Here we are nearing another end of year and 2021 showed only certain differences from 2020. I won’t go too far down any COVID rabbit holes except to say that we are still “dealing with it”. I, myself, had a breakthrough case this year which was anything but pleasant and I’m glad to be on the other side of it.
As for RevFit, we continued our trajectory over last year and I can say, happily, that 2021 was our best year ever. To every single person, client and coach, who made that happen, thank you. I certainly could not have done this on my own.
So, as I’ve been known to do at year-end, here’s my annual list: My Top 5 most downloaded episodes of Revolutionary You, the podcasts I was featured as a guest on, my Top 5 most read articles, and all of the books I consumed in 2021.
The Top 5 Most Downloaded Episodes Of Revolutionary You in 2021
I took my podcast in a different direction this year after my milestone 300th episode. I wanted to challenge myself as a host and I wanted to highlight more of my guests. As a result, I pivoted the show to 4-part miniseries. With the exception of a 4-part client spotlight, each segment featured coaches and health professionals for 4 episodes in a row to give you the topics they were most passionate speaking on. I’m not sure how far I’ll take the direction, but I’ve enjoyed the change of pace and I can see myself doing this up until at least episode 400 and then I’ll decide where to go after that. Here are the Top 5 most downloaded of this year:
1: #317: Dr. Allan Bacon-Breaking Through Plateaus (1 of 4)
2: #314: Ruby Cherie-On Health Privilege, Fitness Identities And Learning How To Pivot (2 of 4)
3: #300: Leigh Peele-Restriction Is Not Reasonable Or Rational
4: #289: Melody Schoenfeld-“Diet Lies And Weight Loss Truths”
5: #316: Ruby Cherie-What About Motivation? (4 of 4)
My Podcast Features Of 2021
From Betrayal To Breakthrough (Debi Silber-host)-#191: Tales From Rock Bottom with Jason Leenaarts
The Heavy Metal Strength Coach (Chris Kershaw-host)-#20
M.I. Take (Brad Dieter-host)-A New Revolution with Jason Leenaarts
My Top 5 Most Read Articles Of 2021
3: I Want To Lose Weight (But I Don’t Want To Do The Things It Takes To Lose Weight)
4: Unwilling
5: Five Signs You’re Not Ready For A Fat Loss Coach (And Three Tips For The Coach)
And here’s every book I consumed (physical and audio) in 2021:
1- 33 1/3: Kid A by Marvin Lin
2- 33 1/3: Tusk by Rob Trucks
3- 33 1/3: Chocolate and Cheese by Hank Shteamer
4-Wild Thing: The Short, Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix by Philip Norman
5-Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh
6-Diet Lies And Weight Loss Truths by Melody Schoenfeld & Susan Kleiner
7-Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
8-The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
9-My Body My Words by Various Authors
10-Resonant Leadership by Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee
11-Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
12-Enter Night: A Biography of Metallica by Mick Wall
13-Let Love Rule by Lenny Kravitz and David Ruiz
14-The Overstory by Richard Powers
15-If I Die Tonight by Alison Gaylin
16-Bourbon Curious by Fred Minnick
17-Calling Bullshit by Carl T. Bergstrom & Jevin D. West
18-Acid For The Children by Flea
19-Some Might Say: The Definitive Story Of Oasis by Richard Bowles
20-Fit At Any Age: It’s Never Too Late by Susan Niebergall
21-Rocks: My Life In and Out of Aerosmith by Joe Perry and David Ritz
22- Profit First For Microgyms by John Briggs
23-Our Band Could Be Your Life by Michael Azerrad
24-Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby
25-Body Kindness by Rebecca Scritchfield
26-Who Not How by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
27-Functional Training Anatomy by Kevin Carr and Mary Kate Feit
28-Strong Women Lift Each Other Up by Molly Galbraith
29-The Odyssey by Homer
30-How To Do The Work by Dr. Nicole LePera
31-Let It Blurt: The Life & Times Of Lester Bangs, America’s Greatest Rock Critic by Jim DeRogatis
32-Sophisticated Giant: The Life & Legacy of Dexter Gordon by Maxine Gordon
33-World In My Eyes: The Autobiography by Richard Blade
34-It Takes A Tribe by Will Dean
35-The Game by Neil Strauss
36-Thrive State by Kien Vuu
37-The Search For John Lennon by Leslie Ann-Jones
38-A Second Chance by Catherine Hoke
39-The Mental Toughness Handbook by Damon Zahariades
