2020 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Ongoing language-learning challenges, and team challenge logs (but not individual logs)
Cainntear
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Re: 2020 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby Cainntear » Tue Aug 18, 2020 7:55 am

I didn't really bother with this thread as I haven't really been doing any language learning, but I've managed to lose quite a bit of weight over the last 10 or 11 months -- from over 90kg to about 73. Mostly down to road cycling, VR games and better diet.
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coldrainwater
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Re: 2020 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby coldrainwater » Mon Aug 31, 2020 6:40 pm

This late in the game, I feel I have a decent habit developed reading books via Anki while climbing stairs and while jogging in safe areas. The jogging bit, I have found to be less efficient but still a very pleasant alternative to listening sometimes (I still do it in low or no traffic areas on long straight stretches). What I realized recently is that I find it pleasant reading that way. I get to consider each sentence for a bit longer than usual since my eyes are not fully on-screen. I used to have trouble with that and often could only hold a word or two at once, but as reading my current TL gets easier, I find I can hold in memory slightly longer sentences and parse meaning. That positive spin on things aside, I am seriously contemplating getting an indoor cardio machine of some type. I would have normally sprung for a normal treadmill or elliptical but I Iive in a third-floor apartment and I need to tiptoe around possible noise so I have put off doing the analysis. It would be safer and likely more rewarding if I purchased something. As it stands or 'steps' perhaps, the stairs are most helpful for me since they create an environment where I get part of my reading done no matter how distracting the rest of my life that day. Very good mix of cardio training and foreign language learning (concomitant which basically ended up being my challenge).
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Aloyse
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Re: 2020 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby Aloyse » Sun Dec 13, 2020 5:45 pm

End of year recap

Yes, it's only mid-December, but my routines failed at the start of December (mix of 2nd lockdown + end of year stress + gloomy December + chocolate goodies),
so I don't expect any actual progress this month (although I will be working towards rebuilding and adapting my routines so that they're up and running before Jan 1st).

Fitness:
F1. get rid of 4kg :) I got rid of about 3kg. Trying to resist the papillottes now. In 2021 I'd like to get rid of 6kg and thus reach the top of the "normal weight" range.
F2. daily moderate exercise :) Before the start of December, I was pretty successful with 5' morning exercise and 15' once or twice a week.

Languages:
L1. Read 1 book in Spanish :oops: Nope. Started one book but didn't finish it. I'm considering subscribing to a learners magazine instead next year.
L2. Read 1 book in Arabic ;) Nope, but reviewing my old textbooks. Hoping to finish reviewing "Manuel d'arabe moderne tome 1" next year.
L3. Read 1 book in Chinese :oops: Not started.
L4. Adapt my (mostly passive) routines to encompass all 7 of my main target languages instead of only 4 :) Missing only 1 (Spanish).

Extra:
Combine fitness and languages :) I got in the habit of watching Chinese language workout videos during my morning 5' workout.
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Future me already did it.

jmar257
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Re: 2020 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby jmar257 » Tue Dec 15, 2020 3:02 pm

End of Year Recap

I'd call this largely a success for me. Details:

Languages

1. knock out either an Assimil lesson or do some work on FSI (at least 10-15 mins) in the morning
Have been pretty good about this--finished Business French (which I think I was doing at the time) and FSI Spanish Basic in the mornings and I've knocked out French Phonology and have started on French Basic. There have definitely been mornings where I'm too lazy/sleep late/do other things, but considering how much stuff I've done and that I've still been largely consistent with doing this a few times a week (except when I had Covid), I'll mark this as done. On top of that, when I actually did it I almost always did more than 10-15 minutes, normally 20-30.

2. iTalki Spanish lessons and want to keep that going with one every week or two, budget permitting
Big X on this one. Partially because of work--originally when they cut hours I was off Monday instead of Friday, so I planned on doing that on Mondays when my roommate was away so I didn't have to worry about interfering with his work/calls. But I got switched to align better with some of my team and started being off on Fridays when aforementioned roommate was home. But that's a weak excuse as would be blaming budget, since I could've still done it every few weeks. Fail here, but this is something to prioritize coming into the new year (but when? I'm working 5 days a week next year).


3. Another goal is to always have a Spanish book in progress
This one I'll consider virtually completed--there were small breaks between books but otherwise the only reason I wasn't reading a Spanish book for longer periods was because I was reading French (which if I were to go back and set my goals I would include, since I signed up for the SC about a month after this for both languages). Signing up for the Super Challenge helped me stick to this.

Fitness

1. continue weightlifting and get more consistent with Brazilian jiu jitsu as well as do more Muay Thai and boxing
As I said, this was thrown off due to Covid. That said, I've been lifting consistently (minus a couple weeks when I had Covid) since whenever my gym reopened (July?) but I haven't signed up for a martial arts gym for a couple of reasons: 1. you can't really distance, so I didn't want to get covid (this ended up happening anyway) 2. money. Luckily a friend has a BJJ gym maybe 45 mins away from me, so I have trained there a few times during this whole ordeal. That said, in the new year I'll be signing up for a gym closer to me.

2. [Running, bodyweight stuff, sandbag etc.] Now it's just trying to do any of the aforementioned 3+ times a week
I'll give this a 1/2 completed. For the few months without a gym I remained active at least 3 times a week, but I started slacking with the bodyweight/sandbag stuff in favor of running simply because I got bored with that stuff and didn't have a set routine. Gym is reopened now though, so trying to stick to that stuff is a nonissue.

3. I'm working on eating better. Given that I'm at home all the time now, I've been cooking more and throwing veggies in a lot of things I make, in addition I've been pretty regular making smoothies in the morning
I have been eating better and getting more veggies in, although I wasn't tracking calories so my weight didn't move much. I am now though, and plan on sticking with it.

Bonus Brag:
I've hit a couple PRs since being back to lifting: 225x2 on overhead press, 275x3x5 on bench. The first being impressive because I hadn't barbell OHPed in months at the time, just dumbbells. My squat is also back to where it was before quarantine (315x3x5 yesterday), and I basically confirmed the reason it was coming back slowly was all in my head (i.e., I'd put 275 on and psyche myself out thinking it was heavy and I'd fail if I went higher). The squat isn't really a brag because compared to my other lifts and bodyweight it's not impressive, but I'm just happy I got over that mental block.
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Feel free to give me corrections in any of my target languages!

Kaha
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Re: 2020 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby Kaha » Mon Jan 04, 2021 6:22 pm

I'd be interested.
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coldrainwater
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Re: 2020 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby coldrainwater » Mon Jan 04, 2021 7:05 pm

I don't have an idea of what my challenge would be yet, but I am interested in continuing in 2021. I have more than enough fitness areas in need of improvement.
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iguanamon
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Re: 2020 Polyglot Fitness

Postby iguanamon » Mon Jan 04, 2021 7:15 pm

IronMike, who started this challenge, left the forum last year. He hasn't visited the forum in three months.
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