This is Books & Biceps #304!

Welcome to our hundreds of new readers and a special shout out to everyone who upgraded to a Premium Flex Membership this week!

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. 

Today’s issue of Books & Biceps is brought to you by La Touraine Watches, a company owned and run by two B&B Premium Flex members, Dave and Ben.

A few weeks ago we ran our 1st watch giveaway and it felt so good to send our first winner (Mark from North Carolina) his Subnautica watch that we’re running the contest back!

This time we’re giving away the Cartographer, which is the exact watch I wear! I love this timepiece. It’s sharp, light, easy to write with (doesn’t dig into your wrist) and can handle a quick adventure or hike outside.

How do you win? Couldn’t be easier:

All you have to do is upgrade to a Premium Flex Membership by midnight on Father’s Day and you’re automatically entered to win!

BONUS: You ALSO get an extra 15% off with the Special Father’s Day rate

And thank you! I got some great feedback from many of you about the upgrade page (it was a little confusing) and I appreciate that.

Please check out the new & improved Upgrade Page and become a Premium Flex Member here!

BOOKS

Everyone who knows me personally says this short story, The Night the Legend of the Driveway was Born, is the best thing I’ve ever written. Better than Macho Man. Better than 1996. Even better than my column on classic ESPN that’s been read by over 10M people. Of the thousands and thousands of pages I’ve written, these dozen or so stand alone. It was even given a notable mention in the hallowed pages of the Best American Sports Writing Anthology.

And the thing is, I think I agree with everyone.

There are a few reasons:

1) This is a TRUE STORY. Every single word of it. I promise. As you read it, you may not believe that because it is such a magical event, but I give you my word, every bit of it is true.

2) This story is about three people: my father, my brother and me. It’s simple. It’s timeless. It’s about a bond between a father and his sons.

3) It’s relatable. If you’ve ever shot hoops in your driveway with your dad, you will understand the magnitude of this story and why it matters. You’ll get it. You’ll feel it in your bones.

4) The athletic feat that I chronicle in this story is genuinely extraordinary - a once-in-a-lifetime event that I still can’t believe happened.

It’s the perfect Father’s Day read and it’s yours, free to download, here. After you read it, I’d love to hear what you think by replying to this e-mail:

👉 Reminder: Premium Flex Members are currently reading First Blood by David Morrell as our Big Read of the Month, with cool discussion about the book, movie and other awesome action novels in the B&B Community Teams chat group. You can join us here.

BICEPS

I’ve been struggling with leg day because, in four words: I don’t like it.

I’m fine running. I’m fine sprinting. I’m fine jump roping or slam balling and I like doing the hex bar deadlift…

But dedicating an entire workout to lifting legs? Man, I can’t get myself to do it anymore. I’m forcing myself to do a mini-version of it because the benefits are undeniable, but I like lifting upper body 10x more than legs.

Then, the other day, I had an epiphany: what if I don’t like leg day because I’m bored: deadlifts, squats, blah, blah…

I did some research and my man Jeff Cavaliere at Athlean-X put together what he calls the “PERFECT Leg Workout”, which he discusses in this video:

I like this workout for a bunch of reasons, mostly because it’s got a lot of different movements built for athletes, not powerlifters. Also, many of the sets only go to 2 or 3, and in total, you work your entire range of motion.

Some of the movements, as you’ll see, are a little more complicated, so you may need to Google how they’re done (like the hip band ladder finisher).

I’m going to try this on Saturday. I’ll let you know how it goes!

QUICK FLEXES

One of my personal favorite sporting events is about to start:

The Olympic Swimming Trials in Indianapolis.

The Olympics are obviously the #1 swimming event we have, but Trials are a close second for me. The men and women battling it out to achieve their dream of becoming an Olympian makes for some legendary swims and gut wrenching losses. It’s must-watch for me and it inspired one of my most popular columns ever:

Okay Books & Biceps crew, the personal library gauntlet has been thrown down by reader Michael Eades. 

Michael is an M.D., blogger, golfer and author of 10 books on health and nutrition, many of which focus on the power of protein. He also writes an excellent newsletter here on Beehiiv called The Arrow, which you can subscribe to here.

And in addition to all that, Michael shared a photo of his home library with us and it puts mine, and I’m sure many of yours, to shame. Look at this beauty:

In Michael’s own words: “Here is our main library. It contains about 4,000 books on four walls. We have another 1,000 or so in our office library and another 1,300 on kindle.”

If you’re keeping track, that’s 5,000 printed and 1,300 e-books.

Can anyone in the Books & Biceps crew beat this? Would love to see it!

If you have a cool home library or even great book shelf and you want to share it, I’ll gladly post it in here. Be fun to see what we’ve all got!

TREAT YOURSELF TO

A FATHER’S DAY GIFT!

Have you grabbed your Books & Biceps shirt yet? Check out this shirt and more at our OFFICIAL FLEX FACTORY SHOP!

You know that favorite tee 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.

We’ve also got tank tops, water bottles and our #2 bestseller (behind the B&B Official T-Shirt), the Books & Biceps Thirst for Knowledge Glass😀 

Want the official shirt? Want the official glass? Get’em both here!

Use the CODE “BICEPS” at Checkout to get 10% OFF FOR FATHER’S DAY:

Time 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) Love audiobooks? Want to try audiobooks? Thinking of joining Audible?

→ USE THIS LINK for an awesome Audible Premium Deal

2) Post-Jym is my favorite post-workout drink and I’ve been using it for years. It was developed by my old friend at Muscle & Fitness, Jim Stoppani. BCAAs. Creatine. Beta Alanine. Glutamine. Everything you need in awesome flavors (my favorite is Watermelon).

→ USE THIS LINK and Code: JONBICEPS for 10% OFF Every Purchase

3) If you love reading this newsletter and you’ve thought of starting your own, I can’t recommend using Beehiiv enough. I have tried almost every single platform out there and nothing, and I mean nothing, comes close to how good Beehiiv is! Features. Service. Ease of use. All of it!

→ USE THIS LINK to try Beehiiv and you won’t regret it!

4) I’ve never been a “mindfulness” guy mainly because nearly all the content around it and the people writing about it are so boring and bland that it’s never held any appeal… But I recently started reading Doug’s Newsletter, which asks you to slow down, laugh and relax, while discussing everything from cereal boxes to hockey to memes.

Give it a shot, it’s a fun 5-minute read once a week.

5) Do you run a start-up? Have you ever wondered what tools and tactics the best founders use? This newsletter, Big Desk Energy, gives you deep insight into the ins, outs, dos, don’ts and definitely don’ts when it comes to starting a company - all with a little humor involved. Check it out.

6) 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:

Thank you all for reading! Stay Strong! - Jon

PS: Don’t forget that you can win an AWESOME LA TOURAINE WATCH FOR FATHER’S DAY if you upgrade to a Premium Flex Membership today!

Lowest price. Sweetest free gift. Awesome community. Don’t miss out:

BONUS: Have you read these greatest hits?

1) This feature has been read by more than 10 MILLION PEOPLE:

How ESPN’s SportsCenter United a Generation in the 90s

2) This breakdown of iconic author Lee Child’s success was read by over 4 MILLION:

Did you know Lee Child started his Jack Reacher literary empire with $6?

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

/