Welcome to the hundreds of new meatheads joining our Books & Biceps crew this week! Thanks to everyone who has shared this with a friend (or many friends). You’re all Hall of Famers as far as I’m concerned.

If you missed last week’s issue where we interviewed the author of The Last Real World Champion: The Legacy of “Nature Boy” Ric Flair, you can read it here.

BOOKS

Whalefall: A Novel by Daniel Kraus

If there was ever a trial in court to find the answer to the question:

“Do people really judge books by the cover?”

And if I was the lawyer presenting the case for ‘yes, people do all the time’, then Whalefall would be my ‘Exhibit A’.

I mean… Look at that cover. It’s glorious. It’s intriguing. It tells a story in itself. In fact, I had never heard of Whalefall or the author before the cover stopped me dead in my tracks at Barnes & Noble.

Then I picked it up and read the quick log line and I was in:

“The Martian meets 127 Hours in this “powerfully humane” (Owen King, New York Times bestselling author) and scientifically accurate thriller about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.”

Done. Bought it right there.

This is why I spend so much time making sure the covers for my books are compelling and have a killer log line. In fact, we’re going back and forth on the Macho Man cover as I write this so it’s nothing short of phenomenal (yes, you will all get a sneak peak when it’s ready).

Rarely is a cover amazing and the book sucks. Case in point: I am halfway through Whalefall and it’s awesome. It takes you deep into the world of scuba diving and whales and adds in the element of redemption and a ticking clock and both of the main characters (a son and his gruff, legendary diver dad) are distinct and excellent… It’s a very fast read, but only because you’re flipping pages quickly to see what’s next. Such a cool concept. Get it here.

BICEPS

In all my years of lifting and in the decade plus of the Flex Factory, I’ve never blasted a band during a workout until this week… Check that thing out. Boom. Did you know there was a string inside? I had no idea.

I was doing some press downs with the band hung over the pull-up bar and…SMASH… the thing popped and split on the ends. Couldn’t handle Finkel beast mode, I guess haha.

To make sure it doesn’t happen again I bought one of the thickest bands I could find and I love this thing. It’s got 100 to 120lbs of resistance from some company called Iron Infidel. Wild.

Always like adding stuff to the garage gym.

This thing is super thick and perfect for my favorite arms superset:

The Big Arms Superset:

Band triceps press downs to failure

Band biceps curls to failure

Repeat 3x with 1 minute rest between supersets.

Quick Flexes

I wrote this column about one of my favorite movie speeches of all-time:

Hogan on Rogan

Hulk Hogan gave a fascinating interview about his life and career this week on Joe Rogan’s podcast. He covered just about everything a diehard wrestling fan would want:

Where he came up with Hulkamania, where he got the hand to the ear gesture, what life was like when he wrestled in Japan, how he got to the WWF and of course, his time as an A-list entertainer, from WrestleMania I all the way to Rocky III, the NWO and his famous match against The Rock at WrestleMania 18.

Must listen for wrestling fans.

Strong Links

The #1 question I get asked from writers who read this newsletter is: “How do I get started freelancing?”

I’ve been a guest speaker at some of the biggest journalism schools and English departments in the country and I put everything I know into this proven course: Freelance Fortune: Write Like A Pro, Get Paid Like A Pro.

Freelance Fortune is a proven, easy-to-follow blueprint any writer can use to turn confusion about pitching & writing into confidence. This course provides a concise, step-by-step playbook that over and over has helped writers land consistent, paying freelance jobs. It worked for me. It worked for the writers I've hired and mentored. It'll work for you. You get 2 hours of video, 2 e-books, 3 bonus features and more. It’s every piece of knowledge I used to write for GQ, Men’s Health, Yahoo! Sports, The New York Times and dozens of other outlets. Buy it here for 50% off today.

Did you know I wrote the only book that researched, reviewed and ranked every single United States President?

It’s called Jocks In Chief and it was endorsed by The New York Post, CBS: This Morning and Muscle & Fitness.

Check it out here.

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Thank you all for reading.

Have a great weekend! - Jon

PS: I’m gathering testimonials for this newsletter as we grow. If you have one minute, please reply with one or two sentences describing the best book, workout or thing you learned from the newsletter.

Thanks!