Boom! This is Books & Biceps #361!

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If you’re a new subscriber you’ll love this profile that the New Yorker ran on us.

Today’s Issue is brought to you by the Summer 2025 ‘Read More, Lift More’ Challenge!

Every summer we take on a ‘Read More, Lift More’ Challenge, where we pair one phenomenal book with 30 workouts inspired by the book along with quotes and commentary. This summer, we’re working off of Alfred Lansing’s brilliant New York Times Bestseller, Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage. This book is one of the most popular B&B recs of all time and it follows an insane failed attempt to get to the South Pole in 1914, followed by a heroic, mind boggling rescue mission through a thousand miles of pack ice, on foot and makeshift boats. You will never forget this read.

Following the challenge is simple:

📚 You read 10 pages a day
💪 You do one Finkel-designed workout inspired by those pages
🧠 You get a daily quote from the book matching the section you just read, chosen by me, and a Meathead Motivation thought from me to keep your mindset locked in.

We start on August 1st. By September 1st you’ll be in better shape with a great book under your belt. You in? You ready? Let’s gooooooo!!!

P.S.: Order now and you get a FREE Printable Challenge Tracker

I was watching some of the MLB All-Star Game and Home Run Derby this week with my son (shout out to all-time great nickname winner, Cal Raleigh, AKA, Big Dumper) and it reminded me that a few readers had asked for my favorite baseball biographies at the start of the season and I hadn’t gotten around to sharing them.

So many popped into my head, many of which I’ve recommended here over the years.

The ones that jumped out instantly were:

Howard Bryant’s Hank Aaron biography AND his Rickey Henderson biography. Leigh Montville’s Ted Williams bio. Jane Leavy’s Babe Ruth bio. Jonathan Eig’s book on Jackie Robinson... There are so many choices that it’s hard to land on just one, but two kept rising to the top so I figured I’d share them both:

Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero by David Maraniss

Everyone who saw Roberto Clemente play live said that watching him in the outfield was as much an exercise in enjoying his artistry as it was his athleticism. He didn’t run so much as glide through the grass. His throwing motion was violent and beautiful. He was also the picture of dignity as a leader, winning two World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates all while being the Jackie Robinson of the Spanish speaking world.

Maraniss does a phenomenal job digging behind Clemente’s incredible baseball numbers to help you understand who he was as a person - and shares how a kid born in rural Puerto Rico became the greatest Latino baseball star of his era.

Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy by Jane Leavy

Jane Leavy is one of the all-time greatest sports biographers. She’s written definitive biographies of Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth and Sandy Koufax. I love them all, but I read Koufax first and in a way, he’s the most fascinating of the three athletes, which is why it’s my favorite.

Leavy dives into a long-forgotten baseball era where players had no freedom and even someone of Koufax’s caliber could get stuck in the minor leagues for what seemed like eons for payroll reasons and stubborn GMs. Fortunately, Koufax’s talent was undeniable and once he broke through with the Dodgers, there was no turning back.

In an injury-shortened career, he won three Cy Youngs, two World Series MVPs and became the most dominant left-handed pitcher of all time. And he did it all while dealing with the subtle (and often not subtle) anti-semitism of the 1960s.

A few months ago I was playing one-on-one hoops with my brother and afterwards we had a discussion about whether we could still grab the rim. I’m 5’11’, 195 pounds and 47 years old. I’d assumed my rim touching days were behind me, no matter how much I worked out.

I was wrong

That day, after an hour of hoops, I was able to get a few fingers over the rim.

How? I’m giving all the credit to the Knees Over Toes program I’ve been doing. I was shocked…

And here’s what’s even crazier. I was at the court with my son this weekend and I grabbed the rim. Not a full-on grab with the meat of my hand, but I curled most of my fingers over the top. Ludicrous.

I truly don’t think dunking is in the cards for me, but I have noticed that as I’ve moved up in weight with my KoT exercises, my legs have gotten stronger on the court and in the pool on flip turns and starts.

I know it may not seem like much to you, but check out that photo: I’m up to 75 pound slow eccentric front squats on slant boards now. That’s an eight-count controlled downward squat. A pause. Then exploding up. I started with no weight and could barely balance going down. I’d fall to the left or right.

Now I’m about to move up to 85 pounds next week. I believe that the split squat, the Poliquin Step-Up and the slow eccentric squat have been the big difference in my mobility and explosiveness. If you’re struggling with leg power and agility, start with those three exercises. Just body weight at first, 3 sets of 10. Then work your way up.

Dads dunking in slow motion on a floating basketball hoop is a straight fastball down the middle for us in terms of content. This video is solid gold. That these dudes have this contest every summer is even more legendary. Watch:

If you’re a dude over 40 and you’ve been looking for a new digital magazine that’s written for midlife men, by midlife men, on the topics that actually matter to us: family, fitness, fashion, finance, food & fun, then join 20K of us at Midlife Male. We have awesome cover stories on everyone from Laird Hamilton and Troy Aikman to CEOs, athletes and tremendous entrepreneurs living fulfilling lives.

I write a column every Tuesday called The Manologue. This week I tackled a topic near and dear to our hearts: driving during road trips. Check it out:

1 Book. 1 Month. 30 Workouts. 300 Pages.

Your August just got way more awesome! We start 8/1.

Join us and grab your Challenge here:

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