In the spirit of keeping things moving, we’re going to keep pushing forward with FFF, y’all!

If you’re just joining us, this is where I share links to articles, recipes, essays, etc. that I think are beneficial for your body, fitness journey or just your overall well-being.

I have a surprise ready for you this weekend (well, something for your legs). Something that’s been a long time coming. Hang out for a while and I’ll show you. Like … Sunday morning. Yeah. That’s the ticket.

Until then, here’s this week’s finds:

• 6 Things People Should Stop Giving So Many Fucks About by Mark Manson
  Back in December I read Mark’s book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and it was exactly what I needed at the time. The main lesson I took away from the book is that we control very little. We live in a world where shit happens to us and around us that we have very little control over. And while we have little control over what happens to us, we have full control over how we respond to it and it’s up to us to respond in as calculated and efficient of a manner as possible. In the above article, Mark reiterates this by listing six hot topics that currently get the whole world (seemingly) all excited, when in reality said excitement is a waste of our time, effort and attention (…and our finite amount of fucks to give). Fucks are precious, y’all. Don’t waste them on insignificant shit.
• Recipes from Fit Men Cook
  Earlier this week I linked to a couple of recipes from Fit Men Cook and I can tell you that while they were a little bit of effort to pull off, this has been one of the most pleasant weeks of clean eating I’ve had — and I’ve had a lot of them. I’ll be doing Clean Eatz next week because of weekend travel but I’m already making plans for the following week’s meal plan. I’m hoping to include a couple of new recipes I’ve found on Fit Men Cook including Keto Rolls and (Bison) Sliders, Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken, Broccoli and Rice Casserole and Bulgogi Quesadillas. I highly recommend this guy’s website for all things meal prep no matter what diet you’re following. He has options for Paleo, Keto, Vegan, Hard Gainer, you name it. Please be aware, however, that his macro count isn’t always accurate — I’ve also found that someone has usually called it out and corrected it in the comments for the recipes. In other words, don’t be afraid of the calorie count in those Keto buns.
• The Nocebo Effect: Are You (Unknowingly) Thinking Your Way to Failure? by Nia Shanks
  Nia really opened my eyes to this back in February. Yes, I’ve had this link saved since February just so I could share it in the next FFF. I didn’t know it would be mid-April before I’d share it. Anyway, Nia covers what’s referred to as the Nocebo Effect where our minds/bodies react negatively to stimuli that may not necessarily exist, rather, it’s merely perceived to exist. This sounds deep as hell, and I guess it could be but let’s not get that far (yet). Nia illustrates the concept with a story about a woman complaining of the side effects caused by a medication she was recently prescribed. But the medicine she had been taking was merely a placebo and she was merely warned of the non-existant side effects. Knowing what was expected, she experienced them — or at least thought she was — despite not actually taking any medication. The same happens to us when we psyche ourselves out of our routines and I’m guilty of it. Read the article and you’ll get it, but in my instance, it’s the example of not having my preworkout on or not taking it early enough. In my mind, my workout is RUINED despite knowing that I’m the one that puts the work in and I don’t actually need it to get a good workout in. Still, if I don’t have my preworkout, I often feel as if there’s no use for me to even start. That ends now.
• Resistance Training is Critical for Weight Loss by P.D. Mangan via Rogue Health and Fitness
  As most of you know now, I’m on a cut (read: cutting body fat/losing weight). The first question I’m always asked is So you’re doing more cardio? and the answer to that is yes, I guess, but I’m not — and won’t — sacrifice my strength training. The last thing I want to do is lose the gains I’ve worked hard to get over the last few months by only running and boxing every day. P.D. does a great job of explaining why strength training is important for anyone wanting to lose weight. To put it simply: Weight loss without strength training = loss of fat and muscle. Weight loss with strength training = loss of fat. More muscle mass = higher resting metabolic rate, therefore more fat gets burned. I fail to see how this doesn’t make sense to everyone.
• The Sweet Spot for Intermittent Fasting by P.D. Mangan via Medium
  I found the above article from Mangan after reading this. Here’s a pretty easily understandable article about how intermittent fasting (supposedly) works. I’m finishing my second week of IF and will assess the effectiveness of it in a couple more weeks, but if you want a high-level explanation for how it works, why it works and the science behind it, this is a great place to start. The primary goal of the article is to explain why the “sweet spot” in IF is the 18-24 hour mark but in my personal journey, I’m doing something a little different. I have no desire to fast longer than 16 hours. Still good information.
• Short-term Fasting Induces Profound Neuronal Autophagy by a slew of authors via US National Library of Medicine
  If you’re thirsty (hungry?) for more information on IF at a deeper, more scientific level, this article has you covered. Autophagy refers to your body’s natural ability to “cleanse” or clean house. When the body is stressed — say, by fasting — it naturally increases autophagy as a self-defense method, thereby kicking our self-cannibalizing abilities into overdrive. This, in addition to the aforementioned important strength training, ideally leads to a successful cut without sacrificing muscle mass. That’s what we all want, no?
• Some Keto/Low-Carb Goodness from around the web
  I’ll reiterate that I am NOT following a Keto diet and I don’t really endorse it, but after last week’s super sexy Keto-Friendly Cheesy Cloud Biscuits recipe from Fit Men Cook landed on my radar, in my meal plan and in my tummy, I’ve learned that the Keto community knows how to make some amazing, passable bread! With that in mind, I came across this recipe for Stromboli that includes a low-carb, Keto-friendly dough that can easily be used for pizza and/or breadsticks as well. The Stromboli aspect here is what’s important though, because y’all … look at this shit! Low-Carb Reuben Stromboli — guys, this even comes with a relatively light, sugar-free Russian dressing. At 420 calories, 33g of fat, <7g carbs and 19g protein per serving, I think we have us a winner here! Granted, one serving makes up a little less than half of my daily fat macro, one could easily substitute low-fat Greek yogurt for mayo in the dressing to likely cut it down to a third of that but keep in mind you're also sacrificing flavor.

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Music to Cut* to

*That’s cutting body fat, dummy. Not yourself. Or other people. Other things you can cut to this: in line; the cheese; a cake; it out; the acidity of tomato sauce; the grass; butter into flour; sleeves off a shirt … you get the point.

In addition to Fridays being when I try to publish these lists of useful info for you guys, it also just so happens to be new release day and I spend most of my afternoons listening to new metal releases. Most of the time they’re crap, but every once in a while I hear something that I want to add to a playlist.

Today I found that in a band I’ve never heard of — CORPSEHAMMER!

These guys are a pretty brutal black/death metal band from Sweden that has that sweet lo-fi sound that a lot of us love in the genre. They’ve released their new EP entitled Perversión today and Morbid Skull Records is doing a very limited (read: 99) release entirely on silver, gold and black cassette tapes. You can listen to their track Sexo and Muerte below and then head over to their merch page to order the cassette.

If you want to stream these guys, I’m afraid you’re SOL. Typing Corpsehammer in Spotify yields a single result — Triple Corpse Hammerblow by Children of Bodom. Not the same thing, but it’s one of the best metal song titles I’ve heard since Mayhem’s Chainsaw Gutsfuck.

Anyway. That’s all I have this week. Enjoy your weekend, freaks!