The 2023 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Ongoing language-learning challenges, and team challenge logs (but not individual logs)
User avatar
coldrainwater
Blue Belt
Posts: 686
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2017 4:53 am
Location: Magnolia, TX
Languages: EN(N), ES(rusty), DE(), FR(studies)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7636
x 2381

Re: The 2023 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby coldrainwater » Wed Apr 26, 2023 5:49 am

Time gets away from me. I would also like to throw my hat in the game for what time is left and to see what chance has to offer this year. In retrospect, my approach has been to be patient, work hard at the beginning, and observe where my language and exercise tendencies pointed before putting anything in writing. The writing part of that is well overdue so:

Fitness
The most progress I have made so far has come from squatting every other day, which is more often than I have tried before over long time frames. Once every few workouts I deadlift instead of squat for the sake of variety. My workouts are loosely periodized with the goal of avoiding injury and using a simple frequent practice approach to lifting. So far I am still in the game. To put a concrete figure on it, I am currently getting comfortable squatting with 240 lbs for multiple reps. It is a technique rather than a brute lift, so I am working on slowly increasing my depth and being conscious of form and positioning (particularly grip, reducing elbow strain, bar positioning on proper trap shelf, load balancing, etc). I do sets off and on throughout the day and don't limit myself much on volume so long as I am not going heavy. I pulled 280 on a deadlift the other day, but am not proud of that little stunt since it was too heavy due to an ancient back injury and I broke my normal discipline (but luckily not my back).

For the curious, I am also planning on gaining no weight at all and sticking at my current top body weight of 187 lbs. Bodybuilding isn't particularly a goal, but does look like my program leads to decent body-recomposition.

Language
I am less certain here. My passion is strongest for learning and my German reading skills are finally up to the task, so I delved into self-teaching various topics of interest. It has been the most pleasant and rewarding of the different language endeavours I have embarked on this year, so it only makes sense to stick with it and keep pursuing the same type of challenge with topical diversity as a highlight. My grammar study is still a fickle wonder and dare not include it in the mix. For a next language, I haven't selected anything and am using the same slow and patient approach that I took to exercise, letting time and my natural tendencies reveal an acceptable answer.
2 x

User avatar
IronMike
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2554
Joined: Thu May 12, 2016 6:13 am
Location: Northern Virginia
Languages: Studying: Esperanto
Maintaining: nada
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)
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5189
x 7265
Contact:

Re: The 2023 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby IronMike » Wed Sep 27, 2023 11:16 pm

IronMike wrote:Language goals:
L1: 3/3 again in the Russian DLPT
L2: One significant Esperanto event, whether that's attendance at NASK, or taking the KER exam again, something that requires me to speak/listen to Esperanto IRL for more than just one episode of a podcast.
L3: Read at least five books in a foreign language

Not so good on L1: didn't get the 3/3 this year on the DLPT. Blew it down my leg (2/2+). WTF? Haven't scored that low in about 10 years! Bad day, I guess.
Also didn't do anything for L2. Sigh.
2 x
You're not a C1 (or B1 or whatever) if you haven't tested.
CEFR --> ILR/DLPT equivalencies
My swimming life.
My reading life.

Ug_Caveman
Green Belt
Posts: 460
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2018 2:58 am
Location: England
Languages: English (N), Dutch (A2 - July 2021), working towards B1
x 1075

Re: The 2023 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby Ug_Caveman » Mon Dec 18, 2023 2:58 pm

Ug_Caveman wrote:Fitness - bodyweight under 110kg/242lbs (currently sitting just above 115kg/254lbs); would like to rehab my shoulder to get back to somewhere vaguely as good as I used to be in sport. Throwing 40m (~132 ft) in the discus would be nice, but I'm pretty sure that's what injured my shoulder in the first place and I've not thrown it since nearly four months ago.

Language - pass Dutch B1 exam is the big one; any other goal will be part of my six-language merry-go-round that I can never solidly commit to and never actually get anywhere with (Scandinavian trio vs Romance trio - keeps flipping depending on whether I have wanderlust for the Aurora Borealis or whether I have wanderlust for visiting my relatives in various North American megacities...)


Evaluation for the year:

I actually failed in both of my key goals, but honestly, I'm not too annoyed - as I shall explain.

My fitness goals were badly perturbed by illness and difficulty in rehabbing my injury - the latter of which is finally starting to come around after over a year of work to get things stable again. Will my shoulder ever be the same again? Unsure - but compared to this time last year, it's much stronger and has a far better range of movement.

Sitting my Dutch B1 exam was compounded by two major issues I couldn't get around - being very sick the day before and struggling to hear the listening paper due to a major technical issue in the room (this was taken into account by the exam board, but I was still just under the pass mark.) I was close to actually withdrawing on account of the illness, but decided it would be worth my time to try and it gave me some much needed practice.

Despite two failures, I'm optimistic I will achieve both goals in 2024 - so I'm keeping things the same. Sub 110kg bodyweight and pass my Dutch B1. If I achieve both things early, I'll consider adding something extra later on (Swedish is next on the list after Dutch, so maybe a crack at B1 Swedex in a year...)

I've recently made several visits to different parts of Europe and got a chance to speak "in the wild", I'm planning to have more such trips before I sit the B1 exam next year so I'll actually have some proper practice to backup my speaking this time.
2 x
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

Ug_Caveman
Green Belt
Posts: 460
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2018 2:58 am
Location: England
Languages: English (N), Dutch (A2 - July 2021), working towards B1
x 1075

Re: The 2023 Polyglot Fitness Challenge

Postby Ug_Caveman » Mon Jan 01, 2024 1:05 am

2024 goals and targets:

LANGUAGES:
* Dutch - pass B1 exam (May, results July)
* Swedish - starting in May, reach A2 by New Year

FITNESS:
* Overhead press - strict press 85kg by the end of the year (current 77.5kg)
Front squat - front squat 140kg (would be an all time best) by the end of the year (current 110kg)

OTHER:
* Grade 2 bass guitar by the end of the year (I've still been playing lots of songs from tabs, but have neglected things like scales/arpeggios and sight reading practice.)
* Improve knowledge in science subjects beyond physics so I can be more useful at my job when covering other lessons.
* Visit at least three other countries and actually speak some of the native languages (this does not include French for Belgium...)
0 x
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


Return to “Language Challenges”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests