After years of being plagued by overuse injuries, joint pain, and movement limitations, I decided enough was enough.

I went back to the drawing board.
Started from scratch with no assumptions about what might be causing my issues or how to fix them.

I dove deep into the literature around corrective exercise, injury recovery, mobility training, and therapeutic sports nutrition.

During this process, I analyzed the slew of injuries and faulty joints I’d accumulated from years of sports and training (some of which you can see penciled on the cover of the book).

From head to toe, I was banged up and broken down:

• Shoulder labrum tears and ongoing impingement syndrome.
• Chronic elbow tendinopathy.
• Ligament tears and inflammation in my wrists and hands.
• Low back pain that flared up any time I lifted something heavy.
• Knee pain, Achilles injuries, pulled groin and hamstring muscles…

The list was staggering. Ridiculous, really.

Especially since I was supposed to be a fitness authority.
As a Certified Personal Trainer and health researcher/writer, I should have known better than to let myself get so damaged. And, I should have been able to dig myself out.

But I couldn’t. As soon as I got over one injury, another popped up.

It was like playing whack-a-mole.

After years of research, interviewing experts, and gaining experience through coaching other athletes and clients suffering from the same issues, I noticed a few distinct patterns:

First, there is an accumulation of common overuse injuries when people reach a certain age. Regardless of their fitness level (because, as I explain in the book, this is largely caused by changes in connective tissue cell formations). This accumulation of injuries creates an advancing cycle of pain compensations, muscle imbalances, postural faults, and altered joint mechanics.Which naturally leads to more pain and injuries, more imbalances, and so on.

It’s a complex process that grows increasingly complex (and difficult to escape from) the more times it cycles through.

Second, I couldn’t find any resource that provided understanding of the whole picture. Some of the parts were available. Plenty of literature on physical therapy methods, injury recovery tactics, and so on. But I couldn’t find anything that made sense of the whole frustrating merry-go-round cycle (and how to get the hell off of it).

And third, and most important, I realized that most people don’t fit into the available fitness boxes. Well-intentioned mainstream fitness advice leads to pain, overuse injuries, and joint degeneration.That’s why it’s the rule rather than the exception to be broken down by exercise. As counterintuitive as that sounds, just think about that for a second. Picture what the average gym-goer looks like and performs like.Are they pain-free?
Making progress? Happy with how their body is performing (especially as they reach their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and beyond)?The answer is ‘No’ to all three for the vast majority of people.  It wasn’t just me and the other people I’d met who were broken — the system was broken.I realized no one was going to put together all the pieces for me. I’d have to do it myself.

So, I began the slow, arduous process of assembling the pieces.
Eventually constructing a complete program that heals and prevents the most common injuries fitness enthusiasts and active hobbyists face.Leveraging fundamental science-based principles from joint physiology, therapeutic sports nutrition, and the study of ergonomics.
Built from Broken is the story of how I finally recovered from (years) old nagging injuries, stopped tearing my joints apart with overuse injuries, and finally built a pain-free, functional body.

More than that, it’s a guide on exactly how you can do the same.

It starts with understanding the truth about pain management, mobility training, and the joint degeneration process.

From there, you can start rebuilding the scaffolding of your body, mobilizing latent muscles, and building real strength.
Like I said before, if the mainstream methods aren’t working for you, why not try something new?++I wrote this book to serve you in two distinct ways:

1) to guide you OUT of the hole you’re currently in.

and

2) to serve as a reference source you can use to fix pain points and recover from minor setbacks for the rest of your life.

TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroductionPART 1 Principles and Strategy

• CHAPTER 1 A Case for Load Training
• CHAPTER 2 The Anatomy of Pain
• CHAPTER 3 What to Focus On Instead of Pain Relief
• CHAPTER 4 How to Train Your Collagen
• CHAPTER 5 Movement: The Original Mobility
• CHAPTER 6 Science-Backed Mobility Training
• CHAPTER 7 Corrective Routines
• CHAPTER 8 Preventing the Big Three
• CHAPTER 9 Injury Recovery: Strategy and Tactics

PART 2 The Training Program

• CHAPTER 10 Exercise Programming and Periodization:
• Why It’s Smart to Be Disciplined
• CHAPTER 11 Mastering the Movements
• CHAPTER 12 The BFB Training Program
• Appendix: Workout Routines
• References
• Index