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

by Scott H Hogan

Collagen is the second most abundant substance in the human body (behind water), accounting for about 30% of the total protein.

It provides structural support for virtually all organs and soft tissue (including joints).

Collagen biosynthesis can be likened to making clay into bricks, which will eventually be used to construct a wall.

Why it matters: Collagen biosynthesis determines how much raw material is produced for your joints to rebuild with and can be directly influenced by nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle factors. Supplementing with collagen peptides made from types I and III appears to boost collagen biosynthesis.

collagen fibrils

For body part training, this gives credence to the idea of waiting a full three to four days between sessions (e.g. weekly upper body training on Monday and Thursday, and lower body training on Tuesday and Friday). This ensures that the adaptive response is not interrupted. Without sufficient rest, net loss of collagen can occur.

excess sugar consumption.

DECREASES COLLAGEN.

The more you use a particular joint, the more important it is that you expose it to a variety of stressors (reread this sentence—it’s that important).

fatigue management (you’re more prone to injuries when you are tired).

Train the new modality no more than twice per week for at least four to six weeks (ideally with two to three days of rest between). This will give your connective tissue time to heal between sessions and increase load tolerance. (Remember, collagen synthesis levels within joints stay elevated for three full days postexercise.)128 You can then bump up the training frequency to three days per week for another four to six weeks. This rule applies whether you’re a couch potato or dedicated fitness junky.

Postural faults are rarely isolated to one body part—especially when the spine is involved. Your body naturally tries to correct postural faults in one joint by compromising another. For example, forward head protrusion is often the result of upper back rounding (kyphosis), which itself is usually the result of low back overextension (lordosis). Lordosis is commonly caused by tight hips… which is usually caused by movement habits and muscle imbalances.

Any posture problems that stem from surgeries, injuries, diseases, or other congenital issues should be treated by a medical professional.

But most postural faults are caused by lifestyle and muscle imbalances and can be improved.

During a proper hip hinge, the low back remains relatively fixed as you bend toward the ground and back up. So does the upper back. The motion should take place at the hips, allowing the glutes and hamstrings to do most of the work.

Train your body to move, and your body will be better equipped to stand still, too.

Without sufficient endurance, your low back cannot maintain good posture throughout the day, let alone maintain optimal spinal alignment during exercises that cause fatigue.

The barbell box squat consists of holding a loaded barbell across your upper back, squatting down until your butt touches a box (usually at a height a few inches higher than your knees), then standing back up.

For example, instead of holding a barbell across your upper back, opt for holding dumbbells in each hand by your sides.

Scapulohumeral rhythm

the relationship between your scapula and humerus (upper arm)

and how that affects movement m...

Any change in scapula position relative to the humerus can disrupt scapulohumeral rhythm (a condition called scapular dyskinesia), leading to movement faults and injury. This is why you need the ability to stabilize you...

Figure 8.7 Movements of the scapula. (Adapted from Paine, R., & Voight, M. L., 2013. The role of the scapula. International Journal of...

Closed-kinetic ch...

Open-Kinetic Chain (OKC)

Adding more repetitive exercise and high-volume training isn’t the answer to knee pain, nor is taking a complete break from activity. The only way to bulletproof your knees is to increase their load capacity. That is not accomplished by stretching or mobility work but with slow, controlled repetitions of exercises that progressively challenge the load-bearing capabilities of connective tissue structures around your knees.

The knee is a hinge joint, meaning it’s primarily designed to bend back and forth.

four primary bones, two shock-absorbing cartilage structures, several fluid-filled sacs called bursae, and numerous sur...

main structural purpose is to connect the thigh bone ...

four primary bo...

Femur (thig...

Tibia (shi...

Fibula (smaller s...

Patella (k...

Figure 8.9 Knee anatomy (right knee, ...

You’ll notice your foot performs an instinctual gripping action against the ground—not unlike a bird or monkey gripping a tree branch with their feet.

new mind-muscle connection

It’s not necessary to follow each step of this sequence each time you establish foot position. Just performing it a few times will give you a good feel for how to push through the balls of your feet and balance the three points of contact.

Periodization—the systematic, cyclical planning of training—

And here’s the secret: when you’re disciplined with planning, execution—the actual doing—becomes simple. Maybe not easy, but simple. It gives you confidence to focus exclusively and intensely on the task at hand.

Now is the time to put on your thinking cap. To plan. And to outsmart your younger self. When you think about it, being disciplined with your fitness goals isn’t about being tough. It’s about being planful. That’s it. The rest takes care of itself.

Corrective exercise:

This concept is known as prehab: you’re effectively implementing rehabilitative (rehab) movements designed for injury recovery and prevention into daily movement practices. This beats the old model of training as hard as you can, getting injured, completing physical therapy, then starting the whole process over.

Periodization used to be reserved for Olympians and professional athletes under the tutelage of high-paid trainers who planned their training cycles a year in advance. Now, you can leverage these same principles to make consistent progress while staying healthy for the long haul.

the Functional Movement Screen (FMS). It consists of analyzing seven basic movement patterns: the squat, hurdle step, in-line lunge, shoulder mobility, straight leg raise, push-up, and trunk rotation. As you might have guessed, the nonlinear periodization groups had higher scores on the FMS and balance tests.

I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather perform 2–3 intense sets than 5 half-assed sets that produce the same (or worse) results.

Instead of trying to pack in as much training as possible, aim for the minimum effective dose (MED) of training that will allow you to make progress from week to week—at

There is an infinite number of exercises you can use to optimize your body. You can and should explore more than those listed here.

Lower Body Hinge to Squat