exercise for us?
exercise for us?
Exercise is hitting. My brain gives up way before my body does. Even when I try and listen to music or watch shows while exercising, I just can't keep at it.
Has anyone found an ADHD friendly way to exercise?
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When I was in college (a few decades ago), I was quite athletic, but once, I participated in a little marathon. 20 minutes in, I realized this was dumb & just walked back to the starting point. I still remember my thoughts - like why am I chugging along, rattling my entire being, & for what purpose, it's just boring & pointless. I think with ADHD, we're always calculating effort applied & reward received, & exercise is hard to justify. I haven't run for fun ever.
Yeah, every time I try to use any exercise equipment I get ANGRY. I feel WORSE than I did beforehand. No sense of accomplishment, no endorphines, just irritation
If I go for a walk where I can explore for miles, I'm happy. Dancing also makes my brain tingle. I get more joy out of vacuuming and other housework than a tredmil or elliptical machine.
F THAT! Feels pointless and I can't seem to convince myself otherwise. Same for running. It's meh unless I'm trying to get somewhere fast (and I already speed walk as it is)
Yeah, this is why it's important to try and break down large goals into smaller goals. (I'm not saying it's easy though)
Look at building muscle for example. What you need to do is focus on the little improvements, one extra rep each week, one extra pound each week. Make that your goal every single workout, instead of beating yourself up over the fact that you don't look like 5x Mr Olympia Chris Bumstead yet.
(Which you won't anyway, but that's another story)We want short-term success, instant gratification, but excercising for improving our health is a long-term project, whichever way you do it.
So you need to train in a way that gives you these smaller achievements sprinkled throughout the weeks, months and years.
How though, that's highly individual and depends on the person.