Totally ADD: No Exercise

[Anonymous]

I put on the cd from Mamma Mia and dance like crazy for my exercise. It’s such UP music that I get the exercise and my mood goes UP at the same time.

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[Rick Green – Founder of TotallyADD]

The best exercise is simply walking. We are built to walk. Running, I find, is hard on the body.

I bike, but that’s on a recumbent bike, which has almost no impact on the body, compared to a regular bike.

And I highly recommend one of those mini-trampolines. Bouncing for a few minutes builds muscles. You can do it to music. It clears out your lymphatic system. The other suggestion is to get involved in a sport or game. Sometimes going out and shooting baskets, or playing ball hockey, feels more productive than simply running, because we’re also building skills.

And before you consider spending hundreds of dollars on an exercise machine, be aware that they always say, “It stores away under a bed…” or “It folds up and can be hidden away in a closet…” for a reason. Cause that’s what they do.

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[Anonymous]

Yup. Waliking is great. I’ve gone through periods when I was walking for 45 minutes, 5 nights a week. Only on weekdays, ’cause that’s when I found I needed it most. I walked mostly at night to clear and reset my head. I also found it helped with my insomnia-ish-ness, which I know is common with ADD. I’ve also been a gym rat for 20 years or so, since I was a teenager. Same routine pretty much (or similar at least) every time I go. I go mostly for the mental reasons. The only thing I suggest with gyms is perhaps find one with as few distractions as possible. The less TV screens the better! I find that many gyms today have waaaaay too many TVs! Kinda distracting. I’ve also found running to be good. Started just over a year ago, running about 3 days a week, 35 mins each time. I find I actually get the same mental benefits from about 45 mins of brisk walking though.

Oh! Also, there’s a great book called “Spark” written by John Ratey. Interesting book on how exercise affects the brain, and as well, there’s a chapter on ADD/ADHD. Very insightful. Wonderful book to have on the bookshelf.

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[Anonymous]

I’ve been told that running is actually a repetitive injury.

Rick, exercise machines are excellent clothes racks as well. Don’t ask me how I know this. 🙄

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[laddybug3]

I freak out on treadmill the strip brothers me. The thing is sometimes I forget the strip is moving and I stop go flying off, or complain about the string thing that stops it.

My favorite thing to workout at the gym is strength training. Something about lifting weight . Then there are the ropes. So much fun. You can do many things with the ropes.

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[Geoduck]

I got a gym membership. I also got my neighbors and my hubby to join. That helped, having friends go with me. You can get a gym that has both free weights and pulley type weights. Frankly, I don’t want smelly people standing around or over me when I’m exercising, so I go spotter free with the pulleys.

Precor makes a machine called and Adaptive Motion Trainer. Check for it in a gym (too expensive to buy, and the guilt factor of not using it is pretty high, right?). Really, I call it the ass kicker. What’s great about it is it is a free motion elliptical, so you can stride as far as you want, or even as little as you want, using it as a stair stepper. The arms are active, too. The sweet thing about it is that it’ll put that corner back in your butt. You know, the part where the leg meets. Your butt should jutt out there. It’s not supposed to be a gradual slant to your legs. My butt came back to life after about a month.

It’s pretty easy on the joints, too. I’m trying to warm up to the idea of running, but I hate the impact on my joints. I’m also afraid of the damned thing. Very scary thing that keeps moving when I don’t.

Who mentioned teaching martial arts? My ADD dad taught Judo for years. He loved it! He got his exercise and his social outlet.

Anybody want a soloflex??? It was given to me by a neighbor. He didn’t use it, either.

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[Anonymous]

Whaa? You did all 90 days of power 90?! I start it, love how it makes me feel, go a good week and a half…then quit.

No, wait. My husband gets us started. Then the rest.

We both really want to move more. I love the way power 90 makes me feel.

We both work long physical hours, though. Working physically is *not* the same as exercise!!

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[Anonymous]

@lostinthestars It helped that my doctor told me I would be dead if I didn’t exercise. Sometimes I think I need an eraser to the head from the teacher.

