In the years since the pandemic, weightlifting has frequently been associated with right-wing and even neofascist politics. In the media, guys—and it's always guys—who lift are regularly portrayed as authoritarian thugs, toxic dudes, and MAGA maniacs, or worse. "Getting fit is great," reads a 2024 Guardian headline, "but it could turn you into a right-wing jerk."
So it's not surprising to see Jordan Castro's new novel, Muscle Man, hailed as a literary response to the gym bro–ification of the right. But Castro's story is trickier, subtler, and funnier than any thinkpiece about the manosphere's favorite workout regimen.
