It’s called Heavy Metal and Weights: My Story of Guitar, Weights, Heavy Metal Workout Albums, Passion, and Building Muscle—and it’s available now on Amazon (Kindle and paperback).

Order it here on Amazon

What’s Heavy Metal and Weights About?

In this book, I take you back to where it all started—when I first picked up the guitar and a set of weights. Both of these passions hit me around the same time in my mid-teens (yep, late 80s-early 90s!).

From being a skinny kid getting picked on to building muscle and writing instrumental metal albums, this book is my story—and hopefully, motivation for your story, too.

Behind the Scenes of the Heavy Metal Workout Albums

I go deep into the making of my Heavy Metal Workout and Heavy Metal Workout II albums.

You’ll learn how these albums came to life, what gear I used, and how I merged my love for metal with the energy of fitness.

Workout Programs Included

I couldn’t write a book called Heavy Metal and Weights without giving you some solid training advice.

There are two weight training programs inside:

• One for building muscle and mass
• One for getting lean and shredded

You can start these right away—even if you’re new to lifting.

It’s Not Just a Story—It’s Fuel for Your Passion

This isn’t just a “how-I-did-it” story. Heavy Metal and Weights is about going after what you love. I share lessons and mindset shifts that helped me combine two passions—and turn them into something bigger.

Whether you’re into metal guitar, working out, or just need a boost of inspiration, this book will light that fire.

I poured my heart into this book. If you dig metal music, lifting weights, or want to combine your passions into something meaningful, this is for you.

Grab your copy of Heavy Metal and Weights

Keep it Metal,
Jason

Keep it Metal,

Jason

The post Heavy Metal and Weights: My Journey with Guitar, Metal Music, and Building Muscle appeared first on Jason Stallworth.

In fact, I’m going to give you my full strength and conditioning workout routine that I’m currently on. 

Who’s ready to get strong?

This is a 5-day workout routine and targets both strength and conditioning. It’s quite different from your typical bodybuilding workout.

The focus here is getting strong on compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press, rows, overhead press, etc. And the other exercises in each workout are catered around helping you get stronger on these lifts.

But this isn’t a powerlifting workout either. You’re also gonna be doing some evil cardio! That’s part of the conditioning.

This strength and conditioning workout routine also has you doing enough sets and reps to build muscle mass. Volume is the key to making your muscles bigger, as volume is the key to getting that awesome tone from a tube amp!

What You Must Know About This Strength and Conditioning Workout

This strength and conditioning workout program calls for five workout days per week (you could get away with just four). The strength training part takes about an hour and I alternate two types of cardio after lifting weights. So the whole workout could be anywhere from a little over an hour to an hour and a half.

Also, this program is for both men and women. And I want to say upfront, it’s awesome to see more women in the gym hitting the weights and training hard.

And yes, I expect you to listen to my Heavy Metal Workout album series when you do this workout! Or at least have some of my songs in your metal workout playlist! I can live with that.

Monday Workout – Deadlifts and Core

Deadlifts: 4 sets x 8 reps-superset with
Decline Sit-ups: 4 sets x 8 reps

Stiff-Leg Deadlifts: 4 sets x 8 reps-superset with
Rope Crunches: 4 sets x 8 reps

Good Mornings: 4 sets x 10 reps-superset with
Leg Raises: 4 sets x 10 reps

Cardio – 25-minute walk

Tuesday Workout – Back and Chest

Barbell Rows: 4 sets x 8 reps-superset with
Bench Press: 4 sets x 8 reps

Dumbbell Rows: 4 sets x 8 reps-superset with
Incline Bench Press: 4 sets x 8 reps

Dumbbell Pullovers: 4 sets x 10 reps-superset with
Dumbbell Flyes: 4 sets x 10 reps

Cardio – 12 minute HIIT (high-intensity interval training)

Wednesday Workout – Arms and Calves (Optional Workout)

Rope Pressdowns: 4 sets x 10 reps-superset with
Dumbbell Hammer Curls: 4 sets x 10 reps

Seated Overhead Dumbbell Extensions: 4 sets x 10 reps-superset with
Barbell (or EZ Bar) Curls: 4 sets x 10 reps

Seated Calves Raises: 4 sets x 12 reps

Standing Calves Raises: 75’s (rest 10 seconds between sets until you hit 75 total reps…yes, this is like my song on Heavy Metal Workout II:  F’n’ Brutal!)

