What happens when training becomes more than transformation—and turns into addiction?

Pumped and Broken is a raw, unflinching exploration of the hidden world behind bodybuilding’s stage-ready smiles and perfectly lit selfies. Pulling back the curtain on a subculture obsessed with control, authoritatively written chapters dissect the cost of chasing muscle at all costs—from isolation and injury to hormonal collapse and identity erosion.

This is not a celebration of discipline. It’s an exposé of dysfunction. Through the lens of competition prep, steroid cycles, orthorexia, and post-show depression, Pumped and Broken reveals how the iron paradise can become a gilded cage. You'll meet lifters who traded everything for shredded glutes and vascular quads—relationships, finances, long-term health—only to be left with collapsing hormones, chronic pain, and no way to quit without losing themselves.

Each chapter traces a stage in the descent: early dopamine highs of beginner gains, the transformation of food into punishment, gyms turned into altars of suffering, and the silence around mental health masked as stoicism. Women in the sport face an added layer—coaches who gaslight, hormones that betray, and judgment that never ends. By the time trophies gather dust and muscles begin to fade, many are trapped in a loop of self-destruction they can’t exit.

This book isn’t about solutions. It’s about seeing clearly. For fans, competitors, and anyone who’s ever asked “How far is too far?”, Pumped and Broken offers a chilling, honest answer.