How well you recover from chest-wall surgery is decided in the weeks before it. The complete, cited prehab program to walk in ready.
Joined by 1,000+ people fixing their chest without surgery, since 2015
What you build before the operation decides how fast you get back after it.
Most people get a surgery date, a fasting sheet and a wave of anxiety, and nothing on how to physically prepare. Yet the fitter and better-prepped you arrive, the smoother the first weeks go.
Fitter in.
Faster out.
Going into surgery measurably fitter means a faster recovery with fewer complications. That is why enhanced-recovery (ERAS) pathways exist. This program is that discipline, organised for chest-wall repair and fully cited.
Read them by rating, or by what people actually got out of it - the transformations, the honest reviews, and the messages that land in my inbox every week.
across 12 rated statements
500+ reviews collected since 2015. Open a bar, a tag or a condition to read the published ones.
What the 4.9 is made of
17 published statements · 500+ collected since 2015
Had the flare since i was about 14 and just assumed that was my ribcage, permanently. Brace plus the breathing drills and my mrs asked when i'd lost weight. I hadn't lost anything, it's just the ribs sitting where they should now.
DanielRib Flare27
Rib Flare BraceUK 🇬🇧
didnt know you could be breathing wrong for 21 years. thats the whole thing right there. flare started going down on its own once i stopped breathing into my shoulders, which is not what i paid for but ill take it
benjiRib Flare21
Rib Flare CourseUSA 🇺🇸
ive bought like four programs for this over the years and quit every one of them by week two. finished this one. i think its cus you cant move on until you can actually hold the position, so theres never that thing where you're guessing if youre ready or not
MateoRib Flare23
Rib Flare CourseUSA 🇺🇸
I went in wanting to debunk it, honestly. Started opening the citations one at a time and they were real papers that said what he said they said. That is a depressingly low bar and nowhere else online clears it.
SanderRib Flare34
Read the blogNetherlands 🇳🇱
read the blog for months before i actually did anything with it. no coach, no brace, just the stuff in the articles done properly. i feel a lot better now and the photos say the rest
DaniloPE
Read the blogCroatia 🇭🇷
Two months in and I've put on 3 kg of muscle. My chest doesn't cave the way it used to when I'm standing relaxed, and that alone was worth it.
MiloPE25
1-on-1 CoachingGermany 🇩🇪
first call he told me straight up itd take a year and id hate months 2 through 5. he was right about both lol. 12 months on and my PC is flat. took my shirt off at the beach in january without doing the whole towel thing
DimiPC19
1-on-1 CoachingAustralia 🇦🇺
the bell leaves a red ring on your chest the second you take it off, and nobody warns you about that. it fades within the hour and the skin has never been an issue since. 100% satisfied - the sternum sits higher than it has my whole life
PiotrPE25
Vacuum BellPoland 🇵🇱
the brace is made really good, i wear it under the t-shirt at school and nobody has noticed in 4 months. my mother was crying when we compare the photos. sorry for my english
NicoPC17
Pectus Carinatum BraceItaly 🇮🇹
He knows more about this than the two consultants I paid to see, which says more about them than it does about him. Showed my GP the 9 month photos and he asked me for the website. Half a star off because the time zones make the calls a nightmare from Ireland.
RuairíPE29
1-on-1 CoachingIreland 🇮🇪
watched the youtube for six years before i spent a single cent. bought the program, did it properly for 7 months, and the only thing i actually regret is the six years
TanePE26
PE Exercise ProgramNew Zealand 🇳🇿
My son is 15 and had started keeping a shirt on in the pool, which is how I worked out something was wrong in the first place, because he certainly wasn't going to tell me. He would never have stuck with the brace on his own. It was the fortnightly check-ins that did it - he didn't want to turn up with nothing to report. Six months now and the ridge has visibly come down. He swims without the shirt.
