Welcome to the exclusive Premium Flex Tuesday Issue of Books & Biceps for June 11, 2024! This is a members only edition and one-time FREE PREVIEW for all Books & Biceps readers.

Starting next week, only paid members will receive the full Tuesday issue and have access to the Premium Flex upgrades (you can upgrade here at the special Father’s Day discount until midnight on 6/16).

After months of planning and building out the content calendar, the books, the challenges, format and ideas for Premium Flex, it’s finally here!

As excited as I am to get this underway, I want you to know that this is the ground floor. We’ll stick with what works and ditch what doesn’t. If you love something, strongly dislike something or just have a random thought, hit me up by replying to this any time. This is our crew and I’m always open to suggestions.

This PREMIUM FLEX issue is sponsored by The Rundown…

As many of you know, I run twice a week and this time of year in South Florida, the humidity makes it feel like I’m jogging in a sauna while breathing through a snorkel. This is why I like The Rundown. Every issue offers legit tips to help you as you run… Last week’s issue “Mastering Runs in the Heat” was perfect for me. Heat stress. Electrolytes. Shade affects. Great stuff. Check them out:

The Big Read of the Month

First Blood by David Morrell

This week’s book for Premium Flex Members is First Blood by David Morrell. If you missed my full introduction to the novel in Issue #303 of Books & Biceps you can read it here. In short, this is the book that Stallone’s Rambo movie was eventually based off of and it’s super different and excellent.

In Friday’s issue, I shared the updated cover for the book, which is cool, but I found the rare, first edition printing of the paperback cover and had to show you. This was the original cover in 1972:

And here was the paperback cover for a new edition in 1983 using Stallone’s image after the movie came out. This one’s bad ass too:

Sorry, I couldn’t stop there because this book had so many dope covers through the years… Each one better than the next… Here are three more I loved (how about the knife with Rambo in red silhouette, that’s sick):

Okay, I’m done. Onto the book….

The goal here is for us to cover roughly the same pages each week so the notes/comments in this email line up with what you’re reading or about to read.

This book is 290 pages, so we can do it in the last 3 weeks of June easy. We only need to cover 90 pages a week, which is 10-15 pages/day. No problem.

June 11-18: Pages 1-90

June 18-25: Pages 91-180

June 18 - July 2: Pages 180 to finish.

Sound good? Good.

Now let’s get into our THREE THINGS:

1) RATING THE OPENING:

I give the open a full 5 biceps out of 5:💪💪💪💪💪

Morrell does several of my favorite author things here:

1) He describes a character and scene in one shot, with details and style that take you to the heart of the moment in the bare minimum number of sentences. Gas station. Coke. Long hair. Leaning on one hip. Boots. Sleeping bag… You know this guy in 25 words.

2) He juxtaposes what is (just a guy trying to thumb a ride) with a massive, brain shifting foreshadowing of what’s about to happen (running from the Kentucky National Guard and police from 6 counties after him).

So good.

2) BEST DEVICE

One of the biggest differences between the First Blood Rambo movie and the book is that the book is written from two equal perspectives:

Rambo & Wilfred Teasle, Chief of Police (Brian Dennehy’s character)

As we’re reading in the book, Teasle is Rambo’s equal from a main character standpoint and we learn as much about him as we do about Rambo. We not only perceive how the action goes down from Rambo’s view, but also from Teasle’s, and this alternates chapter-to-chapter brilliantly.

It also works so well because Rambo is such an enigma personality-wise and the generation difference between he and Teasle can be exploited. Great choice by Morrell.

3) MOST CAPTIVATING SCENE

The flashback sequence where Rambo escapes the P.O.W. camp while delirious from starvation, malnutrition and sickness is one of the most unforgettable scenes I’ve read in a while.

It’s three pages but it sticks with you and cements the kind of man Rambo is. When his consciousness is stripped away and he’s nothing but bones and deteriorating muscle and a brain running on fumes, we learn that he has a superhuman will to survive. And that’s what makes him so dangerous when the novel progresses to Rambo vs. the world.

If you’d like to read this book with the B&B Premium Flex crew, sign up here.