Cardio – 25-minute walk

Thursday Workout – Squats and Core

Squats: 4 sets x 8 reps-superset with
Decline Sit-ups: 4 sets x 8 reps

Front Squats: 4 sets x 8 reps-superset with
Rope Crunches: 4 sets x 8 reps

Good Mornings: 4 sets x 10 reps-superset with
Leg Raises: 4 sets x 10 reps

Cardio – 12 minute HIIT

Friday Workout – Back and Shoulders

Reverse Grip Barbell Rows: 4 sets x 8 reps-superset with
Standing Overhead Press: 4 sets x 8 reps

Lat Pulldowns: 4 sets x 8 reps-superset with
Seated Dumbbell Press: 4 sets x 8 reps

Weighted Pullups: 4 sets x 10 reps-superset with
Lateral Raises: 4 sets x 10 reps

Cardio – 12 minute HIIT (high-intensity interval training)

Weekends

*Saturdays and Sundays are typically rest days, though I often go to the gym with my wife on the weekends and I’ll hit a quick arm and calves workout followed by a HIIT cardio session. 

**If you wanted to make this a four-day program, you could throw in a little arms at the end of one or more of the other workouts. I may do that soon – that would grant me more time in the studio recording music! 

Favorite Exercise

What’s my favorite exercise? Well, it’s similar to the first track on my Heavy Metal Workout II album called Death Lift.

Yes, deadlifts. This ‘King of Exercises‘ is an overall size and strength builder. There’s no greater feeling than the aftermath of doing a few sets of heavy deads. You walk away feeling like you can conquer anything because you just conquered picking up raw weight off the floor.

I’m also a huge fan of weighted pull-ups. It may take you a while to get there but don’t let that discourage you. Keep pushing. If you have to start out with assisted pull-ups, that’s fine. You will get there, I promise!

How Supersets and Giant Sets Can Make You Stronger

You may be looking at this program and thinking that supersets don’t belong in any type of strength training workout routine. That’s what I would’ve thought too.

I took this concept from a Strongman title holder from Maryland, Brian Alsruhe. He has a 24-minute video out there explaining his linear progression program on strength and conditioning. And remember, this workout program is all about strength and conditioning. You can check out Brian on YouTube.

As I started doing this workout routine, I made changes to it that I thought would be best for my personal goals. And that’s what you have to do. I even say the same thing with the guitar videos I put out there on YouTube. Take what I’m giving you and use it as a guide to create your own.

Anyway, back to supersets. The idea is to perform an antagonist exercise, kind of like push-pull (or pull-push). So think of these as giant sets instead of supersets.

I don’t claim to know the science behind this, but I’ve been making some serious gains from this workout method. I’ve especially noticed gains in my barbell rows and bench press.

Prior to doing this strength and conditioning workout routine, I thought for sure doing a set of rows first would kill my bench press. It’s done just the opposite.

This type of workout is exhausting and I’ll admit it’s hard to wrap your head around the concept at first. But trust me; follow it for a few weeks, at least a month. It works. You just have to really push yourself.

Strength and Conditioning Workout

I want to briefly touch on the most hated task. Cardio. I would rather us use the word conditioning because that’s really what we’re doing with cardio exercise.

I’m alternating two types of cardio workouts here. One day is a short HIIT (high-intensity interval training) followed by a longer duration of moderate cardio the next day. This keeps the boredom down and integrating both will keep your body tight and your heart in check.

My HIIT cardio is usually down on the recumbent bike. I’ll go hard for about 30 seconds and back off to a slow pace for 30 seconds to a minute. And then I’ll repeat. I usually do this for 10-13 minutes.

