Immediate caveat: I am garbage at pull-ups. I've mentioned that before, so when I say that I doubled my reps today, my pull-up performance has improved from "bad" to "slightly less bad." That said, I did genuinely make a big improvement with one simple form tip, which I am happy to pass along to you. 

It's been far too long since I wrote any fitness-related posts, so let's correct that, shall we? Yesterday, Jeff Cavaliere published his latest video, "How Fit Are You REALLY? (7 "Simple" Tests), which I've embedded above. These tests are focused on mobility and functionality, rather than cardiovascular health, raw strength, or other important categories, and he stresses that these are not a complete look at fitness. Still, they're seven relatively quick ways you can test your fitness so you can identify weak points and train to improve them.

I put myself through these tests and did indeed find some weak points. 

Godflesh is probably my favorite band that I haven't seen live. Unfortunately,  it looks like I will never get the chance to change that, as Justin Broadrick announced today that he is permanently retiring the band as a touring entity. The reason, he explained in a recent Instagram post, is that he recently required a fairly serious abdominal surgery, and he doesn't believe that he can perform the band's intense vocal style any longer without the risk of serious damage to his abdominal wall. 

I'm not going to lie, Christmas really snuck up on me this year. To be honest, I'm not even sure if we have all the gifts we need for everyone, and Christmas Eve is tomorrow! This is all to say that if I was more on top of thing, I probably would have written this post earlier. Oh well! Anyway, here are some fitness-related gifts that I personally recommend, or am really interested in trying myself. 

Fitness and music are two of my major interests, but if anyone follows me on Bluesky, they'll know that politics occupies a similarly large portion of my brain. Sometimes, two of these three major interests converge, and today is definitely one of those moments. Yesterday, I learned about the Turners, members of German-American gymnastics clubs called Turnverein. It strikes me that Americans could benefit greatly by emulating this German movement from the 1800s, and not just physically - maybe I'm being a hopeless optimist, but I think that embracing the teachings of this movement could go a long way towards healing some of the bigger sociopolitical issues in our country today. 

For the last several weeks I've been pretty good about writing about one of my two chosen lanes. There's been plenty of metal content on this little site. The fitness side of things... not so much. This won't be the first time I've written about this and it won't be the last, but I'm in the midst of a little fitness fail. Today is Tuesday, and I made it into the gym both today and yesterday, but today's workout was a struggle. That may be because the previous two weeks were a mess - I got in one or two workouts in each of those two weeks. And in the weeks before that, I was getting in my five workouts a week, but concerned that I might be plateaued. My lifts weren't progressing. Some were maybe even moving backwards. And with the holidays upon us, I know I won't be able to hit some things as hard as normal. 

Had I not stalled out, I would be finished up with my current 12-week program by now. Instead, I'm on my third attempt to get through week 10. But like SpongeBob, I shall persevere. He's honestly a great fitness role model! The little dude just doesn't quit and has a great attitude no matter what challenges come his way. Plus, he seems very comfortable in his own skin (does he have skin?). 

I'm going to channel my inner SpongeBob. I'll get through this program in fits and starts, but I'll get it done. Then I'll keep thing up with "maintenance" workouts as much as possible through to the new year, when I'll start my next program, full of confidence that I'll get through this fitness low point and come back stronger than ever. Just like SpongeBob would do.

Then I'll celebrate with a Krabby Patty, because life is about balance. And let's be honest, they look tasty as hell. 

If you're at all interested in fitness, you've at least pondered the question of how to get lean. Jeff Cavaliere has tips on how to get lean and stay lean in the video above. And he should know - the guy has the body fat of a frickin' corpse. I've written before about how important Jeff and his Athlean-X program has been to my personal fitness journey, and this video is a good example of why. It's full of actionable tips, light on BS, and devoid of the bro-y crap in so much fitness content. It's good stuff. Watch it today or bookmark it for later.

There's a new Athlean-X video out today (embedded above) about the two dumbbell exercises you need to build your chest. As I've mentioned before, Jeff Cavaliere and his Athlean-X workouts were absolutely critical in my personal fitness journey. One of few t-shirts I own that's not a band shirt is an Athlean-X shirt, which I bought because the company literally changed my life for the better. 

It's also because of Athlean-X I learned a fitness truth about myself: I freakin' love dumbbells. 

​I'll be leaving for a long weekend tomorrow, so I won't get to a weekly music recap in tomorrow. But I still want to share a few miscellaneous thoughts as the week draws to an end.

• The video above from Jeff Nippard has some great exercises to consider adding into your routine. 
• Miracle Blood, one of the first bands I covered for my concert recap series, has a new live EP coming out on November 6th. It will be fun! The first live track dropped on YouTube a couple months back. 
• The first wave of lineup announcements for Prepare the Ground and Roadburn 2026 have dropped. Prepare the Ground scored a rare North American set from Oranssi Pazuzu and the only Svalbard North American set ever. Roadburn has an even bigger score - an Oathbreaker reunion. I'd given up any hope on ever seeing them live. I still probably won't! But a guy can dream.
• It's October, so you are required by law to listen to The Evil One by Roky Erickson, the most perfect Halloween album of all time.

I'm pretty well back into my fitness groove - tomorrow will mark the end of four weeks of lifting five days a week, and I've added in several cardio sessions the last couple of days. When I get into my fitness grooves, it makes me want to keep adding more and more into my routine, and the new Athlean-X video has some good tips for exercises that can help fill out the rear end. Now, I'm not at full Hank Hill pancake ass level, but ya know, I could use some more filling out there. The video above has a lot of tips for targeting the Glute Medius, a part of the booty that's a little harder to train than the Glute Maximus. I plan on adding some of these moves into my routine ASAP, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who could benefit from these tips.