While it seems like the rest of the world is making weed jokes today, I’m over here polishing off my meal plan for next week and looking forward to an early night. Lately I’ve been playing a lot of Tetris on my Roku because that’s what all 33-year-old single guys do on Friday nights, right? I’m getting weekly high scores so, you know, I’m pretty good.

This weekend is going to be the JTF Show at TITLE Boxing Club Knoxville. Come see me for boxing at 11:00am Saturday or 1:00pm on Sunday. I’m then doing MMA at 4:15. Maybe collect the whole set and come to all three?

Or not. That’s cool, too.

Also cool: This list of rad shit I found this week. Get down on it!

• • Sumo or Conventional? It Honestly, Truly, Doesn’t Even Matter by Dean Somerset
    One thing that I’ll admit was pretty intimidating to me when I got started lifting weights was wondering whether or not I was doing exercises right or if I was doing the right variation. There are so many segmented fragments of the weightlifting/fitness community, it’s easy to lose your shit and be left with a spinning head, having so much information provided to you that you can’t make a decision. Every other day I read articles about how if you’re going to bench press, you’re better off going incline — or close-gripped — or close-gripped incline. If you’re squatting, the “best” way is usually feet shoulder-width, dipping below parallel — or feet wider than shoulders, dipping to parallel. Do you go high weight, low rep? Low weight, high rep? SO MANY QUESTIONS. Dean does a great job here explaining why, when it comes to deadlifting, it really doesn’t matter. Barbell conventional? Barbell sumo? Trap bar? Flat shoes? Bare feet? In the end, the differences aren’t great enough for it to matter. Find your favorite way to hit your biceps femoris muscles and work ’em. You’re training legs so you’re already leaps and bounds above most bros at the gym, no?
  • This Bit of Advice from Good Fucking Design Advice
  • The Chocolate Protein Shake that Actually Tastes Like a Milkshake by Nia Shanks
    As much as I share her stuff, y’all probably think I have some kind of crush on Nia but I promise that isn’t the case. She just writes quality shit and I’m into quality shit. This week she shared this recipe for a protein smoothie that features almond milk, protein powder, cocoa and blueberries … with “optional” peanut butter, which obviously means “Duh, add peanut butter.” I haven’t made this recipe yet, but I’ve shared it with several friends and I think there’s now a race to see who can make it first and confirm its chocolate milkshakiness.
  • Some Stuff About David Bowie…
    While doing some research for tattoo inspiration, I found this photo of David Bowie:Hanging out on stage in boxing gloves during the Diamond Dogs era, I had to learn why he was wearing the gloves — like what was the significance? Turns out, there doesn’t appear to be any video footage of him wearing the gloves but I ended up finding these articles from Vice’s Fightland and Kut 90.5 talking about how Bowie was freaked out about Elvis dying on tour in the late 70s and thought he needed to make some changes lest he succumb to the same fate. What’d he do? He didn’t go on a diet or start running — he found a boxing gym in Texas and developed a passion for pugilism. I had no idea. Reportedly, he kept up a boxing routine to some extent throughout the rest of his career. David Bowie, a god, boxed for fitness. If that doesn’t make it cool, nothing does.
  • 17 Keto Recipes That’ll Make You Forget You’re on a Diet via The Strive
    Man, I swear to god I’m not following a Keto diet but it seems like they’re just killing it on great recipes lately. I’m trying to keep my carbs a little lower and usually have a hard time keeping my fat macro high enough so these Keto recipes are really doing the trick on my weekly meal plans. This is a compiled list made of various recipes from Keto Dash, all of which look amazing. I have my eye on the Mini Chicken Pot Pies, Biscuits and Gravy, Sriracha Crispy Baked Chicken and Garlic Gusto Pancetta Stuffed Chicken Thighs. Also, the Ribeye Steak Salad photo is hilarious.

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  Music to Cut to

  First of all, it’s a big deal today that Stoner/Doom metalers SLEEP has released their first record in nine years entitled The Sciences. The record is being released by Third Man Records, which is strange, but the guys aren’t playing trendy Nashville hipster bullshit. This record is HEAVY, y’all, and it’s good, good, good. It’s streaming on Spotify, for sale on iTunes and is made available for order — on green vinyl, of course — on Third Man Records’ website.

  As much as I love Sleep, that’s not who gets the coveted weekly music spot. This week we’re talking about UK metal band Ingested. The guys are bringing their brand of metalcore to your ears for the first time since their last record The Architect of Extinction came out in 2015. This record, The Level Above Human drops next Friday and their single Purveyors of Truth is everything that is good about metalcore and nothing that sucks about the genre. Like, I’m pretty hard into this shit today*. Maybe I’m just in the right mood.

  *Honestly, I’ve been listening to Run the Jewels all afternoon …

  You can order this record as well as their other stuff from Unique Leader Records. They’re also going on an early summer tour with Aborted, Psycroptic, Disentomb, Arkaik and a few others.

  That’s as good as it’s going to get this week, guys. Keep your eyes open for another free workout coming up on Sunday!