My Fellow Sophisticated Meatheads,

Thursday afternoon we hit a major milestone: our crew is now 10,000 strong!

Now, I’m not going to write something like, “I never thought we’d get this big” because I’ve always believed we would. In fact, I think we’re poised to 10x this and blow past 100,000 one day in the near future.

Buuuut… I’d also like to savor the moment. I sent the first issue of this newsletter to about 35 people or so, all family and friends. I think maybe 7 opened it. Man, we’ve come a long way.

Since then I’ve recommended well over 250 books, shared 100s of workouts, landed about 40 exclusive author Q&As and published 4 books myself, not including the upcoming Macho Man biography. We even got our own profile in the New Yorker!

And now here we are, cruising past 10k and it’s all because of you.

Thank you for letting me into your crowded inbox every week and for ignoring all the “just circling back” and “quick reminder” emails to read Books & Biceps.

I’ve long said that we’re not just a newsletter, we’re a community - a community of readers and athletes that I’m damn proud of.

If an awesome B&B reader shared this with you, add your e-mail with the subscribe button below:

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.

BIG NEWS: The Macho Man Book Trailer is over 40,000 views! If you haven’t seen it yet, watch it here:

And don’t forget to pre-order Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage (out April 2nd). If you do, e-mail me a screen shot & I’ll send you a hologram sticker of the cover AND a signed book plate.

BOOKS

One Second After: A Novel by William Forstchen

Warning: If you read this book, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself researching things like “survival gear” and “hand crank battery” and “Life Straw” and almost anything associated with how to live if life as we know it ends.

One Second After will stick with you because the fictional events in it seem so possible, so plausible, even, that you can’t ignore them. The funny thing is that this book came out in 2009 (it’s been on my ‘to read’ pile for years)… long before Covid and the pandemic… and yet the author, William Forstchen, got nearly everything right about how modern humans behave in a time of crisis. Except there’s one huge difference…

The book is not about a virus or quarantines or anything like that.

The plot of the book goes like this:

Imagine you’re having your normal day. You work, you lift, you read Books & Biceps, you coach, you come home and then the electricity goes out. At first you think it’s just a normal outage, but nothing works: and it’s not just your TV, WiFi or lights like a regular issue with the power company… No. Your car won’t start. In fact, nearly every car on the road stops working at the exact same moment. Every piece of machinery with any electrical components stop working

Planes fall. Elevators stop. Everything everywhere with electricity is fried. In fact, all communication everywhere is down. For good.

One Second After begins one second after an EMP attack (3 nukes detonated in the atmosphere) on the United States that wipes out our entire power grid and destroys everything with solid state electronics.

Then the book chronicles what one man does to protect his family and community when there is a shortage of… well… everything.

The detail by Forstchen is stunning and you will think over and over how fragile we all are. Food. Medicine. Transportation. Communication. Finances. It can all be unplugged at any moment. And then what?

In the book, the characters are either on their own or left to rely on a hodgepodge of local organizers and leaders trying to organize the unorganizable. There’s martial law, riots, factions, food rations, citizens-turned-soldiers, kids learning survival skills, towns making alliances and on and on. It’s hard decision after hard decision and it’s a fascinating read that’s part game theory and part “what would happen if…?”

Like I said, the book resonates because it’s so easy to put yourself in the main character’s shoes and think, “What the hell would I do?”

So, yeah, I’ve grabbed a few “supplies” just in case. Not going full doomsday prepper, but I do have a few Life Straws that can purify 4,000 gallons of water from the lake behind my house if the water company goes off line forever. Haha!

This is a great, thought-provoking read.

BICEPS

I was recording a podcast promoting Macho Man and the subject of weight lifting in the 80s and 90s came up and I referenced Ronnie Coleman. The interviewer, who was much younger than me, hadn’t heard of the great “King” Coleman.

Arnold is obviously the most famous Mr. Olympia we’ve ever had and resonates to this day due to his film career and overall visibility, but Ronnie won more Sandows (he was an 8x winner) and was nothing short of a monster in the weight room.

Thousands of lifters who grew up reading about Ronnie’s feats still yell “Yeah Buddy!” and “Light Weight!” before going for a max lift. I was lucky enough to meet him a few times while writing for M&F and his underground lifting videos were the stuff of legend. In fact, I dug up one of my favorites for you.

If you need a little motivation before hitting the gym, these two minutes of power and pain will do it for you. Check out Ronnie’s famous attempt at squatting an insane 800 pounds - twice:

QUICK FLEXES

It’s easy to look at John Grisham now as one of the most successful authors of all time. But that wasn’t always the case. In fact, Grisham got so many rejections as a first time author he nearly quit.

If you loved A Time to Kill or The Firm or The Client or any of his recent books, you’ll want to read this:

CELEBRATE BOOKS & BICEPS REACHING 10,000 READERS…

WITH YOUR OWN OFFICIAL BOOKS & BICEPS TEE!

You know that favorite t-shirt you used to have? The one that's faded and comfy and that you could live in? This is that shirt! It shows that you're a fashion icon. A book lover. A gym rat. An absolute stud. Plus, we faded it and made it comfy for you... so you can actually live in it like people do in apocalypse movies. While flexing, of course.

To Celebrate Our 10,000 SUBS, use promo code ‘BICEPS’ to get 20% OFF:

How to Honor Our Meathead Agreement

In the gym there is an unspoken agreement that if a fellow dude needs a spot you jump in and help, one meathead to another.

If you enjoy reading this newsletter every week, let’s spot each other.

Let’s consider my writing and sending each issue of Books & Biceps my spotting you the best books, interviews and meathead content around.

Your spot to me is that you share this issue with ONE person who you think would like it.

That’s the deal. I spot you. You spot me. Just like the gym. Thanks!

Here’s your personal sharing link to get free stuff for every share:

STRONG LINKS:

1) Forget the State of the Union. Forget politics. The only conversation I want to have about American Presidents is this: Which one was the most athletic?

I was so curious about this, in fact, that I wrote a book about it called Jocks in Chief: The Ultimate Countdown Ranking the Most Athletic Presidents, from the Fight Crazy to the Spectacularly Lazy

The book was endorsed by everyone from the New York Post to Muscle & Fitness. And I was even flown to appear on CBS: This Morning to talk about it live on air. The book is zero politics, only sports. I mean, look at the cover:

If you’re interested in the only book that ranks every single president athletically, this one is for you. Buy it here.

2) 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.

3) I know squats, not stocks. I know the QB option, not trading options. I could make more bad analogies, but I won’t. What I will do is share the link to the Bullseye Trades email written every week by world-famous 20-year trading veteran Jeff Bishop. If you’re into getting daily hot stock ideas and learning options trading strategies, this email is for you. Subscribe here.

4) Readers always ask me what supplements I take or what pre-workouts and protein powder I use. I’ve been using the same brand since they launched about a decade ago: Jym Supplements. I’ve known the owner and founder for fifteen years and it’s the best tasting, highest quality stuff around. Try my favorite pre-workout (Blue Arctic Freeze) and protein powder (S’mores) here.

Thank you all for reading and have a phenomenal weekend!

And don’t forget to buy Macho Man! - Jon

PS: We have ONE Books & Biceps sponsorship slots open for the last week in MARCH!

If you’d like to reach our awesome sophisticated meathead community of nearly 10,000 readers, respond to this e-mail today!

PPS: Hey Gus and Mallory! Thanks for reading the whole thing! No skimming!