Books & Biceps is the only weekly e-mail that’s like if your meathead writer best friend sent you a personal newsletter about cool stuff he’s read and written. Awesome, right?

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BOOKS

Every now and then I like to highlight a piece of longform journalism in this space. I love reading them - especially when done by a master. I grew up reading Gary Smith’s legendary stories in Sports Illustrated and one of the few sportswriters we have now on the same level is Wright Thompson.

His soaring, 10,000 word deep dives and profiles are must-reads for me when they come out. I bookmark them. Set them aside. And when I have the time, I read them in one sitting.

This week, I read Thompson’s massive profile on Joe Montana, fittingly called:

Joe Montana Was Here

Thompson spent weeks with Montana in San Francisco, hanging out at his investment firm’s office, his house, having dinner, talking to his wife and other legends like Steve Young. It’s a brilliant piece on an 80s/90s icon who, before Tom Brady, was considered the no-doubt-about-it greatest QB of all time.

His competitive desire is LEGENDARY. I love this story:

“WALMART ONCE PAID Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino and Johnny Unitas to do an event. The four quarterbacks went out to dinner afterward. They laughed and told stories and drank expensive wine. Then the check came. The late, great Unitas loved to tell this story. Montana grinned and announced that whichever guy had the fewest rings would have to pay the bill. Joe had four, including one over Marino and one over Elway. Elway had two. Unitas said he only had one Super Bowl ring but had of course won three NFL titles before the Super Bowl existed.

Marino cursed and picked up the check.

Joe liked being king, is how his fiercest rival, Steve Young, puts it to me.”

If you have even a passing interest in football, Montana or great sportswriting, you will love this piece. You can read it right here.

BICEPS

At his bodybuilding peak, Lou Ferrigno was 6’5” tall and weighed nearly 300 pounds. He also had an absurd 60” chest.

I wrote a few stories on Lou back in the day for Muscle & Fitness and I happened to come across one where he shared his legendary chest workout.

Naturally, I tried it. And could barely hug my dog afterwards. This one is not for the faint of heart:

I don’t recommend going too heavy on these. By the time you get to the dumbbell flyes your pecs will be twitchy and barely responding anyway. Keep it light and good luck!

QUICK FLEXES

Anthony Pompliano, AKA, Pomp, has 1.5 million followers on Twitter and his YouTube channel has 500,000+ subscribers. He’s got one of the most popular podcasts in the world and a few weeks ago he invited me down to his studio in Miami to be on the show.

Don't miss the greatest Pomp Podcast of all time.

Me. Pomp. 2 hours.

Tons of your favorite dude topics:

Garage gyms, driveway hoops, writing, books, 90s sports, Iverson, Phelps, sneakers, high school glory, childhood, dad moments, Macho Man & more...

LISTEN HERE

If you love U.S. history and combat sports, you’ll love this thread I wrote on Abraham Lincoln:

READ ABOUT BIG BAD LINCOLN HERE.

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Have a great weekend! - Jon