The longer durations of cardio are just walking on the treadmill. I se the incline to about three and walk for 25-30 minutes at anywhere between 3.2 to 3.4 mph.

Heavy Metal Workout Workout

Well, that’s my new strength and conditioning workout routine. I’ve been on this plan for three weeks now. After four weeks I’ll go a little heavier on the compound lifts that I do in the beginning, and do 5 sets of 5 reps. But I’ll keep the reps at 8 and 10 for the other exercises else.

So what’s the best thing to listen to during these workouts? Metal! Of course, I listen to my own music but I also listen bands like…

• Amon Amarth
• Arch Enemy
• Exmortus
• Exodus
• Testament

…and several more bands of the like. I tend to listen to more death metal when I workout.

There’s no instrumental music out there for this genre, which is specifically why I wrote and recorded Heavy Metal Workout II. It’s more of a thrash metal meets death metal album, but it’s all instrumental.

I encourage you to try this strength training workout routine. Start this workout today!

Keep it Metal,

Jason

P.S. If you want to fuel your workouts with pure instrumental heavy metal music, then check out my Heavy Metal Workout album series!

The post Heavy Metal Strength and Conditioning Workout Routine appeared first on Jason Stallworth.

What if I told you there’s an original Christmas metal song you can listen to instead? 

Christmas music is cool, but you can only listen to the same song so many times before you get sick of it!

“So, what about that metal Christmas song you were talking about?”

It’s called Christmas Presence!

Listen to Christmas Presence Here
This will open a new browser, so you don’t lose this page

The Making of Christmas Presence

This all started back in 2012. I had this strong urge to write an original Christmas metal instrumental—something different from the same handful of songs we hear every year.

Naturally, Carol of the Bells was the first thing that came to mind. So I picked up my guitar and started riffing off that main melody. But it didn’t take long before things evolved. Within just a few sessions, I had created something with its own identity—still holding that Christmas spirit, but with a fresh metal vibe.

Some parts of the song clearly pay tribute to Carol of the Bells, but most of it grew into something unique. And that was the challenge—I didn’t want to just make another cover of a song that’s already been rehashed a thousand times.

I wanted Christmas Presence to stand out as its own track—recognizable as Christmas music, but not a traditional carol or even a metalized rendition. The structure, riffs, and melodies all came from a place of inspiration, not imitation.

Watch the Video

Evolution of an Original Metal Christmas Song

I sat on this track for a few years (okay, not literally sat on it—but I didn’t do anything else with it!). Occasionally, I’d go back and listen, and I’d even play it for a few friends during the holidays.

But every Christmas season, that itch came back—the urge to do something with it…

Then, in early 2016, it hit me:
Why not release it as a single?
It would be my first official single, and I had already released two full albums by that point. Plus, I had just dropped Heavy Metal Workout that February and had already started working on the next record. The momentum was there, and I’ve learned that when you’ve got momentum, keep moving.

I went back to my original recording of Christmas Presence and… it didn’t sit right with me anymore. Something was off. It felt too much like a cover of Carol of the Bells—which was the opposite of what I wanted.

So, I made a bold move…

I deleted everything.

I scrapped the old session, made some structural changes to the composition, and re-recorded the entire track from scratch.

The biggest change? That melodic nod to Carol of the Bells—I reworked it until it had just the right balance. The song still gives you that Christmas vibe, but it’s far from a cover. It’s got original melodies and progressions with just enough seasonal flavor to make it feel like the holidays…metal-style.

How I Recorded the Music for Christmas Presence

If you’re a guitar player or musician, you’ll dig this part. Even if you’re not, I think you’ll still find it cool to hear how the track came together behind the scenes.

I actually used three different amp sounds for the guitar tracks on this one:

• Fender Mustang IV miked with a Shure SM57 for the rhythm guitars and melodic leads
• Positive Grid BIAS FX (amp sim) for the solos
• Line 6 POD HD500 for the clean/ambient parts—there’s a specific reverb on this unit that I’ve still never been able to replicate anywhere else!

