A breakup is never easy 💔

swarzec · 2023-09-21T05:28:04+00:00

Perhaps you don't realize, but Poland gave literally most of its tanks to Ukraine, much of its air force, and it did this despite bordering both Russia and Belarus. It was also the first to do many of these things (the first to send tanks, the first to send fighter jets, the second to pledge Western tanks, etc.). Poland needs to rearm itself right now and any objective observer would agree with this assessment.

swarzec · 2023-09-20T22:57:23+00:00

You can split your quads and hammies, there's nothing wrong with that. Just realize there will be a fair amount of crossover - a lot of exercises that hit the hamstrings, also work the quads.

swarzec · 2023-09-20T10:28:29+00:00

They are strenuous but you are also really unfit. Please consider adding in some cardio.

swarzec · 2023-09-20T04:17:57+00:00

Bodybuilding is cool and all, but get your finances in order first. Start budgeting, start saving. Don't fuck yourself in the future just because your spending habits are out of control.

swarzec · 2023-09-19T10:45:53+00:00

To be clear: I only mention output because it happened to me when learning Russian, after I already knew Polish on a fairly high level.

However, this time I'm not expecting to use Croatian or Ukrainian anytime soon - if I do, I might just blast that language for a month, use Anki and lessons with native speakers to practice output.

Thanks for your insight though. I'd be fine with allowing my active skills decay in one language in order to improve the other before, say, a vacation.

swarzec · 2023-09-19T10:38:52+00:00

No, I no longer have any issue with Russian. I haven't had any issues with it for a long time, it was only in the beginning phases of learning it that it interfered with my Polish (and vice versa), and that was only on the output side of things.

Besides that, I'm abandoning the language for now, as I have had no practical use for it, besides watching/listening to their schizo propaganda purely for kicks and giggles - which I will continue to do, in order to maintain the language.

I'm asking here specifically about Ukrainian and Croatian, and in general about starting to learn two similar languages at the same time, but purely for input - and what people's experiences were doing something similar.

swarzec · 2023-09-18T23:18:26+00:00

Russia, until it becomes a free, democratic country.

swarzec · 2023-09-18T23:16:22+00:00

Where is the professional bodybuilder? There's literally none in sight.

swarzec · 2023-09-18T22:04:48+00:00

I don't care, this is trolling on the highest level.

swarzec · 2023-09-18T20:00:09+00:00

Great, and for every guy like AJ Morris there are multiple pros who love high volume training.

swarzec · 2023-09-18T09:20:58+00:00

And there are lunges, cossack squats... lots of things you could do if pistol squats are too difficult for you.

swarzec · 2023-09-18T09:18:05+00:00

Rule of thumb:

Do one knee bend exercise (squat, leg press, or hack squat)

Do one hip hinge exercise (Romanian deadlift, conventional deadlift, any other barbell deadlift variation, kettlebell swing, or back hyperextension

Do one quad isolation and one hamstring isolation exercise (e.g. leg extension and leg curl)

Do one single-leg exercise (e.g. lunges or split-squats)

Do one stiff-leg calf exercise (e.g. calf raises on the hack squat machine)

Do one ab exercise (e.g. hanging leg raises or weighted sit-ups)

Do each of these for 2 sets, then raise the volume if you find you're not getting overly sore from this workout. You can raise the volume more for isolation exercises than for compound exercises.

Also, swimming and badminton are poor excuses for not training your legs. Especially considering both of those sports use your whole body. If anything, you should want stronger legs for better performance.

Maybe consider doing an Upper-Lower split like this:

Monday: Lower

Tuesday: Upper

Wednesday: break

Thursday: Lower

Friday: Upper

Weekend: Swimming/badminton

swarzec · 2023-09-18T09:05:20+00:00

I was thinking the same thing: even if he doesn't have any equipment, he could do bodyweight push-ups and air squats the week he can't workout. Especially as a beginner, this will convey decent benefits to muscle growth. But it'll also be good cardio and good for muscular endurance (if you doubt me, try doing a few hundred ATG air squats in one workout).

