OK everyone - I am trying something new I have a couple of Substack Lives scheduled on the calendar, but after that, starting 10/12, I will start hosting a live Q&A webinar here on Skool every Monday at 7PM EST. Let's see if we can start building something here

I've got a complete first draft of "The Body Doesn't Retire: Picking a New Fight After 50," the follow-up to "Not Done Yet." Ten chapters, ten sports, powerlifting to Senior Games. This is Book Two, and nobody outside my own head has read it yet. I'm looking for a handful of people from this group to read it and give me honest feedback before it goes further. If that's you, comment below or drop me a message and I'll send you the file directly in chat. A few things you should know before you volunteer. This is a first draft, not a polished manuscript. You'll hit typos, rough transitions, and sentences that made sense to me at 5 a.m. and nowhere else. You'll also run into sections that read a little stiff or generic, especially around training protocols or sport-specific data. I used AI tools to help gather and organize some of that research, and in a few spots the placeholder text is still in there because I haven't rewritten it in my own voice yet. If a paragraph suddenly sounds like it came from a textbook instead of from me, that's why, and it's exactly the kind of thing I need flagged. It will actually be interesting to see if you flag the sections I actually used AI in. :-) One more thing, and I mean it: this stays inside the group. If you take a copy, please don't post it, forward it, or share it anywhere else, including other communities or social media. It's an unfinished manuscript and I'd like to keep it that way until it's done. What I'll be asking for once you've read it: where you got bored, where you got confused, whether a chapter on a sport you don't do still made you want to try it, and whether anything felt fake or preachy. A few notes per chapter is plenty. Two or three weeks to get through it works fine. Comment or message me if you're in. Kim already read the CrossFit chapter and told me I used the word "grind" too many times, so you'll be in good company.

I have sent the introduction for the book currently being written to the two people who agreed to pre-read it @David Oaks and @JoAnna Ramirez If you would like to be included, please let me know. This is the first ROUGH outline, so be kind :-)

I’m not going to dress this up as anything other than what it is. I need a favor. Put It Down came out and it means something different to me than Not Done Yet did. That book was about your body. This one is about the weight you carry that has nothing to do with your body, the grudges, the old arguments you still run in your head at two in the morning, the baggage you’ve been hauling around so long you forgot you were carrying it. If you read it, or if you start it this week, I’m asking you to leave a review on Amazon. Doesn’t need to be long. Three sentences is plenty. What it needs to be is honest, and it needs to be soon. Here’s why I’m asking directly instead of just posting about it. Amazon barely shows a book to anyone until it has a real number of reviews. Right now Put It Down doesn’t have that number. That’s not a reflection of the book, it’s just how the algorithm works, and the only way through it is people who’ve actually read it saying so in public. You’ve been with me through the fitness stuff for a while now. This one asks something different of you, and honestly it’s the harder book to write and probably the harder one to read too. If it landed for you, tell people. If it didn’t, tell me; I’d rather know. The link is https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HF6RVBDW. Takes about two minutes. Thanks for being here, John

So, while the Kindle version and the retailer paperback still have a release date of 9/2, the paperback on Amazon is now available and LIVE. I'd love for you all to grab a copy and tell me here how you like it... https://www.amazon.com/Put-Down-Stress-Resentment-Weight/dp/B0HF6RVBDW