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ADHD-friendly sports? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hey guys, I'm looking for a sport to do because I'm super skinny and I'd like to gain at least a bit of muscle. I've done cycling and bouldering in the past, but neither made me any less skinny.
The problem with sports is it's very hard to do any sort of exercise with ADHD because beyond giving you no stimulation, it gives you negative stimulation, like when doing the plank. What's more, it usually requires a ton of logistic prep/going somewhere, which itself is boring and becomes a barrier.
One thing I can see motivating me is doing it with other people (I enjoy chilling with people and having banter), but for that I might as well go to a pub/society where there's no pesky ball I have to kick around. Team sports like football never really appealed to me for some reason anyway.
Has anyone had success making sports fun?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago (4 children)

I've tried many things, one thing that worked for me being calisthenics - following the programs on r/bodyweightfitness on Spez's Lemmy.

The reason it worked for me is because working from home, there were zero logistics, I could finish working (from my bedroom), and take my t-shirt and jeans off and start working out in literally 30 seconds. The programs also had enough variety in terms of different exercises to keep me entertained.

Now I work out with my partner (who is also on the spectrum, to make things more complicated). What has been working for us is doing some activities we like; on Mondays he has flamenco class so I go swimming, which I love - him going to his class is a good enough cue to kick my brain into "let's do things" mode. Then we added Yoga on Wednesdays (the hard, "sweaty" type with lots of bodyweight type exercises to keep myself motivated). We both like it, and we take turns choosing a video to follow, so there's incentive and novelty to do things. Once that's fully embedded in a routine, we'll add something else, let's say gym on Thursdays. My strategy is to go for the maximum variety we can so I don't get bored, and add things gradually so it becomes a de facto part of my routine and my brain doesn't get to question the fact that Mondays are swimming pool day.

It's been working well for a couple of months, and I suspect it will work well until there's a major life change that derails all of this, but then I'm hoping I can re-plan the strategy.

Also to add about the specifics of swimming for ADHD: it might sound boring but no matter your level, if you push yourself hard you can leave yourself absolutely knackered in 40 minutes. I can get in a really good workout by the time boredom kicks in. Plus I count the laps I'm doing, I try to keep a mental count of what the percentage of my goal for the day that is... And that keeps my mind busy enough that I can't think about other things that maybe would sound more exciting.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I second the /r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine (for muscle mass). You can do it with minimal equipment home alone, which is minimal activation energy, and you can watch or listen to something at the same time, which gives you a reward while doing the unrewarding activity.

For me, it works perfectly.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This is great advice, it's pretty much the same approach I've had to do.

Anything involving leaving the house is basically impossible for me due to required activation energy and associated anxiety. Investing in a good treadmill was one of the best decisions I ever made. Got one with a shelf built in for a phone/tablet so I can watch videos while I run. I know that type of exercise is not what was asked for, but the same principle applies to body weight exercises or free-weight training you can do if you buy a set of weights:

Make it something you can do from home to minimise startup friction
Set up a way to stimulate yourself while working out
Make the exercise program varied and bite-sized so you just have to focus on finishing the current exercise instead of starting to think about how long time is remaining on the program (which is why I run intervals on the treadmill).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

The tablet shelf on your treadmill is a genius idea! Yeah that's exactly the sort of simulation that I can see helping me exercise

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Thanks for this advice, I will check out /r/bodyweightfitness. I used to go swimming for an hour a week for 5 years in a row when I was younger, although I still stayed skinny (except for the muscles in my back). It makes me think the problem must be more with my calorie intake than with my exercise...