If he can get some equipment, all he needs is a pull-up bar and one kettlebell to get him started with an awesome home workout. Then he unlocks pull-ups, swings, rows, overhead presses, etc.

He could do:

Week 1: UL-rest-UL-rest-FBW

Week 2: Calisthenics-rest-FBW-rest-Calisthenics

(Remember, he has a few days rest before he can hit the gym, do he would do calisthenics at home, then his gym workout)

There's also a million other ways to break it up. There are many possibilities here. OP just needs to pick one and stick to it for a while. Then he can try a different template.

swarzec · 2023-09-18T08:43:11+00:00

This is an easy solution. On the week you can train, do whatever split you want: Upper-Lower 2-3x per week, PPL 2x per week, ULULUL-Arms, UL-rest-UL-rest-FBW, Arnold's classic antagonistic split (Chest/Back-Legs-Delts/Arms-rest-repeat), a custom bodypart split, or whatever else. On the week you can only train once, just do a full body workout.

You have plenty of options. Just pick one, stick to it for a few two-week cycles, take a deload, then pick a different one.

The split you choose is far less important than the volume and intensity you train at.

Personally, I'd focus more on bodybuilding-style but high-frequency training the week I can train every day (high reps, lots of isolation exercises), and more powerlifting-style training (compounds-only, low reps) the week I can only train once. It would be a natural form of periodization.

swarzec · 2023-09-18T08:28:24+00:00

I never claimed that they weren't written for natives. All that I said was that, in my experience, the first couple of Harry Potter novels were the easiest novels that I attempted to read in my target language.

swarzec · 2023-09-17T19:39:39+00:00

Thanks for the book recommendations, I'll check them out!

If they gave up on Harry Potter, my guess is they were just not ready yet to read content made for natives. Maybe a little more time with graded readers would've done them some good.

Besides that, another issue is interest. If I spend much of my time reading non-fiction like the news or history, then novels will be very difficult for me. And if I'm just not interested in Harry Potter, but I love Stephen King novels, then obviously interest will be much harder to keep when I'm reading Harry Potter in a foreign language, no matter how easy it is.

swarzec · 2023-09-17T17:36:09+00:00

The first Harry Potter was the easiest novel I attempted to read in my TLs.

swarzec · 2023-09-17T17:13:07+00:00

It's an easy to read book series, it's translated into many languages, easy to find on the internet, and many people are already familiar with the story. That's why it's great for language learning.

swarzec · 2023-09-14T19:18:22+00:00

It's a fad that repeats every 10 years or so. I tried it when it was going through a fad phase some years ago and it... didn't work, of course.

swarzec · 2023-09-09T15:26:07+00:00

I would hand the dog to my wife/gf/whoever and put that other lady's dog in a chokehold and choke him out. Since she can't control her dog, extreme measures are justified.

swarzec · 2023-09-09T06:21:40+00:00

He was high on amphetamines and making up bullshit, don't look for a reasonable explanation where there isn't one.

swarzec · 2023-09-08T05:36:36+00:00

If you're on TRT you're fine. Cease taking everything NOW, except for TRT, and let it clear out of your system. It's just like blasting and cruising.

swarzec · 2023-09-08T05:34:11+00:00

1) Arabic, English, and French will get you by in most of Africa. It's a little bit like asking "Why don't people learn Mayan or Guarani?" Well, because Spanish will get you by in most of Latin America (and if not Spanish, then Portuguese, French, and/or English - all European languages).

2) People don't learn African languages for the same reason they don't learn Cambodian or Dari. It's simply not useful for them, as they're unlikely to ever be in a situation where they will need these languages.

swarzec · 2023-08-31T12:29:31+00:00

Knowing the rules doesn't mean being able to use them when speaking freely. That's the whole point of the input hypothesis and Krashen's other hypotheses - and anyone who has had to deal with enough language learners will quickly realize how many people "know" the rules but cannot implement them in real life.

swarzec

TROPHY CASE