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READING

Inside the Pain Cave - By Mirin Fader

Courtney Dauwalter, the world’s greatest ultrarunner, has a visualization method that helps her conquer hundreds of miles at a time. She’s won nearly every ultramarathon there is, but she’s still searching for the limits of the cave—and herself.

Longtime readers of Books & Biceps know I’m a huge fan of Mirin Fader’s writing. Her biography of Giannis Antetokounmpo last year was sensational and if you’re interested, we interviewed her about her writing process in this very newsletter - you can read it here.

Giannis was Fader’s first book. Her primary job is as one of the best long form sportswriters we have right now. She currently writes for The Ringer and released an awesome feature this week on ultra runner Courtney Dauwalter…

This is a woman who regularly signs up for 100 and 200 mile running races through impossible terrain and conditions: mountains, deserts, forests, hills, snow, rain… She even tried to complete a near 500 mile run… Her feats often have her running 12, 24, even 48 hours straight.

Why? Here’s a taste from the piece:

If only they could stand with her on these mountains after a run, out of breath and full of fire, feeling the profound satisfaction that comes from putting one’s body on the line to see how strong one’s mind can be.

The rest you’ll have to read, because this is a deep dive on someone who refuses to surrender to people, to pain and to herself. Read it here.

BICEPS

The old school bench press is still one of my favorite exercises. There are plenty of arguments in the fitness community about how incline is better for you (activates your delts, takes some pressure of your shoulders, better angle for the lift) and they may be right… But there’s something about the bare bones bench that is still bad ass… which is why I start my week off every Monday with it…

If you’re looking to get stronger at bench, here’s a great sequence you can use to build your chest and your triceps:

Bench/Triceps Superset Ladder:

Start with a weight you can comfortably bench 8-10 times.

Bench press 8 reps

Diamond cutter push-ups to failure

2-minute rest

Remove 20 pounds from the bench press - 8 reps

Diamond cutter push-ups to failure

2-minute rest

Remove 20 pounds from bench - 8 reps slow (2 count up and down)

Diamond cutter push-ups to failure

2-minute rest

Remove 20 pounds from bench - 8 reps slow (2 count up and down)

Diamond cutter push-ups to failure.

DONE - Your chest and tris will be toast for a week. Let’em rest.

Note: if you need to remove 30 or 40 pounds between bench press sets, go for it.

BIOGRAPHY

Here’s a deep dive on Carl Weathers’ football career prior to acting:

And this one is for all you old school baseball fans… An incredible true story that landed in my lap:

DAD STUFF

My favorite part of Twitter is Dad Twitter… I wrote this thread and heard from so many incredible dads… Thought I’d share it here:

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Have a great weekend!

Jon