Exercise for ADHD: Practice being the person you want to be
In the last few editions of this newsletter I have talked about the benefits of exercise for ADHD (and mental health) and also talked about how I’ve personally benefitted from exercising almost daily, despite my self admitted antipathy towards exercise and my total and utter lack of any sort of coordination.
And this has clearly hit a nerve as several people have contacted me via DM to ask what my ‘secret sauce’ is. What turned me from a committed coach potato with a severe addiction to chocolate hobnobs, into someone that actually enjoys exercise?
And that last point is really important, because I’m not claiming to have turned myself into some ripped fitness influencer – just someone that enjoys exercise.
Well, to be honest it HAS taken quite a lot of work to get to this point. Small steps. Facing up to my vulnerabilities and challenges. Knowing when I’m most likely to give up and preparing mentally for how I’m going to push through.
I suppose it started with admitting that the way I’d been doing things (i.e. not doing any exercise) wasn’t really serving me all that well. It’s a very ‘ADHD’ thing to know something, be constantly told something and be reminded of ‘the thing’ – but until you admit to yourself that it really isn’t working, you won’t do anything about it.
So once I knew I had to change, I started with small changes and worked from there.
Nothing changes overnight
You have to practice being the person you want to become. And the person you were is snapping at your heels just waiting for you to give up – with a greatest hits compilation of all your most devastating negative self-talk.
It’s a HUGELY ADHD trait to completely abandon something if you’re not immediately brilliant at it. Likewise if you successfully manage to complete a week of workouts, skip one day and then think ‘Well, that’s ruined it. I think I’ll just give up completely’.
One bad day, or skipped day does not equal failure.
Work out what went wrong, be kind to yourself and get moving again.
Atomic Habits
I’ve said it a hundred times that so much of the productivity and effectiveness advice out there, in books and online can be really toxic for a neurodivergent brain. Especially when we follow the guides to the letter and then one day fail to activate on a task because our executive functioning is being impacted in some unknown way – we feel terrible. We feel like we’ve failed. This advice fails to take into account how our Big Brilliant Brains actually work – the strengths and the challenges.
That said – the book Atomic Habits by James Clear is the one book that I’ve taken a lot of useful advice from, and recommend to my coaching clients. In it, James talks about making habits stick by making them easy to accomplish. He uses the following framework: Obvious, Attractive, Easy, Satisfying’. For me and exercise and ADHD, it means this:
Obvious: I get up and hit the gym every morning. 6, sometimes 7 days a week. It’s the part of my day that requires the least thinking power because it’s now an automatic assumption that I’ll be doing it each morning.
Attractive: I go first thing because that’s when there’s the least amount of people, I can get on with my workouts in relative peace and can usually get onto the equipment I want. I also use the co-working space in the gym’s cafe to get my admin done. Double win.
Easy: As soon as I get home, my towel is hung out, and fresh kit is packed so that each morning I can grab my bag and go without needing to think if I have what I need. I know that I’m not the best at remembering things early in the morning, so the less I have to think about before I leave, the better. I charge my headphones on Wednesday and Saturday because I know that going to the gym without noise cancelling headphones means I won’t be able to focus on my workout and won’t enjoy it.
Satisfying: Depending on time I’ll treat myself to a sauna and cold plunge as a reward. And my gym tracks my visits and provided I go more than 4 days per week, rewards me with a free fruit smoothie. Seriously, what’s not to like?
“The Iron never lies to you”
So that’s how I’ve been able to go from someone totally unfit, gangly and uncoordinated, to someone who is merely mildly uncoordinated. It’s been a game changer for my ADHD, and makes a huge difference to my day to day mental health. If I can do it, anyone can. Seriously, you just have to start and find out what works for you.
It also helps if you can find some good inspiration from people you admire. I’ll leave you with this quote from the Henry Rollins, legendary frontman of Black Flag:
“The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and body have been awakened to their true potential, it’s impossible to turn back.
The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all kinds of talk, get told that you’re a god or a total bastard. The Iron will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.”