Boom! Welcome to Books & Biceps, the only newsletter for sophisticated meatheads where I share weekly book recs, author interviews, workout motivation, random sports stuff and more. Forwarded this email? Join 30,000+ other readers here.

We have been on an absolute tear with incredible behind-the-book author interviews lately across so many of my favorite genres. A few weeks ago we talked to Craig Fehrman about his new history of Lewis & Clark, we talked hoops with 5x NY Times bestseller Shea Serrano, and last week we talked with former Marine and bestselling author, Matthew Betley about his awesome new thriller, The Council. Read it here.

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Heartland: A Forgotten Place, An Impossible Dream and the Miracle of Larry Bird by Keith O’Brien

I grew up in Massachusetts in the 80s and early 90s in a town about 40 miles west of the old Boston Garden. Larry Bird was king of the city by that point. I’d guess 80% of kids under twelve had a poster of him on their wall. He was Larry Legend. Or just Larry. Or just Bird.

There was no social media back then. I was too young to pay attention to the early SportsCenter years. For me, I’d follow the team by watching the first half of games because they were on too late and I’d read the Boston Globe sports section, where I’d see the still photos of Larry draining a three or diving for a loose ball and where I’d follow his games through Bob Ryan or Dan Shaughnessy or Jackie Mac and box scores.

I read his early autobiography with Bob Ryan, called Drive, which is still great. At that time in my life, I’d probably tell you I knew everything about Larry Bird and the Celtics.

I knew he want to Indiana State, which he talked about in Drive, but I didn’t know about Indiana, or the school, or much about French Lick, his home town, other than it made for a cool other nickname for Bird: The Hick from French Lick.

This is why I’m so pumped to read Keith O’Brien’s new book, Heartland, which I just picked up yesterday. This book is about more than the making of Larry Bird, it’s about small towns and heartland culture in the 70s and the role that basketball played in his life growing up and the lifeblood of his community.

This is a part of Bird that we’ve all been fascinated by for a while, and now we have our book. If Larry Legend interests you at all, or you grew up watching him, I don’t have to do much to sell you on this. I just started and I can tell it’s going to be a great read. Check it out here.

I am going to share the simplest body movement exercise ever with you that will build up your back, fix your posture, improve/increase shoulder mobility and relieve lower back pain. Yes, all of that and more from a simple dryland butterfly exercise. Check this out:

First, you don’t need pull buoys at your sides. Use anything. Kettlebells. Blocks whatever. All you need is a mat to lay face down on. Look at this movement. It’s so simple. Raise your upper body, keep your head and neck aligned, and rotate your arms up and out over the blocks and back. Easy, right? No. Freaking. Way.

Do not take this movement lightly. Your neck, shoulders and back will creak and crack if you’re not used to these movements on land. I swim fly 4 days a week and this HURT in the best way. I’m telling you. Add this to your shoulder or back day. Try 3 sets of 12, nice and slow, like any other lift. Your shoulders, lats, inner back and lower back will be on fire. They’re also perfect to reverse any shoulder rounding our hunching from a day at your desk. Try them and let me know what you think.

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And I have SO MUCH I can’t wait to share with you. The cover is ALMOST ready to reveal. Why does it take so long? Because every detail matters. Every color. Every position of the hero image. Every expression. The font. The pallet. We’re locking and loading this cover so that the instant you see it, you think: WHOAH!!!!! I need to read this ASAP. That’s the goal. And it’s all coming together.

We’re also building the landing page for the book, which is wayyyyy more than just a “buy the book here” type of thing. We’ve got a fully interactive, awesome experience just for you. You will love it.

All I can do right now is show you a sneak peak screenshot of a small portion of what we’re cooking. I swear this is going to put the biggest smile on your face.

Do yourself a favor and pre-order the book right now. Don’t wait. Send me the screenshot of your order and you’ll still get the cool swag we’re putting out down the line.

Jon Finkel is the award-winning author of Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage, 1996: A Biography, Hoops Heist, The Life of Dad, Jocks In Chief, The Athlete, Heart Over Height, “Mean” Joe Greene and more. His books have been endorsed by everyone from Mark Cuban, John Cena and Tony Dungy to Spike Lee, Kevin Durant and Chef Robert Irvine. He has written for GQ, Men’s Health, Yahoo! Sports, The New York Times and has appeared on CBS: This Morning, Good Morning Texas, Good Morning Chicago, and hundreds of radio shows, podcasts and streams. Jon was recently profiled in The New Yorker about the awesome community he’s built around his Books & Biceps newsletter. They describe him as “a gym rat’s Reese Witherspoon”. Reply to this email for any media requests.

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