ISSUE #90 - October 18th, 2019

Hey! Thanks for reading! Want a FREE bad-ass sticker of Abraham Lincoln as Tyler Durden from Fight Club? Of course you do! All you have to do is pre-order Jocks In Chief, send me a screen shot and I'll send you the sticker. Check it out here. Now onto the Five...

ONE

INTIMIDATION - "If there's a guy that I know who doesn't like to be knocked down...I'll knock him down." That's the opening quote from Hall of Fame pitcher (and stud) Bob Gibson in this short video conversation between Gibson and Reggie Jackson.  "You can't walk around boasting if you've done nothing," Reggie Jackson then says. If you had to choose two legendary MLB tough guys from the 60s and 70s, these would be your guys, and watching them talk about what it means to be intimidating is very cool. The middle few minutes when Gibson talks about how terrified his teammates were of Sandy Koufax is worth the price of admission. Nice little World Series warm-up.

TWO

FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT - My kids and I stumbled into a great new show on Netflix called Raising Dion. The show is about a kid (Dion) who discovers he has super powers. The backstory is that his father (played by Michael B. Jordan) recently passed away under somewhat curious circumstances (he worked for a fancy biotech lab). Intrigue ensues.  I think this is the first show in the Finkel household where every night after homework/showers/dinner we've all sat down to watch the next episode on a regular basis. My son and daughter both love it and the kid, Dion, is awesome. The plot has just enough drama/intrigue/mystery to keep me into it and as far as a show everyone under 13 can enjoy, I recommend it.

THREE

MUSCLE - Want to get jacked!?!? Want to get huge!?!? Yeah, well, there are a million programs out there that can help you, but for my money (as someone who wrote for all the 'get jacked' and 'get huge' dude magazines) the 5x5 program cannot be beat for simplicity and results.  While I favor circuits and CrossFit-type workouts for most of the year, once the fall hits, I typically do a three-month 5x5 split to increase strength and switch things up, especially as I get older. In a nutshell, the 5x5 is a 3-day training split where you do 50% of your max weight for 5 reps of 5 large compound exercises, stuff like squats, bench and the barbell row. There are a ton of variations (Texas, 321, etc...) and I do a version of my own, adding weighted pull-ups and burpees and some things, but overall, if you're looking to pack on some size and strength this winter, it's solid. I started my program this Monday and here's a shot of my baseline bench from the Flex Factory (AKA, my garage gym). 

FOUR

SPORTS MEDIA - With Sports Illustrated lumbering towards its final demise and sports media in general in upheaval, the success story of The Athletic, a subscription-based sports journalism site that has over 600k subscribers offers a ray of hope for fans who want solid sportswriting without all the clickbait and pre-roll and ad crap that comes on most free sites.  For many of us in the sports journalism universe, the story of The Athletic has been nothing short of fascinating. They pay well. They support their writers. They provide deep access and they've amassed a huge roster of talent on a national and local level. The CEO of the site appeared on the Recode podcast this week and if the future of sports media/journalism interests you at all, it's a must-listen.

FIVE

AN EXCELLENT QUOTE ON PAIN

"The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This is the pain that divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That's what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they'll go through the pain no matter what happens."  — Arnold Schwarzenegger

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