squat, deadlift, and bench press.....Your connective tissue and central nervous system need recovery periods to prevent breakdown. Demanding that your body add 5 to 10 pounds to each lift every week doesn’t make sense.
Connective tissue goes through a degradation and regeneration cycle after training, just as muscles do. As cells are damaged and repaired, connective tissue strength increases. But when this process is interrupted before full regeneration is complete, a net accumulation of damage adds up, leading to collagen base degradation.
Here are a few undervalued benefits of prioritizing corrective exercise over everything else:
• It’s the best way to prevent pain and injuries.
• It’s more mentally stimulating and challenging than a typical “cardio” session or weight training workout.
• It produces an intense systemic metabolic response.
• It produces greater improvements in total body strength, mobility, and pain-free movement capabilities than any other training style.
• It’s more fun.
At any given time, about one third of adults in the U.S. are experiencing joint pain or stiffness. That number is growing all the time. A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine revealed that the prevalence of knee pain increased by 65% over a 20-year period from 1974 to 1994.
Poor posture is the number one non-disease cause of joint pain. Despite your best efforts to sit perfectly straight at your desk during the day, your body falls back into bad habits when lifting weights at the gym. Improving dynamic posture requires retraining the neuromuscular systems that control postural muscles. Your nervous system has been recording and perfecting your movement habits, for better or for worse, since you were born. Altering these lifelong habits is no easy task.
Movement quality describes how effective you are at performing specific exercises and motions. If you exercise with heavy loads and poor movement quality, you are more likely to hurt yourself.
Your upper back muscles should be trained using high repetitions from multiple angles, so they are never your weak link when performing upper body movements.
A study commissioned by the National Federation of State High School Associations showed that single-sport athletes are 70% more likely to suffer an injury than are multisport athletes.
Why? Because they are at greater risk of suffering repetitive use injuries: elbow pain from throwing a baseball year-round, shoulder injuries from extended swimming seasons, and stress fractures to shins and knees from nonstop soccer.
One of the most pervasive myths about muscle imbalances is that you can fix them by stretching. But the research on stretching is not flattering. A 2011 metastudy (study of studies) revealed that stretching has “no significant effect.”....Most tendinopathy cases stem from overuse, while others are caused by a combination of traumatic injury and stressful, repetitive motion......Treatments aimed solely at blocking inflammation are not the solution to resolving your joint pain.
Arthritis is the leading cause of joint pain and disability in the United States, affecting 23% of adults—more than 54 million people. It is a disease characterized by inflammation and degeneration of the joints.
Experts from Arthritis.org and the Centers for Disease Control agree that staying active is the most important thing you can do to manage symptoms. Anyone with arthritis will tell you, there are good days and bad days. The good days are opportunities to build strength, maintain flexibility, and use your body to its fullest....Overweight women are four times more likely to develop OA than those with healthy weights. Overweight men are five times more likely to develop OA.
Each additional pound of body weight adds about 4 pounds of additional pressure on your knees. Only 10 pounds of excess weight puts an additional 40 pounds of pressure on your knees.
Chapter 8: Preventing the Big Three
It isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out—it’s the grain of sand in your shoe.
Notice how the primary function alternates between stability and mobility as you move up the chain: Feet: stability Ankles: mobility Knees: stability Hips: mobility Lumbar spine (low back): stability Thoracic spine (upper back): mobility Scapulothoracic (scapula): stability Glenohumeral (shoulder): mobility
“Back pain” had more search volume than all the other body parts combined.
The glutes are (or should be) the prime moving muscles for hip-dominant movements like bending and squatting. They provide joint stability not just for your low back but also your knees and lower legs.
You already know how I feel about walking. Even 10–20 minutes per day improves lumbar function, decreases dependence on pain killers, increases spinal muscle blood flow, and reduces low back pain (by up to 27%).
Using eccentric-focused hamstring exercises provides a “cumulative protective effect” against muscle damage and injury. With training, you can shift your hamstring muscles’ length-tension curve so that peak muscle force is generated at progressively longer muscle lengths.
The most functional exercise for targeting end-range hamstring strength is the supine Swiss Ball Leg Curl.
A 2015 study published in the Journal of Athletic Training demonstrated that knee rehabilitation programs focused on hip function reduced knee pain levels faster than those focused on knee function alone.
No conversation about hip mobility would be complete without discussing the World’s Greatest Stretch. It mobilizes and challenges the muscles surrounding your hips on all sides. In my opinion, there is no greater movement for opening up your hips.
So what's my overall take on the book. I liked it. And I'll be referring to it from time to time as I age and bits of me start to need additional attention. (So far so good!). Five stars from me.

