Boom! This is Books & Biceps #313!

Welcome to our hundreds of new readers and a special shout out to everyone who joined our Premium Flex Reading Community 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 is brought to you by our Top Flight Title Sponsor: SFH

SFH: Stronger. Faster. Healthier.

Do you want a whey protein powder that can also give you an energy boost for your workouts? Check out SFH! Their FUEL WHEY PROTEIN is a heavy-hitting protein supplement that provides natural and sustained energy with a powerful combination of Whey Concentrate, Coconut Fat (MCTs), and Apple Pectin. Yessir, all that in a delicious powder. Try SFH and as a Books & Biceps reader you get 15% OFF INSTANTLY using the code word “BICEPS” in the store.

Support Books & Biceps, VISIT THE SFH SITE and try it! Every click and order supports this newsletter. And you get jacked. Win-win!

BOOKS

All Our Waves Are Water: Stumbling Toward Enlightenment and the Perfect Ride by: Jaimal Yogis

Sometimes you find a book. Sometimes a book finds you. Cheesy? Maybe. But for those of us who have bought a random book on a whim, only to have that book leave a lasting impact, well…. there’s no other way to describe it. And that’s what happened to me with All Our Waves Are Water. I was cruising the bookstore a few summers back to grab a few new reads for an upcoming trip and this cover caught my eye.

Something about the slumped surfer and slashing script and the wave…it grabbed me. I also happen to love adventure memoirs and surfing books and since I’d come across Yogis’ writing before, I grabbed it.

This book is part Shoe Dog, which I wrote about here, part surf memoir like Barbarian Days and part spiritual adventure.

Yogis is an excellent storyteller and in about 250 pages he takes us to the Himalayas, San Francisco, New York City, Indonesia, Washington, D.C., Bali, Jerusalem and more. It’s like he’s lived ten lives in one… and now he’s a dad/writer/teacher/children’s book author raising three super active kids who play hoops, surf and more. Basically, a relatable dude who I’ve come to know a bit through social media.

This book is different and unique in all the right ways and with summer ending, if you’re looking for a read to take you out of your day-to-day and make you think about travel, life, spirituality, happiness and, yup, surfing, then give this a shot.

👉 Tired of having nobody to talk awesome books with? Looking for book recs not curated by literature dorks who can’t bench a broom stick? Bored with looking at “Top 10 Reading” lists and thinking “these are all lame”?

If you’re nodding “hell yes”to these questions then the Books & Biceps Premium Flex membership solves all your sophisticated meathead reading problems at once. Learn more here!

BICEPS

When my nephew was a little guy he'd hang out at our house and if I was working out, he’d do a few kid push-ups next to me in the garage gym (Flex Factory 1.0) or I’d give him some bands to mess around with.

Cut to today and he's a not-so-little guy who just crushed his first powerlifting competition with some huge numbers.

As an uncle and dad, you never know which little kids in your life are going to see you or others around them in the weight room lifting heavy stuff and think, “I’d like to do that.”

As anyone who coaches or has kids or nieces and nephews or students can tell you, some stuff sticks and some stuff doesn’t. You can’t force a kid to be into what you’re into…. BUT when it happens, it’s awesome.

My nephew was a hockey player who got into lifting seriously at the end of high school and college. Then he got REALLY into lifting the last few years and set a goal to enter a power lifting competition in 2024.

I’ve been watching his progress regularly, from learning proper technique on deadlifts and squats to the first time his bench cleared 275 and 300 and then, of course, the big one, surpassing the family bench press record held by yours truly haha!

Then this weekend I had the honor of watching him compete and he dominated every event, capping things off with a massive 551 deadlift at 229 pounds.

He’s just out of college with his sights set on much bigger numbers in the future. And man… he made me a super proud meathead uncle:

QUICK FLEXES

It’s finally that glorious Hard Knocks time of year!

Enjoy my column that’s been viewed nearly a million times:

The Books & Biceps and Flex Factory Store is UPDATED!

Ever since I started writing Books & Biceps I’ve been hit up by a ton of sports apparel and fitness brands for affiliate and sponsor deals and none of them felt right…

I didn’t want to come on here and hustle somebody else’s tees or gear. That’s not who we are. We’re our own crew… We deserve our own stuff.

And after months and months of planning and revamping, the new version is here.

Our flagship shirt is this Books & Biceps tee (my personal favorite, I could live in this thing):

IMPORTANT NOTE: These aren’t the crappy, itchy, bulky Hanes-beefy Tees or shirts that a credit card would give away at a hockey game… These are high quality, super soft, athletic-cut tees…

I’ve been wearing them around for months. I’ve coached in them. Lifted in them. Taken meetings in them. They look and feel phenomenal.

For a size reference, I’m 5’11”, 200 pounds and the shirts in these picture are all Larges. I like the shirts a little tight (gun show, obviously) and slim, but the XLs I have fit fine as well, they’re just a little long on me.

The store is so dope: You can grab weight room water bottles and meathead mugs…

Or grab this AWESOME official Books & Biceps “Thirst for Knowledge Glass”:

Also, when you visit the store, please enjoy reading the product descriptions. I had a lot of fun with them haha. Will be adding new drops every few weeks so stay tuned…

—> GET 10% OFF AT CHECKOUT WITH THE CODE WORD: ‘BICEPS’

BONUS:

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

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:

🔥🔥🔥If you want to start your own newsletter, I can’t recommend Beehiiv enough (the platform I use to write Books & Biceps):

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

5 Problems Solved When You Join the Premium Flex Reading Community

When you join the world’s greatest reading crew for sophisticated meatheads, you:

1. No longer have to worry about what book you’re going to read this month. I’ve got you covered with our Big Read of the Month Book Club.

2. Don’t have to read solo, with nobody to talk about how bad ass the book is because you unlock access to the Premium Flex Daily Teams Community, where dudes talk about our books daily.

3. Get a little accountability to read more, with my personal breakdowns of what we’re reading each week, exclusive author Q&As, inside writer-insight and more.

4. Double your Books & Biceps weekly issues with enrollment in the Premium Flex Tuesday Newsletter (that’s 104 B&B Issues/year!)

5. Gain early access to my book announcements and releases, as well as exclusive giveaways, Q&As, swag and you get the FULL ARCHIVE of my Meathead Media books for free.