Joseph F. Radosevich

Here is my detailed review of what I did and what my results are. When I thought through doing Easy Strength for Fat Loss, I would have liked to see a review like this.  The Easy Strength plan is to do 2 sets of 5 exercises 3-5 days per week for 40 workouts. The secret is that you never goal to failure and do just enough to nudge your strength up gradually. The main adjustments "for Fat Loss" include adding 5 sets of 15 Kettlebell swings and 1 hour of walking or cycling on a fan bike (Airdyne). What I did Warm-up (5 Goblet Squats/5 Push-ups/2:00 on Airdyne for 2 rounds) Kettlebell Press 2x5 Pull-ups or Hangs (I hung for 30 seconds for 2 rounds. Every 4th day, I did 3 sets of 3 pull-ups. Dan John recommended this to help protect your elbow. I didn't want to get Middle-Aged Pull-up Syndrome again--I've had it twice.) Staggered Stance Romanian Deadlift 2x5 with each leg Ab Wheel Rollouts 1 set of 10 Carry 1 set (I did farmer's carry one day, suitcase the next, and wa...

Inspired by Phillips Brooks' advice to "write something besides sermons" but to do it as a pastor, I thought of what I would say about fitness from the perspective of a pastor and Christian who was a former personal trainer. I enjoyed being a personal trainer. Losing 50 lbs. improved my life a lot. I enjoyed helping others move better, feel better, and get healthier. There are a lot of pitfalls in the health and fitness world though. I'm not sure that they are different than in other areas of our world, but they exist. Here is what I would say as a pastor to someone about how to pursue health and fitness as a Christian: Don't be selfish or self-centered. 2 Corinthians 5:15 reminds us that we once lived for ourselves before we met Christ. So if our fitness goals or methods are selfish, we are going back to our old way of living. If your goal is to get other people's attention, then it is selfish. If your method requires you to sacrifice your family to spend exc...

 Apart from its incidental advantage, to his style and manner, I think it is good, for a minister to do some work besides clerical work, and to write something besides sermons. But he must do it as a minister. And the proof of how large is his vocation, is that he can do it and yet be a minister in it all. He can write books, and yet not be a literary man but a minister. He can help the government, and yet not be a politician but a minister. There are bad ways, but there are also good ways in which a clergyman can carry his clerical character with him wherever he goes. It may be to your discredit, or to your credit, that strangers say of you, "I should know he was a minister." For the best minister is simply the fullest man.  Phillips Brooks, The Joy of Preaching , 83. This is from the pastor who wrote the Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

I hadn't shot my compound bow in at least two months and wondered how I would do this week when I shot with a friend. I thought my bow was broken at first because it was so easy. I remembered that I had done Dan John's Easy Strength program since the last time I had shot. That must be what made the difference. This surprised me because usually in strength training and in sports the principle is specific adaptation. You train the motion and muscles used to get stronger and better at that sport. I hadn't done any rows in the last two months which is the closest motion you can get to the drawing motion of archery. Something about building pure strength made a major difference. This is what I'm thinking about: Sometimes focus on building specific strength. Sometimes just get stronger. There are several parallels that applies to in other areas of life. I can think of how growing as a person, pastor, gardener, writer sometimes involves focusing on specifics and sometimes jus...

I republished my booklist as a downloadable and searchable ebook. You can get it here . You get personal reviews on almost 1000 books that I actually read for $1.65.  Why would you want it? You can find out my thoughts on a book. Since it is searchable, you can find what you are looking for fast. You can search to find a book on a topic that you are interested in.  You like me and think $1.65 is a good price for so many reviews. Why $1.65? Because once the host and the credit card company take their cut, I wanted to get $1. So $1.65 is the price.  I republished it because I had difficulty with Amazon that published the hardcopy. I also realized that the book is more useful digitally because you can search it. All you have to do to search it is press Ctrl+F. 

We are drowning in more information but less knowledge about the things we use, try, and buy. Whether it is Artificial intelligence-written websites, marketing, content farms, or bad writing, we have lots of words about things. That doesn't mean we know what we want or need to know.  We can help each other out to fix this.  Whatever it is that you know best, share that with others. Many people share their products, plans, courses, etc. What the rest of us need is for real people to share an actual look inside. So whatever you actually know and use, share your story and the results that come from it. I tell the stories of seed varieties, kettlebells, coffee brewing methods. I write about the books that I'm reading. Those reviews are so that people can know about these things.   I'm finishing another Dan John workout plan this week. I think about people like myself who would like to know what my results and thoughts are as an actual user. Someone thinking about doing t...

Preheat the cup. I did a test this year with a thermometer and noticed that the water dropped 30° when I poured it into a room temperature cup. Unless I want the temperature of the coffee to drop, I realized I needed to preheat the cup with hot water from the kettle. Preheat the French press. This is related to the previous insight. I was never happy brewing in my insulated French press. I realized that if the temperature drops 30°, then it is not brewing at the right temperature in my French press. Preheating the French press made a huge difference. Press the French press slowly. I learned from James Hoffman--and someone else I don't remember--that the grit on a french press largely comes from stirring up the grounds by pressing quickly. By pressing slowly or not pressing at all and pouring it through the mesh, you get a much cleaner cup. It does make a big difference and you end up with a lot less of the solids in the bottom which can make the coffee become more bitter the longer...