Bonus: Here’s a post where I talk more about the Mustang IV’s metal tones

For the acoustic guitar, I used a couple of simple effects in Studio One Pro—just a compressor and EQ—to give it a full, rich tone.

And for the bass, I’m pretty sure I used Studio Devil’s Bass Amp Pro (man, that plugin served me well back in the day!).

The recording process overall was smooth. This track came together naturally, almost effortlessly.
Now, I did spend some time tweaking and dialing in the solos—but hey, that’s par for the course!

Christmas Presence – The First Video (Pre-Release Version)

Fast forward about a year after I first wrote the song—I ended up playing an early version of Christmas Presence live at a church. Around that same time, I uploaded a video of the track to YouTube.

We actually shot the video in our old apartment. My wife and I used to make Christmas videos instead of sending cards (still love that idea!). In this one, we introduced the song and shared it with our friends and family.

Here’s the YouTube video below. Again, this is the first version of Christmas Presence before it was officially released on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc. So the below will sound a bit different from the official release.

Watch the first version of Christmas Presence:

This was way before the official release—and way before I knew what I was doing on YouTube. So please forgive the video quality!

Note: This version sounds a little different from the final mix that was released on Spotify, iTunes, and other platforms.

Where to Listen to Christmas Presence

Now for the good stuff—here’s where you can listen to and support the song!

Christmas Presence is available on all major streaming platforms like:

• Spotify
• iTunes
• Amazon Music
• YouTube Music
• …and more!

Click here to view and listen on all available platforms

Metal Christmas Music Brings Good Tidings (and Riffs!) of Comfort and Joy

Metal music is our passion. And for many of us, there’s something special about Christmastime. So, when you can combine the two…that’s magic.

The goal with Christmas Presence was to bring all those warm, nostalgic holiday emotions together with the powerful, spellbinding energy we get from metal. It’s a song from the heart—heavy and hopeful.

I hope you enjoy listening to Christmas Presence as much as I enjoyed creating it. Be sure to add it to your metal Christmas playlist this year!

Keep it Metal,
Jason

The post Behind the Scenes: Christmas Presence – My Original Christmas Metal Instrumental Song appeared first on Jason Stallworth.

Listen While You Read

Or stream it anywhere you listen to music—Click here to listen on other platforms

What Is Apocalyptic Dreams?

This 12-track instrumental journey marries classic heavy metal intensity—think Metallica and Joe Satriani—with the soaring melodic tones of European power metal like Sonata Arctica, Nightwish, and Evergrey.

• Balanced solos—melodic, expressive, and fast, but never overpowering the core rhythm riffing.
• A mix of emotional and edgy hooks woven throughout riffs, progressions, and solos that stick with you.
• Ambient-driven textures, using clean and reverb-drenched guitar passages to add emotional depth and atmosphere where you’d usually expect keyboard or synth layers.

Apocalyptic Dreams Track List

Released December 2013

1. Redemption
2. End of Days
3. Facing the Guillotine
4. Apocalyptic Dreams
5. Dark Forces Shall Bow
6. Out There
7. Mission: Terminate
8. Legion of the Underworld
9. As Iron Sharpens Iron
10. Fire and Ice
11. The Healing
12. The Epicist

Listen anywhere: Find it on your favorite platform

The Making of Apocalyptic Dreams

Alright, here’s where I take you behind the scenes. Looking at this from a high level, it all seems fairly simple, and I like to keep things simple. But man, there was a huge learning curve that presented some challenges.

Adapting to Computer-Based Recording (Painful!)

This was my first time using a DAW—My only recording experience was back in the late-90s when I had an old school Fostex DMT-8 hardware recorder.

Now I had to learn something completely new – how to record on my laptop with a PreSonus AudioBox USB (I didn’t even know what an interface was before that). I started in Reaper, then moved to Studio One Artist (later upgraded to Pro). There were many frustrations and mistakes made, but I eventually figured it out.

