You are reading Books & Biceps #285!

Welcome to the 754 (yeah, we had a big week) new sophisticated meatheads joining us this issue. By the time you read this, our crew will be at about 7,000 readers. Insane.

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If you’re a new subscriber or missed my yearly book round-up, “The 15 Most Memorable Books I Read in 2023”, you can read it here.

BOOKS

Bare Knuckle: Bobby Gunn, 71-0 Undefeated. A Dad. A Dream. A Fight Like You’ve Never Seen by Stayton Bonner

This book has crossed my path several times this week from a bunch of different angles and whenever that happens, I take it as a sign from the literary Gods that I should buy it ASAP.

First, the title and cover are awesome, like a still from a documentary or first-person virtual video game where you’re in the ring about to take a quick left hook to the chin from a locked and loaded Bobby Gunn.

Second, Bobby Gunn. As soon as I saw the cover I knew I recognized the man and the name, but it took me a minute to realize he was the guy who fought a 48-year-old Roy Jones Jr. a while back:

Gunn was a cruiserweight who had a few title shots but never won a belt. I vaguely remembered hearing that he was a bare knuckle fighter, but I had no idea he was a legend: an undefeated bare knuckle champion whose dad made him start beating people up when he was eleven years old. Yeah. Eleven.

This began an adolescence far different from the average teen. Instead of homework and science projects, Gunn fought grown men outside of biker bars, at motels, in Tijuana and on the streets of Vegas. His fights were gambled on by mobsters and criminals. He was a legitimate tough guy by age 13 and making thousands a night in underground street fights by his twenties…

The award-winning article that the book is based on was written by Stayton Bonner (also the book’s author) for Men’s Journal and it’s phenomenal, with great passages like this about Gunn fighting a Marine to keep his undefeated streak alive, at age 41:

…Gunn seems relaxed. He throws fewer punches — sharp jabs, mostly to the body — but his land. After just 90 seconds, he shoots a quick left hook to the stomach, a right hook to the kidney, and a devastating deep left hook straight to the heart. As his opponent doubles over, Gunn delivers a final jab, to the chin. The Marine goes down. "Get him up, get him up!" Gunn yells, jacked up now, marching back and forth.

On the ground, the Marine shakes his head. Gunn helps him up. "Good punch, dog," the guy says, and the men embrace. The fight is over. "I don't know if you ever took a sledgehammer to the face," the Marine later tells me. "But it was pretty equivalent to that. I'm actually surprised that my mouth is still moving."

If that got you pumped to read the book, buy it here.

BICEPS

Every month I give myself challenges inside my regular training to stay motivated. Even if the workouts are geared for a triathlon or ocean swim 3 or 4 months out, having mini 30 day goals keeps the intensity up.

This month I aimed to get my 1,000-yard freestyle under 14 minutes. I’m a sprinter and typically start all of my swim workouts with a 600, but lately I’ve changed it to 1,000 because most of the sprint triathlons I enter have a .5 mile swim and this covers that distance.

In early January I did the first timed 1,000 in about 14:50. So I figured if I could lob 5 seconds off every hundred… bang… that would be the 50 seconds I needed to get under 14 minutes. All I had to do was increase my kicking output and my pace and I’d get there.

As Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast, my friend.”

Kicking hard for a 1,000 is… um… hard.

I was on pace a bunch of times to break 14 but then my legs died in the back half and I missed it. I hit a few 14:15s… 14:10s… and a heartbreaking 14:02 last week.

My main training style was the old Fartlek interval method: 50 fast / 50 medium. I’d do that for the first 500 then go 75 fast / 25 medium for the last 500.

And it worked. This week: success. Shattered 14 minutes. Now onto sub-13!

QUICK FLEXES

Warrior might be the best sports movie of the last 15 years and maybe the best fighting movie in the last 25. The only other two in the discussion are Creed I and Creed II, though the nostalgia factor with Rocky probably gives Creed I the edge.

But if you’ve seen Warrior, you know it’s in the same discussion. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s on Netflix, so get on it. The movie is great for a million reasons, and Nick Nolte is brilliant, but the story brings about a fundamental fighting question:

Rage vs. Heart? What’s better? Here’s my column breaking it down:

DON’T JUST READ BOOKS & BICEPS, WEAR IT:

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Watch the video with SOUND UP. You’re gonna love the punchline in this one. My impression is getting dialed in for launch week. DIG IT!:

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How to Honor Our Meathead Agreement

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STRONG LINKS:

1) Is freelance writing one of your New Year’s resolutions? Have you always wanted to learn how to write for your favorite publications, blogs or magazines? My Freelance Fortune Course has you covered. Everything I’ve learned in 20 years of writing for the world’s biggest publications like: The New York Times, GQ, Men’s Health, Yahoo! Sports and more.

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Thank you all for reading.

Have a great weekend! - Jon

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PPS: Hey Gus! Thanks for reading the whole thing, buddy! No skimming!