(We read one book together every month. I break the book down into bite-sized weekly reading portions and then every Tuesday share some insights, best portions, bad ass sections, inside author takeaways and more…

There is also a community Teams group for this book where you can drop in your own thoughts, start your own conversations and chop it up with your fellow B&B readers…)

The June Physical Challenge:

100 Push-Ups a Day for 30 Days for Time

My buddy Greg Campion did this challenge last year and it always intrigued me. I kept it in the back of my mind and it is the perfect first challenge for the Premium Flex crew. I checked in with Greg last week and he said his first attempt at 100 push-ups took him nearly ten minutes and after 30 days he did it in the 4-minute range, for an insane improvement.

At the end of the challenge you’ll feel like a tank, your chest will gain an inch or two and you will likely notice that your triceps have filled out a bit more, even if you’re a regular in the gym.

Now, depending on where you are as a lifter, you’re either thinking, “my goal is to get 100 in a row, bro!!!” or you’re thinking “how the hell can I do 100 push-ups?”…

For a frame of reference, this guy holds the Guinness Book of World Records “Most Push-Ups in 1-Minute” with 143:

So let’s say you’re not starting off as fast as Avtar Singh (the dude above)…

What’s the plan?

The two most popular strategies are to either go to failure on the first set and then wait 1 minute, go to near failure and keep repeating this until you get to 100. If you can knock out 40 or 50 in one shot, this may be your best bet for your fastest time…

BUT, the flaw in this plan is that going to failure can backfire fast.

If your first set to failure is only 20 or 25, you will quickly be in for a world of hurt with sets of 9, 7, 4, 4 and lower and lower until you eek your way to 100…

The other way to do the challenge is to break it up into larger chunks with a set break: 4 × 25 on one minute or 1:30.

If you’re an advanced lifter, this will ensure that you can do 100 push-ups in four or five minutes (if you can do it)…

The other version of this is to break it up into much smaller bites, like this guy, who does sets of 8 with 10 seconds rest until he gets to 100.

Takes him 3 minutes.

My personal goal by the end of the challenge is to break three minutes.

HOW TO DO IT:

Sometime today set aside 15 minutes for this challenge.

You can use your phone or watch as a timer.

Get on the ground, hit start and go.

Time how fast you go your first day and write down how many reps you get in each set.

You can either keep track of your progress in the notes app on your phone or in an actual notebook (I prefer this - I like to physically write down my progress).

Feel free to share where you’re at in our Teams Chat or post and tag me on Twitter or Instagram.

Or hit me up with any questions.

LET’S DO THIS!!!

2 QUICK THINGS:

ONE:

If you feel any shoulder, chest, elbow or wrist pain: STOP. This is just a fun challenge there is no need to get hurt.

TWO:

You don’t want to over index on your chest and shoulder muscles without counteracting them for the whole month, so if you don’t lift back regularly or have access to a pull-up bar, I’d recommend that you do a few sets of supermans on the ground for 30 seconds to stretch your chest muscles out after you finish the challenge each day. Doesn’t have to be much. Just 2-3 minutes to counteract all the chest, shoulder and triceps work.

This has been a FREE PREVIEW of PREMIUM FLEX for all Books & Biceps Readers!

If you’d like to join at the Father’s Day rate and receive:

• The Premium Flex Tuesday Issue of Books & Biceps

• The Big Read of the Month Breakdown & Teams Chat

• The Monthly Fitness Challenge with Strategies & Goals

• Free access to the entire Meathead Media Library

• Free 1st Chapter of my current & future books

• Premium Flex Swag, Flex Factory Store 10% forever discount, access to the B&B crew and more…

Time to Honor Our Meathead Agreement

In the gym there is an unspoken agreement that if a fellow dude needs a spot you jump in and help, one meathead to another.

If you enjoy reading this newsletter every week, let’s spot each other.

Let’s consider my writing and sending each issue of Books & Biceps my spotting you the best books, interviews and meathead content around.

Your spot to me is that you share this issue with ONE person who you think would like it.

That’s the deal. I spot you. You spot me. Just like the gym. Thanks!

Here’s your personal sharing link to get free stuff for every share:

BONUS: Have you read these greatest hits?

PPS: You still reading Gus and Mallory? Thanks for getting through the whole thing! No skimming!