40-Modern Music Masters: Suede by Tom Boniface-Webb
41-Beckoning: When Happiness Calls by Rebecca B. Cooper
42-Creativity by John Cleese
43-How To by Randall Munroe
44-Raised In Captivity by Chuck Klosterman
45-Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein
46-Comfortably Numb: The Inside Story of Pink Floyd by Mark Blake
47-Original Gangstas by Ben Westhoff
48-American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
49-Health At Every Size by Linda Bacon
50-The Almanack Of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgensen
51-Your Favorite Band Is Killing Me by Steven Hyden
52-The Psychology Of Money by Morgan Housel
53-Meet Me In The Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 by Lizzy Goodman
54-Hello, Habits by Fumio Sasaki
55-In The Pleasure Groove: Love, Death & Duran Duran by John Taylor
56-The Music Shop by Rachel Joyce
57-You, Darling, Are Worth The Fight by Julie Tussey
58-Unfaithful Music And Disappearing Ink by Elvis Costello
59-White Dialogues by Bennett Sims
60-Unbroken Brain by Maia Szalavitz
61-Mariette In Ecstasy by Ron Hansen
62-Jailhouse Strong Interval Training by Josh Bryant & Adam Benshea
63-Jailhouse Strong: The Successful Mindset Manual by Josh Bryant & Adam Benshea
64-World Travel by Anthony Bourdain
65-A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
66-Hell’s Angels by Hunter S. Thompson
67-Lightning Field by Dana Spiotta
68-White Girls by Hilton Als
69-Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven And Hell With Black Sabbath by Tony Iommi
70-Power Vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants Of Human Behavior by Dr. David R. Hawkins
71-Risk Savvy: How To Make Good Decisions by Gerd Gigerenzer
72-Body by Harry Crews
73-Superfandom: How Our Obsessions Are Changing What We Buy And Who We Are by Zoe Fraade-Blanar & Aaron M. Glazer
74-No Time Like The Future by Michael J. Fox
75-The End Of Food by Paul Roberts
76-Room by Emma Donoghue
77-The Experience Economy by B. Joseph Pine II & James H. Gilmore
78-A Drop Of Midnight by Jason Diakite
79-Death By Food Pyramid by Denise Minger
80-Balance by Scott McCredie
81-The Pursuit Of Perfect by Tal Ben-Shahar
82-Mutations: The Many Strange Faces Of Hardcore Punk by Sam McPheeters
83-What Are The Odds? by Mike Lindell
84-The Coach’s Strength Training Playbook by Joe Kenn
85-Bright Line Eating by Susan Peirce Thompson
86-33 1/3: American Recordings by Tony Tost
87-33 1/3: Some Girls by Cyrus R.K. Patell
88-33 1/3: You’re Living All Over Me by Nick Attfield
89-33 1/3: Marquee Moon by Bryan Waterman
90-33 1/3: Amazing Grace by Aaron Cohen
91-33 1/3: Dummy by R.J. Wheaton
92-33 1/3: Fear Of Music by Jonathan Lethem
93-33 1/3: Histoire de Melody Nelson by Darran Anderson
94-33 1/3: Flood by S. Alexander Reed & Philip Sandifer
95-33 1/3: I Get Wet by Phillip Crandall
96-The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down by Haemin Sunim
97-Attention Pays by Neen James
98-Exhalation by Ted Chiang
99-Persuadable by Al Pittampalli
100-Whiplash by Joi Ito and Jeff Howe
101-The Art Of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
102-Chasing Ghosts by Paul Reichoff
103-I Want My MTV by Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks
104-The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon
105-Billy Summers by Stephen King
106-An Adult Child’s Guide To ‘What’s Normal’ by John Friel and Linda Friel
107-The Book Of Beautiful Questions by Warren Berger
108-The Comfort Book by Matt Haig
109-The Power Of Myth by Joseph Campbell
110-Gladiator: A True Story Of ‘Roids, Rage And Redemption by Dan “Nitro” Clark
111-The Broken Circle by Enjeela Ahmadi-Miller
112-The Art Of Persuasion by Bob Burg
113-Not One Of These Poems Is About You by Teva Harrison
114-Choke by Sian Beilock
115-England’s Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock And Beyond by Jon Savage
116-How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie
117-Think And Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
118-Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance
119-The Excellence Dividend by Tom Peters
120-Stumbling On Happiness by Daniel Gilbert
121-Mrs. March by Virginia Feito
122-Crazy Like Us by Ethan Watters
123-My War: Killing In Iraq by Colby Buzzell
124-Love For Imperfect Things by Haemin Sunim
125-This Music Leaves Stains: The Complete Story Of The Misfits by James Greene Jr.
