You are reading Books & Biceps #291

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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.

Don’t miss the official Macho Man BOOK UNBOXING VIDEO. I was mid-workout in the Flex Factory when the package arrived this week and I had to stop and open it. This moment was 18 months in the making:

Man… that felt goooood!

FACT: Right now we’re sitting at #2 on the wrestling charts behind Becky Lynch’s autobiography. You know what that means?

It means that in order to be the man, we have to beat The Man!

LET’S DO THIS! If you read Books & Biceps most weeks, now’s the time to make your Macho move. Let’s get to #1 together!

BONUS: E-mail me a screen shot of your order & I’ll send you a hologram sticker of the cover AND a signed book plate. 

BOOKS

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson

To give you a taste of how long my “to-read” list is, this book came out in 2008 and I considered it a must-read… which I finally got to in 2024. Why now?

One word: Oppenheimer. While there was a time in my life when I’d have seen a movie like Oppenheimer on opening weekend, these days with work, family, kids, coaching, writing, lifting, streaming, etc… I happened to get around to watching it last week before the Oscars (note: it was the only nominated movie I saw in any category).

Of course, in a total dad-on-his-couch move I watched it in three parts over two nights and didn’t get the whole big screen, locked-in experience, which certainly would have helped my “this is really good but too slow and too long” first reaction.

Either way, I found the scenes where Oppenheimer’s path crossed with Einstein’s the most curious and as I Googled a little more it hit me:

Time to read Walter Isaacson’s masterpiece!

I’m 100 pages in and just about everything I thought I knew about Einstein was wrong. The most glaring of which was his complete and abject failure at landing a coveted job as an assistant science professor after finishing school.

Much like the story about Michael Jordan getting cut from his high school hoops team as a sophomore, there are dozens and dozens of professors and schools throughout Europe in 1900 who rejected the great Albert Einstein for their faculty. It’s remarkable to read knowing what we know now… But for 2 full years science departments from Germany to Switzerland saw the name Albert Einstein on an application and said, “nah, that guy’s not qualified.”

In order to make ends meet, Einstein took to private tutoring, borrowing money and taking any odd teaching fill-in position he could find.

In fact, his famous job as a Swiss Patent Clerk wasn’t some menial job he fell into. He NEEDED that job and it took a friend of his with connections to make sure he landed it. THEN, in perhaps the most creative, earth-changing, double dipping side hustle in history, Einstein figured out how to do most of the work for his job in just a few hours a week… Leaving him time to tinker, study, write and develop a little thing called The Theory of Relativity among a slew of papers that would turn the scientific world upside down.

If you’ve ever been even remotely interested in Einstein, this book is worth a read. He was as much a philosopher and original thinker about life and humans as he was about science.

And a little known fact: in his early years, Einstein was a big hiker. He’d even go on all night hikes into the Alps so that he and his friends could see the sunrise from the top of the mountains. Even one of the smartest dudes alive had a little meathead in him. He 100% would have been a Books & Biceps reader.

Buy it here.

BICEPS

Up until a few months ago I’d never heard of the term “hybrid athlete”. And then a guy named Nick Bare, an ex Army Ranger / supplement company entrepreneur, began showing up in my social media feeds.

The dude is impressive: He’s built like a truck, has competed in Iron Mans and most recently ran a marathon in a ludicrously fast 2:39:00. Oh, he also ran the race around 200 pounds, which brings me back to the concept of a hybrid athlete.

For Nick, it means training for distance running, while maintaining a high level of muscle mass, lifting regularly and not sacrificing strength. Basically, staying jacked while having a high endurance threshold. His routine is impressive: morning distance runs, afternoon lifts… all while running a massive company.

I’ve been adopting some of his habits to test them out and so far I like the results. I’ve increased my protein intake, included shorter cardio sessions a few times a week as a second workout (1,000 yard swims or 2-mile runs on lifting days - things that take less than 20 minutes) and it’s been great.

Check out the short video above and scroll through the other videos on his YouTube page. He’s an inspiring guy.

QUICK FLEXES

Out of Sight. Jackie Brown. Get Shorty. 3:10 to Yuma. Killshot. Justified. These are just a few of Elmore Leonards’ books that have been turned into movies or TV shows.

What I’m getting at is if you haven’t read Elmore Leonard’s books, you have 100% watched the content based on them.

But Leonard’s path to becoming one of Hollywood’s most reliable and lucrative authors was difficult and required a remarkable shift in focus mid-career. You’ll want to read this:

Your Guaranteed Feel-Good Dad Story of the Day:

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) I only run twice a week. I run a 5k every Sunday and run sprints or a short 1-2 mile jog during the week. But I’ve become interested in learning about the mechanics of running, prepping for races and more. This newsletter, The Rundown shares unique stories as well as stretches, nutrition tips and even cool upcoming races you might be interested in. You can join 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

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PPS: You still reading Gus and Mallory? Thanks for getting through the whole thing! No skimming!