I made it about 30 days doing everything they said (diet, got through the DVD every day). Then I did 80/20 for the next few weeks; then 20/80; then nothing. It is awesome, though. It doesn’t feel like exercise so much, but after about 3 weeks, I started getting bored of the scenery. Same girl. Same guy. Same stupid jokes. They need an ADD pack with 10 DVDs. All the same exercises, just change the actors/wardrobe and a few different laugh lines.

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[billd]

BRISK walking – but any walking is good……

I used to walk around a section in an hour (that’s a mile every 15 minutes) and it did help.

However, now, finding the time to walk……. and the weather (been in the upper 90s here for a couple of weeks, with humidities in the mid-90% range is not conducive to anything physical)

I found running caused extreme headaches, and with scarring from pneumonia, I had trouble staying alive after short runs.

But walking I can handle – just need the motivation to get back to it.

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[Bill]

Rick,

Walking is a great exercise, but the best?????

The best exercises, IMHO are weight bearing. Building muscles gives you energy, not just energy in the moment, but a base layer of energy that helps you stay on task. You can laugh in the face of osteoporosis! You’ll stand straighter and walk taller. The boss will wonder if you’ve lost weight. So, after that nice, relaxing walk, give me 20 push-ups and 30 crunches. Work that core!

I’m like everyone else when it comes to exercising, though. The only strategy that has worked for me is to make an appointment with someone else to exercise. That way I’m letting someone else down if I skip the appointment.

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[Geoduck]

Walking is somewhat weight bearing, as opposed to something like swimming. Especially if you’re carrying the kids backpack from school. LOL! No lie, 2 miles round trip, and uphill, both ways. We’re on top of one hill, school’s on top of another hill, with a big dip inbetween.

You need both, but I was doing to much strength training, and too little cardio, and way too much ice cream. The biggest difference was when I dropped the fat in my diet. That encouraged me in the gym. Took 12 years to learn that lesson. In fact, by changing my diet, dropping the fat to low fat and increasing fiber, I lost weight while in bed for two weeks, recovering from surgery. I dropped like 10 lbs., doing no exercise. I dropped 10 more when I added it back in.

@lostinthestars, I totally relate to that. That’s what happened to all my video tapes, Taibo, Yoga, lots of others. I do them for a while, then let it go. Pretty much, if I don’t go pay for a gym, I don’t exercise consistantly. Now my neighbor’s been dragging me out on 10mi. bike rides at 6am (it’s 111F here today, 6am has been the only cool time of the day). I do that, then hit the weights at the gym for about a half hour.

The other thing about the gym is that it can be pretty social, which lets me get my ADD chattiness out. That and I’m at home with kids, so any chance to talk to a real adult is a huge incentive.

Another thing that helps is getting on one of these exercise social sites, like Livestrong.com, or Dailymile, where you can add friends and cheer one another on. Or guilt each other into getting off the couch. Whatever motivates you, cheering or guilt. LOL!

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[laddybug3]

I am going swimming today.

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[nellie]

A dog is a great motivator and exercise buddy! My dogs keep me honest and won’t let me forget to get my walks in I much prefer walking them to going to the gym or any kind of organized fitness. They get me out walking twice a day except if the weather is really awful ,then they end up in the yard on their own!. However, that excuse doesn’t work with them for more than a few days because they go nuts in the house since they don’t expend as much energy running around the yard and so force me to get back to the regular routine. I have a treadmill but it hasn’t been used in a few years – makes a great shelf though!

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[quizzical]

In the motivation department, hanging out with fit people helps tremendously, as does a yearly week at the beach!

Even better: hang out with fit friends at the beach, which is what we do every year! The prospect of spending a week with “Ms. Athleta” generally gets me off the couch so I can at least be worthy of the same coastline she is. And then spending a week in her disciplined realm brings out a little competitive spirit in me: “You’re going walking now? OK, I’m going to stay in….

…and do some major butt-kicking Tae-Bo while you’re gone, ha-HA!”

Hey, whatever works!

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[caper]

I have trouble doing exercise for the sake of exercise, so I focus on doing productive things that involve exercise. i.e. taking out the garbage, walking to pick up the mail instead of driving, biking with my kids, etc.

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[Author]

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