[Raymond Goss · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you suffer from any chronic joint or muscle pain, this book is worth reading. In fact, I recommend it for anyone who wants to understand the way to improve one's body. It covers how to warm-up, how and when to train, and what specific exercises to perform and variations. I'm not new to weightlifting and consider myself an expert in many aspects of physical fitness, but learned a great detail from reading this book.

It took me a while to read through the details of the first half of the book as it described the theory and application of exercise mechanics. I highlighted many sections in my Kindle. The second half of the book, which showed the specific exercises, I was able to get through quickly. I read all the details even in the second part of the book even though I was familiar with most of the exercises, I learned ways to improve them over what I have done for years. Sometimes the author pointed out where on a barbell to put the hands to get a different muscle group more involved or why putting the thumb on the other side might be better than what is taught in general exercise programs.

Some readers may not have the specific hardware or bands recommended, but there are plenty of alternatives mentioned that worked for me. I'm still working on improving a minor long-term injury, but feel that this book has put me on a better path. It will also help me with tweaking my exercise program for me and my students.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read

I am a Physical Therapist and this was great resource for individuals. Scott has a great way of explaining complex concepts to an everyday reader.

[A.E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been dealing with nagging/recurring injuries in my arm and shoulder (AC joint and bicep tendon), along with my hip (SI joint and hip flexor). Using the information and exercises in this book has helped immensely! A word of caution for anyone looking to address similar injuries - READ THE ENTIRE BOOK! This isn't something you can just skim and skip around, think you can cherry pick a couple exercises, and you'll be fixed. While the exercises will help, if you don't fix the underlying issues causing pain or properly apply the exercises, you'll just end up right back where you started.
You have to understand the concepts, approach, timing, etc. The devil is in the details, so to speak, but you will not be disappointed!

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book hoping to understand enough about joint health to incorporate prehab exercises in my usual gym routine. Not only did I find that, but also a ton of handpicked exercises and even ready workout routines! This book contains as much value as any comprehensive information product that would typically cost you hundreds, and I can't recommend it enough.

[Sheri Fresonke Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the author's explanations for why a person should exercise in various ways including resistance training and weight training helpful. The back of the book offers workouts of various types that are easy to understand. He also explains some of the physical and chemical activity that goes on in the body, offering advice to chronic pain sufferers and elderly etc.

[Armando Alfredo Galeana Ugalde · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing and informative

Routines are easy to follow with amazing templates in the appendix.
The medical research is phenomenal and let's you understand body mechanics and joint health in an easy way that makes sense. If you are 40+ as I am, this is definitely worth reading. If you are less than 40, it gives a great heads-up for what's coming.

[Kali · Rating 5 out of 5]

What he’s saying makes sense and anecdotally I’ve seen this work in real time - just didn’t have the understanding of why it works. Reading some of the science behind it was very interesting. Especially all the research into the conventional wisdom about how to heal injuries and why that may not be applicable anymore.

I’m going to put this program into practice and see how it goes.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic. The research is done. It’s footnoted so you can go and read the studies for yourself. I already have less pain and I’m so glad I found this book before I let the quack I saw rip out my knee joints and replace with artificial. A must read.

[Rabin Rai · Rating 3 out of 5]

best value i got from the book was the morning routine and the benefits isometric stretch in collagen health.

The book could have been more concise and save readers' time.

[Bailey MP · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really coming in nerdy here. Cool book and pretty much what I was looking for. I wanted a book that could explain the difficulty of healing joint problems and that's sort of what I got, along with a whole lot of interesting facts about the human body.

