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The Plunge: Maverick Swimmers, an Unlikely Quest, and the Transformative Power of Cold Water by Chris Ballard

I mentioned that I was reading this book before we went on our family trip to the national parks in the southwest and I’m writing you now to let you know it was one of my favorite books I’ve read this year.

The author, Chris Ballard, was a longtime writer for Sports Illustrated back in the day and he wrote everything: features, cover stories and columns.

In this book, he’s both author and subject, which is a tough thing to do and he pulls it off brilliantly. The quick description of the book is this: it’s about the history of cold water swimming, the people racing in ice cold water now and how swimming and spending time in near-freezing water affects the body.

But the REAL description of the book is that the author, Chris Ballard, a longtime athlete, is breaking down (like all of us) and tries plunging to deal with some aches and pains… and through some research and meeting curious characters who swear by not only plunging in ice cold water, but swimming in it, racing in it and competing in endurance events in water as cold as 39 degrees, he himself gets in the pool and begins a journey he never thought he’d go on, leading to a spot on the national team and a true blue ice swimming career.

Even if you don’t swim or would never contemplate ice swimming (few do), you will love this book because it shows you that at any time, if you just say “yes” to something you normally would say “no” to, your life can change. That’s what Ballard discovered early on when he was covering a meet and just about everyone asked, “you’re swimming, aren’t you?” As a journalist, that’s an easy thing to say no to. But as a man, and as an athlete, and as a curious guy, the “yes” is far more rewarding.

The book is full of some impressive people, crazy people and people obsessed with ice water swimming. The stories about “rewarming” and dealing with “after drop” will give you pause about the sanity of competing in events like this. But the camaraderie and cool factor of the people who choose to do hard things rules. Buy this book. You’ll love it.

How often do you think about ankle mobility? Never? A little? Occasionally? I confess that I think about it every time I bend down to put on my sneakers, every time I put my fins on in the pool and every time I squat to stretch before playing hoops.

The thing that happens to me (and likely to you) is that if you’re standing flat-footed and angle your feet out to squat down, as soon as you start lowering your body and get below your hips, your heels leave the ground and your ankles stiffen. Sound familiar? Try squatting right now all the way with your butt below your knees with your feet flat on the ground. I can’t. But I really want to work on it because it only gets worse over time.

Check out this video. It shows what I’m talking about and ALSO how to fix it and why you need to:

If you’re a guy 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 us at Midlife Male.

I’m the Editor-in-Chief and I write a column every Tuesday called The Manologue. This week was Sylvester Stallone’s 80th birthday and it got me thinking about how much his character, Rocky, has meant to me throughout my life. He’s probably meant a ton to you as well. Read this. And let me know if you agree.

1) Use the slider.

2) Choose your height, weight, strength & fighting style.

3) Click, Run the fight!

Let me know how you do! (then pre-order the book, obviously)

PS: Thank you to every reader who pre-ordered my upcoming thriller in time to get your name IN the book. I delivered the final, edited manuscript Wednesday night and you are officially Books & Biceps Hall of Famers. I can’t wait for you all to read it on November 10th and we’ve got a TON of other giveaways coming up, so the pre-order train continues!

GRAB YOUR COPY OF BEAR BRAWL:

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. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Midlife Male and a Top 10 US Masters Swimmer in the 50 and 100 butterfly.

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