The 2022 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Ongoing language-learning challenges, and team challenge logs (but not individual logs)
jmar257
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Re: The 2022 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby jmar257 » Sat Jan 08, 2022 3:35 pm

You can always count me in on these. Going with more measurable ones this time.

Fitness goals:
Get to 220lbs (around 255lbs at the moment)

That's kind of it, everything else is secondary. I had a few last year and they kind of interfered with this; given I just got my blue belt and it's generally at least 2 years to purple I can't make that a goal for this year. And while cutting I want to keep my lifts steady since I won't be increasing them drastically. I may compete in BJJ or powerlifting but I'm not going to force myself to do that this year, but it wouldn't be the worst goal. We'll see, in a few months I may determine I'm doing that by EOY and pull the trigger. For now I just need to keep my head down and focus on weight loss again. I started last year at 281 but stalled as other goals started to interfere and as football season happened :lol:

Language goals:
Do at least 2 iTalki/meetup sessions a month for Spanish to practice speaking. iTalki is better, but meetup is easier to join if plans change last minute or whatever (already have one done)
Super Challenge done, I may sign up for the next one but we'll see. Regardless, getting at least 1,500 words of French read this year will be a goal. Edit: for future reference I have 2,619 pages in French read to date. So goal is 4,119 by EOY
Complete Assimil German with Ease and German without Toil (I'm on lessons 68 and 33, respectively)
Let's say complete 6 new FSI French units. I doubt I could get the entire thing finished this year, but I put it on pause after completing the first 12 (out of 24). I started reviewing unit 9 yesterday, I will probably just continue from there through 10-12. Everything after 12 is new, so the goal is to finish unit 18 by EOY.
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Feel free to give me corrections in any of my target languages!

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Vordhosbn
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Re: The 2022 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby Vordhosbn » Mon Jan 24, 2022 7:56 am

Alright, this is a touch late, but sign me up, anyway!

Fitness goal for 2022:
Get my deadlift to 330 lbs / 150 kg for at least a single. Currently around 150 lbs / 70 kg due to a protracted lay-off. My all-time best is still only 315 lbs for a single, so I'd like to finally break past that, especially given the last two years of infrequent and disrupted training.

Language goal for 2022:
Complete all 48 lessons of Einführung in die Georgische Sprache. This is for Georgian, and so it overlaps with my 365-day challenge to some extent. Completing this would give me a solid overview of the entire language, and this particular work will be a tough beast to vanquish. It's in two volumes, one for grammar, the other for exercises, and is going to take me at least six months of committed study. I'm currently working through another book at present, and I anticipate starting on this one around mid-to-late February (given my current momentum).
Last edited by Vordhosbn on Sun Feb 20, 2022 10:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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IronMike
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Re: The 2022 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby IronMike » Tue Feb 01, 2022 1:39 am

IronMike wrote:Fitness goals:
F2: 135lbs for 1RM of military press

I can happily report that on Friday I managed 120lbs for 1RM in strict military press. It was ugly, but my arms continually moved upward. Perhaps I could actually hit this goal (F2) this year. :)
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Cavesa
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Re: The 2022 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby Cavesa » Sun Feb 06, 2022 5:01 pm

Fitness challenge:
To lose weight. Last year, I lost 13 kg, but later I got 5 back. Nevertheless, I am still 8 kg lighter than a year and a bit ago. Now I want to lose those 5 and a bit more again. I am still within "healthy" BMI (but let's not forget BMI is not perfect as it is a tool meant for evaluating populations, not individuals, so there are plenty of imprecise things about it, such as people with tons of muscle and tons of fat having the same BMI while being in a totally different shape), but I want to get back into my lots of nice dresses instead of buying new ones, I want a nice wedding dress, etc. So, the goal is to get to 62 kg, which is approximately in the middle of the healthy range for me, and I used to feel pretty at that weight.

How to: get eating under control (stress eating etc), at first through one of the high protein packaged diets (it is the only thing that works for me), then switching to controlled normal eating, and adding some sporting activity. I am now moving much less, as there is just so little light during the winter, and also the job is draining me a bit more and giving me excuses. So, longer walks three times a week from the next weekend (after an exam), and hopefully something else, like swimming. But the faster longer walks are the key.

Language challenge:
B2 German certificate
B2 or C1 Italian certificate
and B2 or C1 Spanish certificate.

Why? Because I need them, I write and send lots of CVs and will keep doing that in the years to come even if everything goes the best way possible. I need the official papers. And especially the German one is crutial. And I am fed up with myself not really getting the skills to the "finish line" then letting them rust, then derusting, rinse and repeat.
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tungemål
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Re: The 2022 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby tungemål » Sun Feb 20, 2022 11:19 am

20th february update: Running

I noticed that running has a lot in common with language learning:

- The importance of consistency. I've exercised 3 times a week for 7 weeks. Better to steadily and easily do every run, than try to run fast or very far once in a while.
- I follow the 10% rule, so the first week in january I ran 10 km, and I add 1 km every week. Now I'm at 16 km. The progress is just so slow to be a bit annoying, but if you stick to it month after month, suddenly you've progressed a lot.
- You also need to do grammar exercises - I mean strength training - or you'll get into problems.
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IronMike
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German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
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Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
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Re: The 2022 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby IronMike » Wed Feb 23, 2022 2:04 am

I'm still chugging along.