Noah's mumPC
Pectus Carinatum BraceUSA 🇺🇸
1 cm off the depth in eight months. I had this filed under things about my body that got decided before I was born, and I'd stopped thinking about it somewhere in my twenties, so being wrong about it has been a strange few months honestly.
VincentPE + Rib Flare36
France 🇫🇷
i did abs for two years thinking that was the fix. it was never going to be abs. three months of the brace plus actually learning how to exhale properly and its 1.5cm narrower down there
AlexRib Flare22
USA 🇺🇸
every doctor said come back when youre done growing, which is a mad thing to say to a 17 year old whos already miserable about it. did four months of training instead. 4kg on and my t shirts actually sit on something now
JakePE17
USA 🇺🇸
bump is 0.5cm down in 5 months. bro i genuinely thought this was gonna be bench press for a year, its like 80% breathing drills and posture stuff. wasnt what i signed up for but i cant argue with the tape measure
EliasPC16
Norway 🇳🇴
i was the skinny kid who kept his top on at the beach every single year. 6 months, 5kg heavier. took it off in ibiza this summer and genuinely forgot to be weird about it until we were leaving
CallumPE17
UK 🇬🇧
"Had the flare since i was about 14 and just assumed that was my ribcage, permanently. Brace plus the breathing drills and my mrs asked when i'd lost weight. I hadn't lost anything, it's just the ribs sitting where they should now."
"didnt know you could be breathing wrong for 21 years. thats the whole thing right there. flare started going down on its own once i stopped breathing into my shoulders, which is not what i paid for but ill take it"
"ive bought like four programs for this over the years and quit every one of them by week two. finished this one. i think its cus you cant move on until you can actually hold the position, so theres never that thing where you're guessing if youre ready or not"
"I went in wanting to debunk it, honestly. Started opening the citations one at a time and they were real papers that said what he said they said. That is a depressingly low bar and nowhere else online clears it."
"read the blog for months before i actually did anything with it. no coach, no brace, just the stuff in the articles done properly. i feel a lot better now and the photos say the rest"
"Two months in and I've put on 3 kg of muscle. My chest doesn't cave the way it used to when I'm standing relaxed, and that alone was worth it."
"first call he told me straight up itd take a year and id hate months 2 through 5. he was right about both lol. 12 months on and my PC is flat. took my shirt off at the beach in january without doing the whole towel thing"
"the bell leaves a red ring on your chest the second you take it off, and nobody warns you about that. it fades within the hour and the skin has never been an issue since. 100% satisfied - the sternum sits higher than it has my whole life"
"the brace is made really good, i wear it under the t-shirt at school and nobody has noticed in 4 months. my mother was crying when we compare the photos. sorry for my english"
"He knows more about this than the two consultants I paid to see, which says more about them than it does about him. Showed my GP the 9 month photos and he asked me for the website. Half a star off because the time zones make the calls a nightmare from Ireland."
"watched the youtube for six years before i spent a single cent. bought the program, did it properly for 7 months, and the only thing i actually regret is the six years"
"My son is 15 and had started keeping a shirt on in the pool, which is how I worked out something was wrong in the first place, because he certainly wasn't going to tell me. He would never have stuck with the brace on his own. It was the fortnightly check-ins that did it - he didn't want to turn up with nothing to report. Six months now and the ridge has visibly come down. He swims without the shirt."
Had the flare since i was about 14 and just assumed that was my ribcage, permanently. Brace plus the breathing drills and my mrs asked when i'd lost weight. I hadn't lost anything, it's just the ribs sitting where they should now.
Shared with each client's permission.
Did I help you with your pectus?
Share your before & after
Before
After
“I'm 32. Everything I ever read said the window on this shuts at 18 and after that you either get cut open or you live with it. Nine months, 5 kg on, 1 cm off the depth. Nobody is more annoyed about the wasted decade than me.”