  I recently bought a new kettlebell. It was my first new kettlebell in 10 years. I read lots of reviews, but few of them included details about how the kettlebell worked with certain styles of training. I am very happy with the REP Fitness Kettlebell and thought it would be good to review it along with details about how I use it. My style of training is similar to what you see in RKC or Strongfirst. I do kettlebell swings to shoulder height. I like kettlebell snatches and cleans, but I don't do long cycle. I didn't want a competition bell. I wanted a kettlebell with a slightly matte finish.  I already own kettlebells from Lifeline, Muscle Driver, and Fringesport. My Lifeline kettlebell is my favorite. It has an amazing matte finish that doesn't rip my hands. The Fringesport One Fit Wonder kettlebells have narrow handles and are rough and slick at the same time (they no longer sell that line).  When I first got into kettlebell training, the reviews I read said that Dragon...

 Lord-willing, I'll be praying through the world map in 2024. In past years, I've read through the Bible. This year, my goal is praying. I plan on praying through the world map using the plan in Operation World and Pray for the World . I'll lean on Pray for the World  more because it is the abridged edition. You can also use their app or website to find their list of places to pray for.  Larger countries and regions get a few days dedicated to praying for them. Smaller countries just get one day. The books have both reasons to thank God and things to ask God for. I won't be reading everything. I'll be looking for something that catches my eye and use that as the inspiration for my prayers. I love the books and thought it would go well with my regular devotions. I didn't want to change my current Bible reading plans, but this gives me a little change without being overwhelming.

  Here are my results from my 2023 goals. I actually like not completing everything. I like stretching and missing a few. If I missed a lot, that would be a problem. Here are my goals for 2023:  Health Workout 200 Times (This is 16x a month) COMPLETED 280 Do 5 pull-ups FINISHED 3 Power Wheel roll-outs (I've been working on roll-outs for 2 years. They are hard.) I'm not there yet, but I've made good progress. Learn Learn to make Chicken Biryani (Last year was Tikka Masala.) FINISHED Read 36 books (6 audiobooks) Finished 6 Personal Finish edits on my Family Dictionary of Theology (This is the 3rd round of edits.) FINISHED Draft 2 other book ideas DID NOT COMPLETE Write 26 times on blog FINISHED Have 20 fires in firepit with my family (This is so that I slow down and enjoy time at home without a to-do list.) COMPLETED 5 OF 20 (but we had a lot of quality time with things like visiting parks and playing board games) Visit 5 historic sites with my family in our area Visited 5

My first list of my favorite books of the year was mostly fiction. I also read theology, biblical studies, leadership, etc. I thought I would list some of those. What is interesting is that most of them are books I read for the second or third time. I decided to reread some books from seminary this year. I got so much from them. With a few years of pastoring and almost forty years of life behind me, I understand better why my professors assigned these books. Christ-Centered Preaching , Bryan Chapell. This is a great book on all of the different aspects of preaching. This is the third time I read it. I think I got far more from it than ever before.  Baptists in America , Thomas Kidd and Barry Hankins. This is readable history. Kidd and Hankins make each paragraph and chapter move quickly. The story is great. The subject is something I wanted to know. They make it a work of art by their amazing writing. Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture , Graeme Goldsworthy. This is th...

Here are my favorite books that I read in 2023: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. I read this on vacation and absolutely loved it. It's the best book by Lowry that I've read. It is a story about a girl during World War II in Denmark. It is based on true stories about the Danish resistance against Nazi occupation. *I highly recommend reading juvenile and young adult fiction on vacation. Plant Science for Gardeners and Soil Science for Gardeners by Robert Pavlich. I read two of these books over the winter and loved them. He explains the ins and outs of how plants grow, what they do, what defense mechanisms are, etc. He also explains what soil is and how soil works. It helped me a lot in the garden. It also made me wonder and marvel at the world. Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. I read this in kind of a book club with two of my kids-they read the abridged young adult version. We really loved it The story was excellent. It was the story of the rowing team that formed at th...

I discovered this year that I have an imaginary social media profile. I think that's healthier for me. I found though that using the Google photos app as social media is emotionally better for me. I can enjoy the pictures that I take without needing other people's approval. Google brings up memories from the past or ties them together in a theme. I often think of posts or captions for the pictures that I take. I've heard of other people creating fake social media profiles or fake blogs that nobody knows exists because it's kept private. Google photos has been that for me. I didn't post anything on social media for the first 6 months of the year. I was wrestling with the question, can I use social media without serving people's opinion of me? In truth, I don't think I can. I post something now once a month or two. When I do, I still find myself craving every like. Every time someone approves of it or leaves a comment it feels better for me than it ought to. I...

Many Christians make it their goal to read through the Bible in a year. They start with a plan or a new bible and they jump in. I regularly hear pastors say that everyone should read through the Bible in a year. I think Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that pastors should do this every year.  I wonder if there is a risk of legalism whether you fail or succeed. Those who  can't keep it up feel guilty they didn't get it done. I don't believe that shame and guilt should be the motivator in the Christian life. Feeling guilty that you failed at a goal the Bible didn't command is legalism. Those who succeed might have just checked something off their box. We aren't made righteous by what we do so reading through the Bible doesn't add to righteousness.  I do think that every Christian should read through the Bible at least once and probably many times in his or her life. I just don't think it has to be done in one calendar year. More ideas on that at the end. Who shouldn...

Someone recently told me that he struggles to move forward reading a book if he can't remember what he's already read. He didn't ask my advice, but his situation made me think about the value of reading if you don't remember everything? Should you remember everything you read? First, if you really can't remember anything, then you should reevaluate reading the book at all. If you don't like the book enough to engage your brain with the book, then maybe this isn't the time. Don't read a book just because everyone says you should. It could be that the problem is with the book and not with you. Second, part of the value of reading a book is that it forms your brain. They way a good author thinks, sees, and argues gives you a new way to think. That is part of the value of reading. Not just learning what the author thinks, but why and how. For example, part of the value of reading John Piper is that you can learn how he thinks about the Bible, theology, and t...