Exercise & ADHD : 5 Tips That Work For Me
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First written as an IG post (archived) May 2022
I have a new relationship with exercise now, and it’s far from the toxic and complicated relationship that I used to have.
You can skip this part and head straight to the tips and advice if you want.
The reason I added my exercise journey is to give some understanding to why my tips work for me, and for you to decide whether the tips are worth trying based on your own personal experiences.
My Exercise Background
I grew up as an active kid.
I didn’t do traditional sport or team sports, and I avoided swimming carnivals, but I spent most of my free time dancing, doing ballet, tap, jazz and acrobatics.
Outside of dance, I was happy being active in many of my activities, using a skipping rope or pogo stick - and I loved rollerskating at the roller skating rink!
By my late teens, I no longer enjoyed dance - mostly due to the environment I was in. I quit dance and with my full focus on uni - my overall fitness was close to non-existent.
I ended up joining a gym, but my relationship with exercise became toxic and obsessive and it went hand in hand with disordered eating.
As my disordered eating improved, I quit the gym. Exercise became on again, off again. There were periods where I’d walk every day, followed by weeks of no activity.
I found routine hard to stick to, but I did gravitate towards trying new things that were high impact, like HIIT workouts and tennis.
In 2014 I was injured playing a casual game of tennis.
As I jumped, reaching for the ball, I fell and landed on my ankle. Hard. I instantly knew I’d injured it from the sound it made.
X Rays didn’t show anything and my injury was brushed off as just a bad sprain. After the advised rest time I was still in pain, but I was encouraged to ignore it & stop overreacting.I pushed myself to walk on it - a decision I wish I never made.
6 months later I finally had an MRI done to see what was going on.
The MRI showed significant damage to tendons and ligaments with major tears and nerve damage. I couldn’t just rest and recover from it. I was also advised not to run, jump, play tennis - all the ‘fun’ exercises I loved to do.
Up until recently 2022 I struggled to connect with exercise like walking, pilates and swimming. I was fearful of programs or gyms, and worried about triggering an unhealthy obsession or a further injury. I was seeing exercise as a chore.
Exercise was that one task on my to-do list that would be moved to the next day. There was guilt and shame around not exercising.
Which brings us to today.
I got to a place where I no longer see exercise as a chore! I give myself permission to change routines or types of exercise without shame.
Best news of all, I enjoy it! With practice I’ve learnt to associate it with de-stressing and feeling good. It’s closer to the effortless joy I felt as a kid.
Now for the tips!
Exercise, ADHD & the 5 tips that have helped me!
1. Have different (enjoyable) options on rotation!
When I had one option, I'd start off hyper fixated on it, but I'd soon get bored and abandon it.
It would then take me SO long to find something new. Having many different options keeps things interesting, it offers more flexibility with my day and takes pressure off sticking to one option.
2. Accept that 10 minutes of exercise is better than zero minutes of exercise!
I used to think that exercise was only worth doing if it was for 30 minutes. Or an hour. Why those times? Because they felt like the right amount of time exercise should be.
It turns out 10 minutes (for me) is an easy amount of time to jump back in to do after a break!
As soon as I set a daily walking goal of 10 minutes, I found I was naturally walking more often and finding it easy to increase the 10 minutes too! On days I really don’t want to start, I measure 10 minutes as 3 songs on Spotify, (or Taylor Swift’s All Too Well 10 minute version) and that usually overrides any apathy!
Waiting for a perfect 30 minute time slot resulted in so many missed opportunities for walking!
3. Have the things needed for exercise visible and easy to reach!.
Needing to search for shoes, skates etc, puts me at risk of giving up before I even start. Having the things I need on display makes it easier for me to start, plus it acts as a visual reminder to exercise too!
5 things that help me;
Keeping my shoes as close to the door as possible
Starting my day wearing my workout clothing
Keeping my roller skate wheels in an open tray, rather than in a box with a lid
Keeping my skate protective gear in an open basket
Having many different headphone options and making sure as many as possible are charging.