126-What To Say When You Talk To Yourself by Shad Helmstetter
127-Spark by John Ratey, MD and Eric Hagerman
128-Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
129-The Choice by Dr. Edith Eva Eger
130-Ever Fallen In Love: The Lost Buzzcocks Tapes by Pete Shelley with Louis Shelley
131-The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler
132-Plenty: A Memoir Of Family And Food by Hannah Howard
133-The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
134-The Tapping Solution by Nick Ornther
135-The Chaos Kind by Barry Eisler
136-Burn by Herman Pontzer
137-The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
138-Uncommon People: The Rise And Fall Of The Rock Stars by David Hepworth
139-The Language Of Coaching by Nick Winkleman
140-And Party Every Day by Larry Harris
141-I Killed Pink Floyd’s Pig by Beau Phillips
142-The Collected Schizophrenias by Esme Weijun Wang
143-Weaponized Lies by Daniel J. Levitin
144-Women by Charles Bukowski
145-Substance: Inside New Order by Peter Hook
146-Get In The Van by Henry Rollins
147-Circe by Madeline Miller
148-Stay Fanatic Vol. 2 by Henry Rollins
149-The Bees by Laline Paull
150-All Gates Open: The Story Of Can by Rob Young & Irmin Schmidt
151-The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
152-How To Get Rich by Felix Dennis
153-Hard Core: Life Of My Own by Harley Flanagan
154-Severance by Ling Ma
155-Lillian Boxfish Takes A Walk by Kathleen Rooney
156-Please Kill Me by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain
157-The Sellout by Paul Beatty
158-Trejo: My Life Of Crime, Redemption And Hollywood by Danny Trejo
159-Chickenhawk by Robert Mason
160-The Conversion Code by Chris Smith
161-The Tell by Matthew Hertenstein
162-Wholly Unraveled by Keele Burgin
163-Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday
164-The Underneath by Melanie Finn
165-Laurel Canyon by Michael Walker
166-The Stubborn Fat Loss Solution by Lyle McDonald
167-Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album by Matthew Robertson
168-Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day Of The Locust by Nathanael West
169-The Brave Athlete by Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson
170-Up Tight: The Velvet Underground Story by Victor Bockris and Gerard Malanga
171-Simple Rules by Donald Sull and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt
172-Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer by Patrick Suskind
173-Feel Like Going Home by Peter Guralnick
174-On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins
175-More Than A Body by Lindsay Kite and Lexie Kite
176-A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach To Being A Better Leader by Ari Weinzweig
177-The 4 Disciplines Of Execution by Chris McChesney, Jim Huling and Sean Covey
178-Master Your Emotions by Thibaut Meurisse
179-Japanese Women Don’t Get Old Or Fat by Naomi Moriyama
180-The Power Of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
181-This Isn’t Happening by Steven Hyden
182-Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith
183-A General Theory Of Love by Dr. Richard Lemmon, Dr. Thomas Lewis, and Dr. Kari Amini
184-Light Is The New Black by Rebecca Campbell
185-Becoming Unbreakable by Kate Galliett
(Here’s a picture of my wife, Marissa, and I enjoying a small pour of Van Winkle 12 Year in Kentucky during our 7-year anniversary getaway. Cheers!)
