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

by Scott H Hogan

you must challenge your joints with weights around 80% of your one-repetition maximum to elicit the greatest adaptive response. This equates to a weight you can lift about eight times before reaching failure. Unsurprisingly, eight times is also in the range of recommended reps for building muscle.

Stretching has its place. But mobility training, corrective exercise, and adding more varied movement are much more effective strategies.

“Adaptations in your brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves can outlast the original injury and lead to structure changes, which include the sprouting of new nerve endings and the formation of new synapses between neurons.”

catastrophizing—when fear of additional pain and injury becomes exaggerated. Pain scientists have found that catastrophizing leads to negative outcomes independent of the actual pain.

you can work through discomfort safely just by reducing the weight and slowing down the repetition speed to at least three seconds during the lifting (concentric) phase and three seconds during the lowering (eccentric) phase.

10 pounds of weight loss equals about 40 pounds of stress relief on your knees.