Collagen is incredibly fascinating to me, particularly when it comes down to scar tissue on muscles that have had trouble tracking properly. Honestly its a big takeaway that rest is great initially for injured joints, but from a recovering stand point can be a massive obstacle if its prolonged rest. Movement in this book is pivotal healing factor and I feel like it solves most of the equation atleast for me when it comes to overcoming injuries. Bro synovial fluid in the joints guys!! Tendons require movement to strengthen, particularly movement under load and this often is probably a pitfall for most people. You feel discomfort in whatever joint your trying to protect, which unfortunately leads to atrophy in the tendon and creating a cycle of pain, protection, and then more pain/discomfort. Forget the part that your joint problem could be a red herring to a completely different problem down or up the kinetic chain. The most common culprit of this is muscle imbalances in the hips o the shoulders. Weak hips leads to over compensations within the knees to pick up missing slack of your glutes, along with your lower back trying to make up for your lack of mobility in your pelvis. Weak shoulders unbeknownst to me actually can lead to not only tight pectorals but can also overload the forearms and wrist. The shoulder is supposed to be an anchor for your arm and if its suffering from muscle imbalances or poor posture, it activates incorrectly and forces the arms to work extra hard in everyday movements.

Some of this stuff is probably a no brainer for some people but I found this book really helpful understanding my own body and where I'm going wrong. I also strangely discovered that reading through solid slabs of information isn't as boring as I used to think. I read this textbook in 4 days. I couldn't put it down and when obligations inevitably came up, I found myself still pondering about the book in its absence.

Lovely.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐭 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 is packed - and I do mean 𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙙 - with incredible information. This is not a light, breezy read, simply because there’s so much valuable content to absorb, but it 𝙞𝙨 an extraordinary study and resource, especially if you’ve been dealing with nagging, chronic joint pain from lifting like I have.

I’ve personally found myself stuck in a frustrating cycle of small “injuries” from lifting but never quite feeling fully recovered, and feeling perplexed about 𝙝𝙤𝙬 to break free from that pattern. This book does an excellent job of spelling out a clear, logical path to accomplish exactly that. It explains not just the 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩, but the 𝙬𝙝𝙮, which made the concepts really click for me.

While the material is dense, it’s still easy to read and well-organized. You can tell the author put real thought into making complex ideas approachable without dumbing them down. One of my favorite aspects is the inclusion of workout plans at the end, thoughtfully laid out based on your current skill level and where you’re at in your lifting journey. That practical application alone makes this book worth owning, and I fully intend to implement the programs provided.

Overall, Built From Broken is truly a fantastic resource, one I’d highly recommend to anyone who lifts, especially those who are tired of training through pain and want a smarter, more sustainable way forward.

Special thanks to Authors Equity and NetGalley for the gifted copy

[Cody O'Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book for my "everyone needs to read this" pile. This book is an incredible primer on rehabbing your body. And it's very well written and easy to understand. I've dealt with injuries my whole life and I was searching for something to finally give me insights into what's gone wrong, how to fix it and how to prevent it in the future. I believe this book has provided me exactly that. I believe it is my turning point from a life of pain and confusion towards a life of health, strength and longevity.

It goes into great depth on the nature of various injuries and how important it is to not only build our muscles, but also to strengthen our tendons and connective tissue to prevent injury. And the way to do this is with targeted strength training of a certain intensity. And this is for people of all ages. There are specific sections on how to address the big three problems: low back pain, shoulder pain and knee pain.

The book also lines up with what I experienced at a really high end rehab facility that really helped me a few years ago. It has a lot of the same exercises and programming format. I can't wait to put all of this into practice and change the trajectory that my broken body has been on for the last 15 years.

[Martin Iotchev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, even if it is on the longer side. The book is structured in 2 parts:
- Principles & Strategy - this goes over the concepts of load training and how joints react to different stresses. The idea here is to explain what issues can occur, how to structure training, and identify faults. It's like a good crash course in physiotherapy so you can get an idea of what happens inside your body. This bit could do with some editing of the chapters since it's quite a bit of reading.
- Training program - this is the actual training program that Scott offers. I have yet to try it out, but the general concepts presented in part 1 are something that I will try and implement in my training schedule (especially after my recent run of injuries)

If you've never considered your tendon and ligament strength as part of your fitness journey, I would suggest giving this book a read (regardless of whether you follow the actual program Scott outlines). There are quite a few ideas on how to properly structure load training, mobility, stability, endurance exercises so you can keep your joints healthy (or at least be more knowledgeable about what to do when injured)

[Zac Sutcliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have historically been pretty skeptical about these types of books. Sometimes I believe that they provide no new information (that is personal to me reading it), and sometimes I think that they prioritize too much stretching and body movements compared to types of exercises that would build muscle (you can definitely build muscle with body movements, I just prefer getting under some weights).

