💪Books & Biceps 418

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I have a treat for you this week. Instead of getting one book recommendation, you’re going to get a recommendation of 12 bad ass book characters who appear in a bunch of books. The idea came to me when I saw a post by fellow Sophisticated Meathead Jax Richards, who runs a great book account on Instagram called Big J Reads, which you should follow right now.

Jaxon did a post on a topic I think about all the time when reading: How does [insert jacked/fit main character here] stay jacked and fit while chasing bad guys, solving crimes, always being on the run, etc… ? During the book, most of these characters barely have enough time to eat or sleep and yet… they’re physical specimens.

With that in mind, I thought it would be fun for each of us to list our 5 or 6 favorite physical specimens/warriors in literature. Mine veer mostly to traditional thrillers and action novels while Jax’s are largely in the sci-fi and fantasy realm. I love it.

Check out our Top 12, go pick up one of the books these guys are in, and of course e-mail me back with who we missed:

JAX’S TOP 5:

Carl: Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

I chose Carl because he is pretty much every gym bro’s dream progression. He starts off as just some guy, and before long he’s absolutely jacked, throwing hands with monsters that should absolutely kill him. Every book he’s a little bigger and A LOT stronger. It would be pretty cool if I could get literal “Strength stat” boosts…

Gimli, Son of Gloin: Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien 

I couldn’t make this list without Gimli. He may be short but he is unbelievably strong. Not to mention the incredible endurance. The dude spends days running across Middle-earth in full armor, swinging an axe that most people couldn’t even pick up. It isn’t easy to kill more orcs than Legolas…

Ragnar Volarus: Red Rising by Pierce Brown 

Ragnar is just unfair. He’s an Obsidian from the Red Rising universe which means he’s huge. Turns out he’s also HUGE for an Obsidian. Absolute freak of nature standing at 8 feet tall and weighing in at 550 lbs. For any given lift, whatever your PR is, he will break it easily. 

al’Lan Mandragoran: The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

Lan is one of my favorite characters of all time. He has that “old guy at the gym who quietly outlifts everyone” type of vibe. He isn’t the biggest dude in the room, but you just know he’s stronger than he looks. You can see the years of intense discipline on his face way before he pulls out his sword. He’s got the kind of strength that’s way cooler than just being huge.

Hammond: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson 

Hammond is a true gym bro intellectual. This dude is built like a tank but also wants to debate philosophy between sets. He’s easily one of the strongest people in his crew and could probably overhead press half the cast if he had to. Burning Pewter helps, but he’s built up the base too. He would be a true advocate for “Books and Biceps”.

Be sure to follow Big J Reads on Instagram here.

FINKEL’S TOP 6 (PLUS A BONUS):

Robert B. Parker’s Spenser

My first favorite adult fiction character was Robert B. Parker’s Spenser, introduced to me by my grandfather. I read one book, then all of them. Spenser is one of the few literary characters who we often see working out and lifting. You can find him at Henry Cimoli’s Harbor Health Club, gloves on, working the heavy bag. Or he’s going on one of his classic picturesque runs through Boston. Or he’s at a random gym in a random town showing off his bench press with Hawk. Either way, of all the leading men I’ve read in my life, Spenser is the most Books & Biceps of them all.

Lee Child’s Jack Reacher

In terms of sheer size and power, Reacher is a super impressive human. Child lists him as 6'5", 250 pounds and has said in interviews that his lifestyle is his workout. I haven’t read all the Reacher novels, but in the ones I’ve read he was never jogging or training or lifting (if you know of any books where he does, please let me know). Still, from a muscle mass perspective, it’s hard to maintain pecs, traps and shoulders the size of Reacher’s without some weight training or specific shoulder/chest work. I love the character, but long walks and binging on 5,000 calorie diner meals won’t keep you yoked with a six pack. Still, he’s a legend.

David Morrell’s John Rambo

Rambo is known for his physique largely because of the awesome Stallone movies. In the book, he’s actually more lethal, but beyond knowing that he is a highly trained Green Beret, we don’t hear much about how he stays strong and sharp post-war. However, being a Green Beret is bad ass enough and in order to become one, he had to be in elite physical shape. Being able to do that while living off the land and on the run is equally impressive.

Jack Carr’s James Reece

Reece is the most realistic in terms of an ex-SEAL trying to stay in shape. Sprinkled into plenty of Carr’s books are trail runs, training scenes with kettlebells, quick workouts and rucks… Just the basics to keep him somewhat battle ready over time. He’s not one of these past-his-prime guys, so he’s more in maintenance mode and it shows. Fit. Functional. Fearless.

Ace Atkins’s Quinn Colson

Quinn Colson is a former Army Ranger in his mid-thirties who still has his fitness fastball. He’s a strong guy with standards who maintains them from his Ranger days. When reading about Colson’s stories in Mississippi, for some reason I assume he’s taking care of his fitness when he’s off the page. It’s just the way he carries himself in the books. Tough. Trained. Won’t back down. Ready for anything.

Nick Horvath’s Sledge

Sledge is a 6'10" beast of a man who carries a sledgehammer and can summon otherworldly strength when need be. He’s fought his way out of the hardest Russian gulags against the world’s deadliest warriors and come out on top. We don’t need to see Sledge train in a traditional gym because a traditional gym can’t hold him. He’s methodical, murderous when it’s called for and might just be unbeatable.

BONUS: Brick Bridger of the upcoming Bear Brawl

You all haven’t met Brick yet, but once you do, on November 10th, I promise you’ll put him on this list. He’s 6’6” and weighs 265 pounds. He’s an ex-heavyweight wrestling champion and UFC fighter. He coaches at his own wrestling academy in his hometown in Arkansas and he designs a training regimen with his old college coach and a bear expert to help him train exclusively to fight a 500-pound rogue black bear with his bare hands. So. Yeah. He’s books and biceps through-and-through. Make sure you pre-order Bear Brawl here or visit www.bearbrawl.com to see how you’d do in your own fight against a bear.

Confession: While I have continued to do my coveted Knees Over Toes program, I’ve backed off doing some of the heavier, strength-building lifts in favor of more mobility work. Recently, I realized I need more of a balance. While my overall mobility and flexibility has improved, I haven’t gotten faster or stronger off the blocks/turns in swimming and I’ve started to feel creaky when playing hoops.

I know some of this is age, but some of it is me not maintaining my lower body strength as well as I should. That ended this week! On Tuesday I started a new 3-month build to get back to explosive hex bar moves and being able to pull 300lbs again with ease. It’s crazy how fast you lose power in your legs if you just run/play hoops and don’t add weight to your legs over time. This is the staple of my new routine. Hex bar plus slant boards to help improve my flexibility as well. Give these a shot on your leg day (three sets). It ain’t easy:

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 I decided to share something that dawned on me while we were on a mini-vacation last week. I have accumulated a wide variety of what I can only describe as guy skills over time, and most of them I don’t even remember learning. Ha! You’ll see:

I saw a post on author photos on social media, so I had to throw in my #1 of all time:

And in case you missed it earlier in the week, I am so pumped to share this VIDEO of what the Official Bear Brawl book signing poster looks like. It’s amazing:

You can pre-order Bear Brawl on AMAZON HERE, or at BARNES & NOBLE HERE or at BOOKSHOP.ORG here. Appreciate you all!

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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