The Search for Tone (and Sanity Test)

Dialing in the guitar sound drove me nuts. I started with a Line 6 POD XT Live and experimented with amp sims like LePou’s Legion and a few others (this was 2009, and amp sims were somewhat new). I upgraded to HD500 when it was released. Although the tones were much better, I was now going down a new rabbit hole of sounds. Kinda like starting from scratch.

The real breakthrough came with the HD 500 ENGL Fireball (Angel FBALL) in the HD500. That tone fit my vision for the album perfectly. Some clean and ambient parts came from HD500’s Fender clean tone with the HD500 ‘Particle Verb’ reverb (love this effect!). That’s what I used to replicate those ambient sounds you get from keyboards. Again, this is where my influences from bands like Nightwish and Evergrey came in.

No Drummer? No Problem

I didn’t want to use a basic drum machine or program—those just didn’t feel right for the vibe I was going for. But hiring a real drummer wasn’t in the cards at the time (tight budget and all that). After a ton of searching, I came across Beta Monkey’s Double Bass Mania (I used versions III and IV). These are real drum samples played by real drummers, and they sounded killer.

The challenge? Sifting through hundreds of loops to build full drum tracks that fit my riffs and progressions. It was time-consuming, but also kinda fun—it felt like piecing together a metal puzzle. In the end, I was blown away by how natural and aggressive the drums turned out. It gave the album the punch it needed without sounding overly programmed or robotic.

Mixing & Mastering

Mixing felt surprisingly smooth. I used KRK Rokit monitors and tested on headphones, laptop speakers, and in the car. I’m not one to layer guitars on top of guitars. My process is simple. I record two rhythm guitars and hard pan them. Then I have my bass and lead tracks up the middle (except the harmonizing solos you hear; this was not a pitch shift effect – I recorded both leads and hard-panned those).

In the end, I decided to send the project for mastering. Mike Olson (JMO Services LLC) did an incredible job—his ears polished the album into something I’ll always be proud of (thank you, Mike).

Gear Snapshot

• Guitars: Mainly the ESP M‑1000 Deluxe, though I used my Ibanez RG1570 on some ambient parts
• Bass: Dean 5‑string through Studio One plugins (I just built my own effects chain with EQ and compression)
• Interface: PreSonus AudioBox USB
• DAW: Studio One Pro (this was the FIRST Version!)
• Amp Sim: Line 6 POD HD500 w/ ENGL Fireball for the metal rhythms and leads, Fender for the cleans and ambient sounds
• Monitors: KRK G5 Rokits
• Drums: Beta Monkey Double Bass Mania loops
• Mastering: Mike Olson, JMO Services LLC

Crafted with minimal gear, in a small apartment-turned-studio over two years. Every note was written, recorded, and mixed by me in the living room. I’ll always be proud of this album.

Special Thanks

• Candy – Always believed and supported my dream—couldn’t have done it without your love
• Mike Olson – Mastering wizard and great friend
• Family & Mentors – My parents for supporting my musical interests from the beginning, my early mentor Ron Goodman (RIP, you were one of a kind), Ronnie Miller (you helped my dad pick out my first guitar and introduced my to Joe’s Flying in a Blue Dream, which had just come out at that time and to this day gives me chills), Uncle Fred, Will Pufall (RIP, it was so great playing music with you on stage all those years), Jon Castillo
• Close Friends/Old Bandmates (The Guys)– Eddie Gray, Tom Sherman, your feedback drove this forward

Why It Matters

This was more than an album. It was my initiation into writing, recording, and releasing music independently. I navigated technical challenges, guitar tone hunts, drum workaround, and perfectionism. Every step shaped how I teach and create today. If you’re diving into recording your own music, I hope this story inspires you to keep moving forward, no matter what.

Want More Metal Motivation?

Dive into my second instrumental album, Heavy Metal Workout — a hard-hitting 12-track record built specifically for lifting and pushing limits in the gym. Check out the story behind it and what gear I used here:
Behind the Scenes: Heavy Metal Workout (2016)

Keep it Metal,
Jason

The post Behind the Scenes: Apocalyptic Dreams (2013) appeared first on Jason Stallworth.