Anyways... I thought this book was an exceptional guide to performance. As someone who has had two hip labrum surgeries and an ulnar nerve surgery over the course of the past twelve months, it is obvious that there are some underlying issues in the way I have trained in the past. I can't wait to start my journey to recovery using the methods outlined in this book. Some of the things I plan on implementing right away to my routine from the book: collagen supplementation, mobility / dynamic warm ups, more intentional exercise programming and periodization, and adding new exercises from the "Mastering the Movements" chapter.

Shoutout to James Clear (of Atomic Habits fame) for the suggestion. I'd suggest people also check out Atomic Habits, and James' newsletter "3-2-1"

[Daniel Aiken · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has suffered injury after injury for the last 2-3 years, I can’t recommend this book on joint health enough, though it is dense at times. It's completely changed my training focus from pure strength to joint health and integrated a number of fitness goals, including overcoming tendinopathy into one periodised training plan I can follow. Just as I was finishing this I got an additional niggle in my back. Normally, I’d get pissed off, take a week off maybe see a physio and then try getting back into it, haven’t missed a session this week, straight back into training, added in some additional mobilisation and altered the reps, weights and tempo and I’m feeling grand. After being told I'd need a number of surgeries to fix my issues, to visiting a number of different physiotherapists with mixed results - some progress, some additional injuries, this books given me the confidence to be my own training coach and not let injuries hold me back - injury adaptation and preventions built into the plan. It's enough to move me to tears - thank you Scott Hogan

[Kathryn Duane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable read for someone who is already interested in fitness, body mechanics, nutrition, etc. I’m not how sure someone without a baseline level of knowledge or interest in these areas would feel about this book. I’ve long been an on-again-off-again runner and practitioner of yoga, but have struggled with repeated back/hip injuries doing seemingly minor things. I’d like to age a little more gracefully and be able to hike and dance into my eighties, which I’ve recently realized means focusing more on strength training and protecting my joints now. Not really areas of expertise for me. A recent shoulder injury finally pushed me to read this book, and I’m glad for it. His program is sensible, approachable, and realistic, even for a beginner like myself. I also appreciated the sections on nutrition, supplements, and other forms of exercise. Looking forward to integrating this program into my fitness routine.

[Nghia Tran · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gem filled with practical wisdoms about sport injury recovery and prevention. The recommendations in the book are well researched and very easy to apply.

From the book: “it doesn’t matter if you’ve heard something already or learned about it in the past. What matters is how well you know each principle and if you understand when to apply each for maximum effect”. The author did go to great length to ensure that the readers won’t stop at superficial knowledge but delved deep into practical application. Even after my first pass I was able to apply several techniques into my own routines and seeing immediate results. I am sure I will come back for more.

Also from the book: “it isn’t the mountain ahead that wears you out—it’s the grain of sand in your shoe”. Small details matter a great deal in achieving great goals, and I think for training your body, this book is an amazing companion that will keep the sands out and the feet moving.

[Sergio Rosas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book that advocates for functional/healthy fitness training. Information is very well explained and tailored to laymen enthusiasts. Data of facts and studies mentioned are clearly cited (although I didn’t actually searched and reviewed the references). It gives hope and direction for fitness and continue healthy physical activity as you age.

Book focuses on preventing and rehabilitating joint problems rather than muscle issues per se. Very detailed and definitely I would categorize this book as textbook. Nevertheless I found the content straight forward, relevant, and concise enough that it was still exciting and interesting - with the caveat that I like nerding out about these things and I appreciate knowing the why of things and not just the how. The book content builds up to a clear and actionable strength training program.