Before
After
“came in skinny with a deep dip and ribs that stuck out at the bottom. six months, 4kg up. funny thing is nobody says anything about the dip, its the flare going down that people actually noticed”
Before
After
“The brace did the flare, the training did the rest. Seven months, 6 kg on, 1 cm off the depth. The part I wasn't ready for is that I now own shirts that fit, after about fifteen years of buying everything one size too big.”
Before
After“5 months, 4kg on. still there if i go looking for it. nobody else has said a word”
Before
After
Before
After
“I'm 52. I have both a ridge and a dip, which I'm told is unusual, and I've had the pair of them since I was a boy. Nine kilos off in five months and for the first time my chest looks like one chest. I did not expect to be sorting this out at my age, but there we are.”
Before
After
“3 months and 5kg later the ridge is sitting lower than its ever been. i was 100% convinced surgery was the only option, like id already looked up how much it costs and everything”
Before
After
“9 kilos in 6 months. the trick nobody tells you is you build the muscle around the ridge, then the ridge is not the first thing people see. before this i am buying only loose shirts, maybe 8 years like this”
Before
After
“before, the carinatum is the first thing i see in every photo of me. now i show someone and they must ask me where it is. i did not have any surgery, only the training”
Before
After
“Four months in and the side profile is the thing that changed. I used to clock myself in every shop window I walked past, at 30 years old, and I hadn't even noticed I was doing it until I stopped.”
Before
After“read the blog for months before i actually did anything with it. no coach, no brace, just the stuff in the articles done properly. i feel a lot better now and the photos say the rest”
Before
After“the bell leaves a red ring on your chest the second you take it off, and nobody warns you about that. it fades within the hour and the skin has never been an issue since. 100% satisfied - the sternum sits higher than it has my whole life”
PE pectus excavatum · PC pectus carinatum · RF rib flare
Drag each slider to compare.Tap any case to open and compare.Published only with the client's written consent.
Medically reviewed byProf. Dr. Mustafa Yüksel
Tap any message to read it full size. Instagram, Facebook, YouTube & TikTok comments, DMs, WhatsApp and email - real messages from real clients. Names and handles blurred, content untouched.
Case 01Case 02Case 03Case 04Case 05The four that come up most, answered the same way I would answer them on a call.
Take the 60-second quizPosture and breathing shift inside the first few weeks. Visible chest change is slower - in the case log above, Milo hit his at 2 months, Ian at 6. The programs run 16 weeks because that is how long it takes to show in the mirror.
Almost certainly not. The clients on this page were 22 to 32 when they started. Cartilage stiffens with age, so progress is slower, but slower is not stopped. Age changes the timeline, not whether it is worth doing.
Either works. Every program ships with a gym track and a no-equipment track for the same 16 weeks, and you can switch between them mid-program without losing your place.
No, and that matters. A sunken chest and a protruding chest need close to opposite work, and rib flare rides along with both. There is a separate program for each, if you are not sure which you have, the 60-second quiz sorts it out.
Read it once when the date is set, then live in the prehab plan and the strength program until surgery.
Get surgery-readyWhat your chest-wall repair does, what recovery will demand of you, and your prehab timeline, so the plan makes sense.
Breathing and lung prep, posture and back base, and cardio, the foundation that protects your recovery.
Nutrition and bone prep, stop smoking and alcohol, medical optimization, mindset, meditation and home setup.
The final week, the day before and what to pack, and the exact questions to ask your surgeon.
Fully cited, with a 4-phase prehab timeline, a pre-op packing checklist, and the exact questions to ask your surgeon.
I'm not writing this as a doctor looking at a scan. I had the sunken chest, the flared ribs, the shirt that stayed on at the pool, and nobody could tell me what actually works.
Years of consistent, non-surgical training made mine unnoticeable. Everything on this page exists because I needed it to exist ten years ago.
I tested all of it on my own body first, then refined it every time someone hit a wall I had not planned for.
