Why I Started Biohack Boardroom

At 28, I’m not supposed to feel like this.

I’m not supposed to wake up with knee pain that dictates how I move through the day. I’m not supposed to need a mental checklist before standing up from a chair. I’m not supposed to manage the lingering effects of multiple concussions whilst trying to perform in a high-stakes finance career.

But here we are.

This is why Biohack Boardroom exists – not as a polished solution, but as a documented experiment. A real-time account of what happens when you refuse to accept decline at 28 and decide to become your own test subject.

The Before

Rugby was everything to me. For years, it defined my identity – the competition, the physicality, the brotherhood. I was building towards something significant on the pitch.

Then my body started breaking down.

Multiple concussions. Cartilage damage in my knee. Each incident chipping away at my future on the field. But I kept pushing, kept playing, convinced I could manage it.

Then came the final blow: a corporate five-a-side league game. Something that should have been casual, fun even. Instead, I ruptured my patella tendon – a brutal injury that stemmed from the damage years of rugby had already done. Twenty-five staples to put it back together. And just like that, any promising return to rugby was over.

I was done.

Whilst my body was falling apart, I was starting my career in finance. Five years in corporate tax at PwC, then moving into funds at Gen II – where I still work today. The finance world demands mental sharpness and long hours, but I was dealing with chronic pain, the lingering effects of head trauma, and the psychological weight of losing the sport that had defined me.

By my early twenties, I was facing a future I hadn’t planned for: no more rugby, persistent pain, brain fog, and the very real possibility that things would only get worse from here.

The Dark Part Nobody Talks About

Losing rugby wasn’t just losing a sport. It was losing my identity overnight.

The depression hit hard. So did the anxiety. I was in my early twenties, watching peers progress in their athletic careers whilst I could barely walk up stairs without wincing. The finance world demanded I show up sharp and focused, but my body – and increasingly, my mind – weren’t cooperating.

This is the part that doesn’t make it into fitness transformation stories. The psychological toll of injury. The identity crisis of losing the thing that defined you. The mental health spiral that rehabilitation protocols don’t address.

I tried to push through. That’s what we’re taught to do, right? Tough it out. Mind over matter.

That approach nearly destroyed me.

The Decision

At some point, I made a choice: I could accept this trajectory – chronic pain, cognitive decline, diminishing function – or I could treat my recovery like I’d treat a complex problem at work.

Research. Test. Measure. Adjust. Repeat.

I started following people who had been through similar journeys. Former athletes dealing with career-ending injuries. Professionals managing chronic pain. People who had experimented and documented what worked. I absorbed their surface-level insights, then dove deeper – asking my physio questions, connecting dots between different approaches, testing what resonated.

I wasn’t reading peer-reviewed research papers or pretending to be a scientist. I was learning from people who had lived it, filtering their advice through my own experience, and experimenting systematically with what made sense for my situation.

Then I started testing.

The Experiments

Over the past six years, I’ve tried just about everything:

Diet protocols: Keto. Paleo. Intermittent fasting. Week-long fasts that were probably unnecessary but taught me a lot. Dirty bulking phases that destroyed my progress and taught me even more about what NOT to do. If there’s a diet protocol out there, I’ve probably tested it.

Supplementation: Countless stacks and formulas. Joint recovery protocols. Nootropics for cognitive function. Herbal supplements for mood and anxiety. Multiple combinations, different dosing strategies, various timing approaches. Some worked. Many didn’t. All of them taught me something.

Training approaches: Learning to build muscle without destroying what’s left of my joints. Finding the balance between stimulus and recovery. Accepting that ego has no place in sustainable training.

Recovery protocols: Sleep optimisation. Stress management. The unglamorous work of actually listening to your body instead of overriding its signals.

I approached it like I approached portfolios in finance – with analytical rigour, healthy scepticism, and meticulous note-taking.

What I Learned

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: I haven’t “solved” anything.

My knees aren’t perfect. I still deal with pain. The concussion effects linger. I’m not standing here claiming I’ve discovered the secret formula that fixes everything.

But I’m miles ahead of where I was three years ago. And I’m improving every month.

What I’ve learned is this: optimisation isn’t a destination. It’s a process. It’s listening to your body, testing protocols long enough to know if they work, tracking what actually changes (not just what you hope changes), and being honest about the results – even when they’re disappointing.

Most importantly, I’ve learned that listening to your body often tells you more than any spreadsheet. Joint pain levels. Recovery quality. Mental clarity. How you actually feel. That’s the data that counts.

Comprehensive biomarker tracking is on my roadmap as resources allow, but the fundamentals work without a lab full of expensive tests.

Why Document This?

Because I wish someone had documented their journey when I was at my lowest point.

The fitness industry is full of people selling certainty. Perfect systems. Guaranteed results. “I figured it all out, now buy my programme.”

That’s not reality. Reality is messy. It’s trial and error. It’s protocols that work for six months and then stop working. It’s expensive supplements that do nothing. It’s cheap interventions that change everything.

Biohack Boardroom is the honest documentation of one person’s optimisation journey. What I’m testing. What’s working. What’s failing. The lessons learnt along the way.

I’m not a scientist. I’m not a medical professional. I’m not claiming expertise.

I’m a 28-year-old former athlete and finance professional who refused to accept decline and decided to experiment systematically. That’s it.

Who This Is For

This is for the former athlete whose body betrayed them.

This is for the finance professional juggling demanding hours whilst managing chronic pain. For the person who needs to show up sharp in morning meetings despite waking up in pain. For anyone trying to meal prep on Sundays because the weekdays are too brutal to think about nutrition.

This is for professionals who want protocols that actually fit into a 60-hour work week. No elaborate meal plans requiring three hours of daily cooking. No training routines that assume you have unlimited energy. Real, practical approaches for people with demanding careers.

This is for anyone dealing with the invisible struggles – the joint issues, the brain fog, the mental health battles that come with physical setbacks – whilst trying to perform at a high level professionally.

This is for people tired of fitness influencers selling perfect solutions and pseudo-science.

If you’re willing to experiment, think critically, and accept that optimisation is a process (not a product), you’re in the right place.

What’s Next

I’ll be sharing everything I’m testing in real-time. The supplement protocols. The training approaches. The diet strategies that actually work when you’re working 60-hour weeks. The meal prep systems. The recovery methods. The wins and the expensive failures.

Some posts will be tactical (“Here’s my current Sunday meal prep that gets me through the week”). Some will be about balancing demanding finance work with recovery protocols (“How I manage training around quarterly closes”). All will be honest.

I’m not here to sell you certainty. I’m here to document what it’s like to optimise your body whilst maintaining a demanding career in finance.

If you’re trying to build muscle, manage pain, and show up sharp for work every day, this is for you.

Welcome to Biohack Boardroom. Welcome to the optimisation process.

Let’s figure this out together.

Want to follow along? Get the free protocol here.