The 5 Reasons You Feel Physically Broken & The 1 Mindset Shift That Will Help (w/ Scott Hogan)
5 Big Ideas, 3 Reflection Questions, 1 Takeaway
What if the aches, stiffness, and limitations you’ve been accepting as “just part of getting older” aren’t inevitable at all?
In this conversation with Scott Hogan, author of Built from Broken, we explore the five root causes of feeling physically broken — from posture and movement patterns to tendinopathy and muscle imbalances — and the one mindset shift that changes everything: refusing to accept pain as your new normal.
You’ll learn why load training is the only way to actually heal connective tissue, why quarterly PT visits should be as routine as dental checkups, and how being your own mechanic means taking proactive ownership of your body’s longevity.
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🖐 5 BIG IDEAS
1. Joint Dysfunction Is What’s Actually Holding You Back
Most people think the limiting factor in their fitness is programming, intensity, or muscle strength. But Scott argues it’s almost always joint dysfunction — the combination of pain, mobility restrictions, tendinopathy, and compensatory movement patterns that keep you from moving well and training consistently. Whether you’re broken down (non-functional), beat up (managing multiple issues), or bottlenecked (one constraint holding everything else back), joint health is the constraint that matters most.
Here’s the striking insight: even elite athletes are working around joint issues. The difference is they’ve learned how to manage load tolerance and address limitations proactively instead of reactively. For the rest of us, joint dysfunction isn’t just uncomfortable — it’s the reason we can’t make progress, can’t do what we want, and eventually accept that “this is just what happens as you age.” Raising your standard for what pain-free movement should feel like is the first step toward fixing it.
2. Tendinopathy Is 80% of Joint Pain — and Load Training Is the Only Fix
Most people think joint pain is cartilage or ligament damage. It’s not. According to Scott, 60-70% of all joint pain is tendon pain, and 95% of that is tendinopathy — chronic degeneration of the collagen base in your tendons caused by overuse, poor movement patterns, or inadequate load progression. That means if you solve tendinopathy, you’ve solved 80% of joint pain.
The only way to heal tendinopathy is load training — specifically, slow eccentric work that forces your body to rebuild connective tissue. Five-second negatives, isometric holds, and progressive overload aren’t just strength tools — they’re how you remodel scar tissue, deposit new collagen, and restore joint integrity. Rest, ice, and waiting for it to calm down won’t rebuild what’s been broken. Movement does. Load does. The analogy Scott uses: after a storm, the damage is still there even when the weather clears. You have to rebuild the house.
3. Posture Controls Your Joint Health 95% of the Time
You go to the gym for an hour a day, but your posture is in control 23 hours a day — even when you’re sleeping. Poor desk setup, prolonged sitting, and defaulting into a “shrimp” position (rounded shoulders, forward head, compressed hips) creates repetitive stress that no amount of training can overcome. If your environment forces bad posture, you’re fighting a losing battle.
Scott’s solution is behavioral, not aspirational. Instead of trying to consciously hold perfect posture all day (which is exhausting and unrealistic), set up your environment so good posture happens automatically. Raise your monitor to eye height. Use a vertical mouse. Get a split keyboard. Put mobility tools in places you’ll see them and use them without thinking. Make your default state one that supports joint health instead of one that slowly destroys it. The goal isn’t more discipline — it’s better design.
4. Stability Before Mobility — Especially for Your Lower Back
The lower back is a stability joint, not a mobility joint. Yet when people have lower back pain, they immediately start stretching and twisting it — which makes it worse. Your lower back doesn’t need more range of motion. It needs to be braced, stable, and left alone while you mobilize the joints above and below it: your hips and your thoracic spine.
This is the joint-by-joint concept: your body alternates between stability joints (low back, knees) and mobility joints (hips, ankles, shoulders, thoracic spine). When a mobility joint is tight or restricted, the stability joint next to it compensates by moving too much — and that’s where pain and injury happen. So if your lower back hurts, don’t stretch it. Mobilize your hips. Strengthen your glutes. Work on thoracic extension. By addressing the joints around the problem, you often solve the problem without ever touching it directly.
5. “Corrective Exercise” Isn’t a Five-Minute Hack — It’s a Training Priority
The biggest mistake people make is treating corrective exercise like an afterthought — five minutes of stretching at the end of a workout, a few band pull-aparts before bench pressing, maybe some foam rolling if there’s time. Scott’s challenge: What if you flipped it for four weeks and made corrective work 90% of your training? Not standing in a corner doing bands, but prioritizing exercises that load and strengthen weak areas while simultaneously preventing imbalances.
This isn’t about doing less. It’s about training smarter. Face pulls instead of more bench. RDLs and hamstring work before squats. Prioritizing three sets of back work for every two sets of chest. Baking prep into the middle of your program instead of tacking it on at the end. The mindset shift Scott wants: stop looking for the bare minimum you can do to avoid injury and go back to what you want. Start asking what you can prioritize to actually build a body that’s resilient, capable, and pain-free for decades.
🤔 3 REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. What pain or limitation have you been accepting as “just part of getting older” — and what would it mean to refuse that story?
Think about the aches, stiffness, or movement restrictions you’ve been living with. Have you told yourself it’s inevitable? That it’s just what happens? Scott’s entire thesis is that this acceptance is a choice — and it’s the wrong one. What would change if you raised your standard and decided that pain-free movement at 40, 50, 60, or 70 wasn’t optional, but expected?
2. Are you treating corrective work like an afterthought, or like a core part of your training?
Be honest: how much time and attention are you actually giving to the movements, stretches, and activation work that would prevent injury and improve performance? Are you doing five minutes of mobility at the end of a workout and calling it good, or are you prioritizing the weaknesses and imbalances that are holding you back? What would happen if you made prep work 90% of your training for just four weeks?
3. When was the last time you proactively checked in on your joint health — not because something was broken, but to prevent it from breaking?
Most people only see a PT when they’re injured. Scott recommends quarterly checkups — a proactive session where a professional screens your movement, identifies weak points, and gives you a plan before pain forces your hand. If you treated your body like you treat your car (regular maintenance, not just emergency repairs), what would that look like? And what’s stopping you from starting now?
🔑 1 KEY TAKEAWAY
Joint health isn’t a luxury or a nice-to-have — it’s the foundation of everything else, and refusing to accept pain as normal is the most important mindset shift you can make.
Scott’s message is clear: the aches, stiffness, and limitations most people accept as inevitable aren’t. They’re the result of poor posture, lack of movement variety, muscle imbalances, untreated tendinopathy, and the belief that “this is just what happens.” But it doesn’t have to be this way. Joint dysfunction is fixable. Tendinopathy responds to load training. Mobility improves when you prioritize it. Pain decreases when you address the root causes instead of working around them.
The mindset shift is this: you have to become your own mechanic. You can’t outsource responsibility for your body to a trainer, a PT, or a supplement. You have to educate yourself, understand what’s going on, and take proactive ownership of your movement, your training, and your habits. That means quarterly PT checkups before something breaks. It means setting up your environment for good posture instead of relying on willpower. It means flipping your training priorities to address weaknesses instead of chasing strengths.
We want to build a body that’s capable, resilient, and ready for whatever life throws at you — in your forties, fifties, sixties, and beyond. The raw material of your injuries, pain, and setbacks can become the foundation for a stronger, more durable version of yourself. But only if you refuse to accept that pain is normal. Only if you do the work when no one’s watching. Only if you stop looking for hacks and start prioritizing the fundamentals that actually matter.
Joint health is freedom. Freedom to move without pain. Freedom to train without limitation. Freedom to live the life you want instead of the life your body allows. And it starts with refusing to settle.
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