4. Use postive exercise terminology that you connect with!
What a difference a word choice makes (for me!)
Seeing "outside podcast time" or a book title followed by a sunshine emoji is more motivating as a prompt to exercise than "30 min walk" or “Exercise”
Examples of phrases I like using
Podcast and sunshine session
Serotonin Stroll
Fresh air + spotify time
Dance session (I fluctuate with enjoying the word “workout”)
Indoor Skate <insert band or music genre> edition
Even though I don’t have any issues with the word exercise at the time of writing this, I used to use the word movement instead and found that helped!
5. Openly discuss exercise and share wins with others.
Mentioning exercise in my chats with others helped me reinforce it as a normal part of my day, and it helped me feel less intimidated by it. Sharing my progress and wins with people happy to celebrate with me has made a huge difference to my overall confidence!
Friends were also more likely to ask me how it was going, which was a helpful reminder & a bit of accountability! I also make a point of saying out loud to myself “that was so enjoyable” (any positive phrase) when I finish working out if I felt good.
My mindset can be negative in self talk and dismissive of my wins. I used to find myself saying to others, “I’m so unfit” or “I’m struggling to get up today”
Changing the words I speak to myself has helped me stick with exercise.
My go to phrases
I am improving every day
I am getting more fit
I stuck with the workout and did it - that’s a big win
Celebrating on good days has helped me to not spiral on my harder days, the days I struggle with motivation.
BONUS TIPS!
Here are some more things I keep in mind.
Here are some more things I keep in mind.
Exercise doesn’t have to mean workout, gym or sport - it can just mean movement.
You can do things that don’t really feel like exercise! For example;
Setting a time limit and cleaning as much of the house as you can.
Then going for round two where you try to do even more in that time.Gardening or yard work
Putting on music and dancing around the house putting things away
Walking around a busy farmers market or exploring your neighbourhood
You can exercise at any time of day!
It doesn’t have to be first thing in the morning! Some of my best dance workouts have been at 10pm!
Music can help!
Make it a mission to find the most ‘toe tapping, can’t help moving’ tunes that you can and save them to a playlist. They can come in handy on the days you’re having trouble doing anything.
Start small if you need to!
Sitting down and having trouble standing up and starting?
Put on a song and ‘dance’ whilst seated.
Yes, you may feel awkward. Yes, you probably should only do this if you’re home, rather than in a workplace.
Yes, of course air drumming counts.
Laying down and having trouble getting out of bed and starting?
Put on a timer/song for 30 seconds and move around as fast as you can (without pulling a muscle!) to get your heart rate up.
Fling your arms and legs around, get weird with it…then see how you feel! Repeat if needed!Find a way of tracking progress that doesn’t shame you for missed days!
Sticker charts don’t work for me. I wish they did. I become too hyper fixated on the days I’ve missed which leads to a lot of guilt and shame and avoidance.
My Rotation: Here are the exercise options I'm loving and sticking to!
Rollerskating
outdoor (either with a group or by myself)
indoor at the skating rink (with two different rinks to choose from)
indoor at home. I can do drills, or more of a dance type skate.
Walking
When the weather is good - I set myself up to do a Spotify Stroll where I can listen to new music as I walk. I also have used my walks to listen to podcasts and audio books!
Dance
I joined the Fitness Marshall membership February 2022 after seeing it pop up here and there on TikTok! I wish I started it sooner! I can choose from a half hour or hour workout and access all the past live streams, New workouts are posted regularly as part of a livestream.
I love how the dancing can easily be adapted for injuries like my ankle or for different energy levels. Having 3 fun instructors on screen who joke around help to keep it entertaining and help me sustain focus throughout the session!
FYI - I use body doubling for extra help!
I like to exercise before or in between body doubling sessions, using the sessions for some accountability and structure.
Other ways members have used the membership include;
Exercising on sessions
Using the forum to ask for tips or to brainstorm options
Reaching out to find accountability support at the end of sessions
Sharing an exercise or fitness/movement win so others can celebrate with them!