Featured in Healthline · Level 5 DUKE Institute Certified Personal Trainer (ISSA) · Specialised in pectus excavatum, carinatum and rib flare.
Medically reviewed
I don't publish a clinical claim until Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yüksel, MD has checked it
Thoracic surgeon, founder of the Chest Wall International Group
You can't skip the operation, but you decide what state you arrive in. That's the one part of this that's fully in your hands.
This program never overrides your surgeon, anesthetist or physiotherapist. Their instructions, and your fasting and medication rules, always come first.
No waiting on a reply, no onboarding call, nothing to install.
The full prehab program, yours for life, for a fraction of a single physio session. Read it before your operation for the full benefit.
Try the whole thing for 30 days. Use it, and if it isn't what was described, message me for a full refund, no questions asked. The risk stays with me, not you.
Ideally 6–8 weeks out, but any prep window helps. Start the breathing work the day you read it, fluency with it is what protects your lungs after the operation. Even a short runway lets you optimise nutrition, sleep, posture and mindset.
It’s education built around the principles of modern enhanced-recovery (ERAS) prehab, and every recommendation defers to your surgical team. Clear the exercises, supplements and decisions with your surgeon, anesthetist and physiotherapist first, their instructions and your fasting/medication rules always override this guide.
No. The strength program includes gym and bodyweight options, and much of the highest-value work (breathing, posture, cardio, mindset, home setup) needs no equipment at all.
Prehabilitation and structured pre-operative preparation are associated with shorter stays, fewer pulmonary complications and smoother recoveries in the research. The fitness, breathing skill and posture you bring in shape the first weeks afterward.
The program applies broadly across chest-wall and rib-flare repair approaches. Use the surgeon-questions section to confirm anything specific to your operation and team.
Yes. You won’t build maximal fitness in two weeks, but the highest-value work fits any runway: breathing fluency, sleep, nutrition, home setup and the pre-op checklist. The program marks exactly what to prioritise when time is short.
Around 30–45 minutes: breathing practice, a short posture/mobility block, and cardio or strength on their scheduled days. The final week deliberately tapers, arriving rested matters more than one last workout.
The whole program is written to be surgeon-deferring, every recommendation is cited, nothing overrides your team, and it explicitly tells you what to clear with them. Many people bring the surgeon-questions section to their pre-op appointment; it reads as a prepared patient, not a difficult one.
That's between you and your surgical team, but it's a fair question, and rib flare is the most non-surgically responsive of the chest-wall issues. If your date isn't fixed yet, the Rib Flare Course covers the conservative route. If surgery is decided, this program makes sure you arrive prepared.
That might be the strongest reason to get it. The mindset, expectations and meditation sections exist because the anxious wait is often the hardest part, and the single best antidote is a concrete daily plan.
The final sections cover the first days and what to expect, but recovery is its own discipline, the Post-Surgery Rib Flare Recovery program is the dedicated, cited plan for the months afterward. They’re built to hand off to each other.
Straight away. The moment your payment clears, an email goes out with your link and the password that opens it — usually inside a minute. Read it on a phone, a tablet or a laptop; the password is typed once per device and then the page just opens. If it hasn't arrived in ten minutes, check spam, then message me and I'll send it over myself. Lifetime access, free updates, nothing to ship.
Thirty days, full refund, one email. You have an operation to get ready for and I'm not going to make you fight me for a refund on top of it.
Take the free 1-minute assessment and get a straight answer for your condition and severity.
Take the assessment →The chat bubble in the corner reaches me directly, ask anything about your case before you decide.
Try the whole thing. If it isn't right for your chest, every dollar comes back.
Start risk-free →The full prehab program for the weeks before rib-flare and chest-wall surgery. Walk in stronger, breathe easier afterward, and turn the anxious wait into a plan.
Get surgery-ready
P.S. If you've read this far, part of you has already decided. The only thing you can lose by trying is the version of next year where nothing changed. - Mihail