A couple days ago my strict military press main set was: 1 x 3 @ 96lbs, 1 x 3 @ 102lbs, 1 x 1 @ 108lbs and 1 x 1 @ 115lbs. And the 115 didn't feel bad!

Swimming's going along well. I'm only 20-ish miles in this year so far, which has me behind, but I'm getting back to swimming slowly after having fallen out of love with it for a couple months at the end of last year.

Language-wise, doing great. Got my 3/3 on the Russian DLPT and a 2+ on the OPI. Concentrating on Esperanto for the next few months as I head into the North American Summer Classes in North Carolina (first week of July), then not sure what. Italian? Serbian/Croatian? We'll see.
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You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
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Ug_Caveman
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Re: The 2022 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby Ug_Caveman » Wed Feb 23, 2022 11:57 pm

I've very much fallen off the wagon in terms of my language learning in recent months - fitness has fared slightly better but I'm still very much not where I should be.

Language
Language goals for 2022 are simple - keep working towards my Dutch B1 exam. I've decided it would be better to delay for a year than try to rush it through so I have a chance of scoring a high mark. I was considering adding a second language to my studies, but I've realised this would be totally unreasonable on my time demands:

- Complete Hugo: Dutch in 3 Months, Teach Yourself Dutch, Linguaphone Dutch and at least one advanced Dutch course (Hugo/Colloquial)
- Watch at least 15 minutes of Dutch YouTube content per day with Dutch subtitles
- Read at least 15 minutes of Dutch per day
- Route learn 10 new Dutch words per day

Fitness
For fitness I've been very conflicted. I've struggled a lot in my sport recently, and I'm running out of ways to change things up such that I might see an improvement. I also feel very 'heavy' and am considering working to drop a significant amount of bodyweight (119kg --> 108kg) but in the past this has had a very negative effect on my event. For a test I'm going to try and lose weight anyway, but if I notice a major impact on my sport I'll probably stop:

- Drop bodyweight to 110kg maximum by the end of the year
- Improve hang power snatch to 90kg (all time 1RM of 85kg and currently putting up 62.5kg to 65kg)
- Improve squat to 172.5kg or more (all time 1RM of 170kg and currently putting up 140kg on a good day)
- Maintain bench press of 130kg
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Languages: English (N), Dutch (passed A2 exam in May 2021, failed B1 in May 2023 - never sit an exam when you have food poisoning!)

Seeking: Linguaphone Polish and Linguaphone Afrikaans

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IronMike
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Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
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Re: The 2022 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby IronMike » Thu Feb 24, 2022 1:15 am

IronMike wrote:
IronMike wrote:Fitness goals:
F2: 135lbs for 1RM of military press

I can happily report that on Friday I managed 120lbs for 1RM in strict military press. It was ugly, but my arms continually moved upward. Perhaps I could actually hit this goal (F2) this year. :)

And today I tried 125# and NOPE. Not going to happen. Oy, that hurt. I got it maybe 2 inches off my shoulder.
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You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
My swimming life.
My reading life.

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IronMike
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Posts: 2554
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Tested:
BCS, 1+L/1+R (DLPT5, 2022)
Russian, 3/3 (DLPT5, 2022) 2+ (OPI, 2022)
German, 2L/1+R (DLPT5, 2021)
Italian, 1L/2R (DLPT IV, 2019)
Esperanto, C1 (KER skriba ekzameno, 2017)
Slovene, 2+L/3R (DLPT II in, yes, 1999)
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Re: The 2022 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby IronMike » Sat Mar 05, 2022 12:07 am

While I don't have squat in my challenge, I was happy that today I managed a 1RM of 225#. Right before COVID hit I had managed 3 x 5 at 225 pounds, so it's nice that I'm inching back to March 2020 weights.
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You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
My swimming life.
My reading life.

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Vordhosbn
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Re: The 2022 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby Vordhosbn » Mon Mar 21, 2022 10:19 am

Progress at the gym has been absolutely non-existent for more than a month now, due partly to work and other commitments (10%) but largely due to laziness (90%). I'm ashamed to admit it, but getting the wheels turning again after this last COVID lay-off has been damned tough and too easy to put off. I'm soft, weak, hunched and frail and I'm much too comfortable with that.

While I'd still like to keep my original goal just to see how close I get to it (150kg deadlift for a single), really I need to approach this more practically and in a more manageable way.

My goal is now simply to attend the gym 3 times a week. I'm allowing some leeway this week to get over the initial soreness (first-workout squats are brutal for several days after), but my prospective days will be Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. So I'll be starting back this Wednesday, but committing to 3 days a week from next week in earnest.
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