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?
In my youth it was rock climbing. You can’t really quit something if it means falling to your death 🤣
But seriously anything that keeps your brain occupied. For me it was competitive sports. Basketball, ultimate frisbee, anything like that. Now that I’m old, it’s getting up from my chair to go pee. I also like what I consider “exercise games” like Beat Saber.
Tl;dr… anything that tricks your brain into seeing it as fun and not exercise.
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)
I feel you. I am like this with so many things.
When I started going to the gym, the only way I could get myself to go was to watch a show on my phone while working out. The catch is, I told myself I was only allowed to watch the show while I was working out. If I want to know what happens next, I had to get on a treadmill.
I fell out of the habit last summer and getting back into it has been a huge struggle.
This works as long as the show dopamine is higher than the difficulty getting to the gym. Very few shows hold my interest THAT much past the first couple seasons.
are u sure you’re not using adhd as a crutch here? people make up excuses to stop exercising while exercising all the time. you might just be reaching for the easiest thing to blame here. try doing something fun too and not doing shit where you can get distracted and shit. I can’t do a gym routines just cuz my brain wanders off during sets and whatever, but bike like 400miles a week and it’s not mentally exhausting for me.
I did swimming for a few years when I was living close to a big swim hall and passed right by it on my way home from work. It does require a bit of motivation to start, but for me when I first got into the water it felt natural to just keep moving. Swam for 30~40 min and then going to sauna for 15 min and a nice hot shower afterwards was such a reward for my brain it always felt worth it. Now I moved and is sad I don’t live close to one. Also as got super tired afterwards but in a nice way. Felt good. I wasn’t medicated back then let alone knowing anything about ADHD so in hindsight, with medication I might have better odds of feeling even better after a good swim.
Swimming is the easiest for me to do - I find the rhythm soothing and I like being away from any technology so I can just think or focus on the swimming.
That could be one of the good reasons it worked so well for me. No chance of distractions from phone, TV, birds, houses people, sounds etc. Just the rhythm of the water and straight forward task. Also I’m thinking that it almost requires more brain effort to stop because of the whole changing clothes and shower process so to avoid that task i just stay in the water a bit longer. And the heat from the sauna is good at “melting my brain” so my thoughts get calmed down a bit and feels rewarding.
Does running up and down the stairs repeatedly because I keep forgetting things upstairs count?
As with many things, it didn’t stick for me until it did and once I was in the habit, it’s actually harder to skip than to just go. Even if I’m not thrilled about the workout, I still end up going because it’s wired in now.
That said, I do listen to podcasts almost exclusively at the gym and that can make it kinda exciting if there’s a good one coming up.
I have to do something more fun, i cant do cardio or weights no matter what i watch or listen to. Dance and martial arts are super engaging.
Run directly away from home, when you get bored, you’re 50% done. Run home if you want it to be over faster
Have you tried rock climbing? I have some friends with ADHD who really took to it.
