Books & Biceps is the only weekly e-mail that combines reading recommendations, exclusive workouts, short biographies of fascinating people, dad highlights & more…

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BOOKS

Whenever I start writing a new book, especially a biography, I like to revisit some of my favorites for a little inspiration.

Since I’m just beginning my journey with Macho Man I picked up one of my all-time favorite bios by the legendary Leigh Montville, Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero.

In addition to being the greatest hitter in the history of baseball, Teddy Ballgame was a fighter pilot in World War II and became a renowned fisherman in retirement. But most likely if you’re reading about The Splendid Splinter you want to know about his career, his personality and you want to get a glimpse into what made him a legend.

Essentially, you’re reading for classic Leigh Montville passages like this:

“Ted gets back from serving in Korea and says, let’s get going. Get me 24 bats from Louisville for tomorrow… Next day, two big boxes are in front of his locker. Two dozen bats. I can’t believe it. Ted takes out this little weighing machine, this scale. He opens the boxes and starts studying the bats. He weighs them, looks at the wood, grips them like Arnold Palmer… He’d say, ‘This bat is no good,’ and he’d throw it on the floor… ‘this bat is no good’. Throws that on floor. Out of 24 bats, Ted picks two. He says, ‘send those other bats back. They’re not worth a damn.”

Now THAT’S the kind of inside story that should be in a biography. Love it. You can buy Montville’s book here.

BICEPS

My weekly workout routine is simple: lift, swim, lift, swim, hoops, lift, swim

I’ve been doing more sprint work in the pool lately and came up with this workout that I like a lot. It’s hard as hell and only takes about 35 minutes:

warm up

• 500 fast

• 5 x 100 sprint fly/free

• 10 x 50s sprint fly/free

cool down

Give it a shot.

QUICK FLEXES

Imagine a genius 161 years ago who:

• Ran Harvard's 1st gym

• Coached a dozen sports

• Owned his own boxing studio

• Was Harvard's 1st Black instructor

• Pioneered fitness equipment you use now

For the 99.9% of you who have never heard of Aaron Molyneaux Hewlett, READ THIS.

And how awesome is this photo of Sly and Arnold carving Halloween pumpkins together like two best buddies in the third grade?

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Have a great weekend! - Jon