My ADD / ADHD Blog

Wii Fit and Adult ADHD

Those of you who read my blog, follow me on Twitter, or are My Facebook friend know that I have been exercising regularly for the past few months. My regular blog readers and those who know me, know that it's been somewhat of a challenge for me too. Though exercise was not something I enjoyed I have been doing it...

About a month ago my husband and I bought the Wii and the Wii Fit. I am really pleased and surprised to say that over the past month I've actually been having some fun exercising and using the Wii Fit. As somebody with Adult ADHD it also keeps my interest and attention. There are different types of exercises and are done for 2 and 3 minutes at a time. Also the more you exercise the more exercise options you get to choose from.

If you don't already own a Wii, it will be close to a $350 investment. I think the Wii Fit was definitely a good investment for us but we did research it first and we waited over a month before purchasing it. 

If you want to learn more about ADHD and Exercise don't forget to sign up for Dr. John Ratey's Free Teleseminar through ADDClasses.com.

Prioritizing and Getting Stuck

Wow, it's been almost 3 weeks since I blogged! I think this may have been the longest I've gone with out blogging since I started the blog 4 years ago. Once again I thought I was having writer's block because I couldn't think of anything to write. But, once it again it was because I had so many thoughts, ideas, and events that I could write about and didn't stop to take the time to prioritize and choose just one to start with.

When I did finally stop for a few minutes to get things out of my head and on paper I was amazed at how easy it was for me to choose where to start. For example I have 3 important events happening this week at ADDClasses.com and realized writing about them in the order they will be happening made a lot of sense.

Monday - Terry Matlen and I are going to open up the ADD Action Club For new Members.

Tuesday -  Dr. John Ratey will be offering a Free Teleseminar about ADHD and Exercise

Wednesday - The 6 Week Free Organized Job Search Program begins.

Coaching Tip: When you are stuck and not sure how to prioritize, start with a very simple system.

ADHD, Exercise, and Sleep

Last week Jennifer Koretsky wrote the blog entry: 3 Tips to Restful Sleep. She gave some tips and also asked readers for their tips.

Here's my tip:

I've been exercising regularly during 2009 and was recently encouraged to increase my exercise. Over the past couple of week I've been exercising a lot more than usual. Exercise is helping me fall asleep easier, sleep better, and wake up easier too.

Resistance to Exercising

Last night at the very end of Sari Solden's Teleseminar through ADDClasses.com somebody submitted a question that we did not have time to answer. So I have decided to try and answer it here on my blog.

I know I NEED to exercise - how do I overcome the resistance to commit the time to do so?

Many of us with Adult ADHD become resistant to the idea of needing to do something or feeling like we should do something. We have to want to do something or buy into the reason for doing something. Understanding the benefits of exercising may a good place to start. I highly recommend Dr. John Ratey's book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain.

Also, understanding more about the resistance is a good idea. An ADHD Coach may be helpful when it comes to Adult ADHD and exercising. We recently did and ADHD Coach Talk show about ADHD and Exercise. If the resistance is more emotionally based or something deeper then it might be a good idea to speak to a mental health professional.

As you can tell from reading my blog and listening to the ADHD and Exercise show on ADHD Coach Talk, exercising regularly is also one of my challenges too! For me getting support from others has been very helpful!!

Exercise and ADHD Coach Talk

Those of you who listened to ADHD Coach Talk earlier today heard Diane Ladd Coaching me about exercising! During the live ADHD Coach Talk Radio Show I committed to exercising right after ADHD Coach Talk ended.

I also said that I would write a blog post to let all the listeners know! I am happy to say that I did exercise right after ADHD Coach Talk ended. Diane, Linda and I actually were actually on the phone while I was exercising.

ADHD, Exercise and Michael Phelps

I'm sure you have heard by now that Michael Phelps has ADHD. I know that a lot of his success has to do with the fact that at a young age he found something he was good at and really enjoyed. He's also had some very positive and supportive people in his life like his mother and his swimming coach.

But let's not forget the obvious! Michael Phelps really does quite a bit of exercising! If you've read Dr. John Ratey's book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain you know how beneficial exercise is for people with ADHD. So I'm sure that all swimming Michael Phelps has done has really contributed to his success in other areas of his life like school.

It's come out recently in different articles that when Micheal Phelps was younger he and his mother decided that he would stop taking medication to treat his ADHD. I think it's personal choice as to whether or not somebody takes medication for ADHD. I really think it's a good idea for people to educate themselves about ADHD medication before making decisions about medication.

Dr. John Ratey's book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain is a great resource which can help people understand one of the reasons Michael Phelps has been successful with out ADHD Medication. Let's also remember that Michael Phelps has been doing a quite a bit more exercise than most people!

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It's not the Flu...It's my ADHD

Those of you who have been following my blog know that it can be challenging for me to exercise regularly. I am proud to report that for the past 2 weeks I've done well exercising. Last week I was also motivated enough to get out my Ab Lounge and use it too. It had been close to a year since I used the Ab Lounge and in that time I hadn't done any sit-ups or really used those muscles. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday I did 25 sit-ups on the Ab Lounge .

So here's my ADHD Moment...Saturday and Sunday I was feeling really achy and thought that I was coming down with the Flu or a Bug. Since I thought I was getting sick I was in sick mode all weekend. It didn't even dawn on my until last night that the reason I was so achy was from using the Ab Lounge!

iPod, Socks, and George W. Bush

I really didn't set an actual goal of exercising a certain amount of times this week but I really wanted to get back on track with exercising. Usually if I can find a reason or excuse not to exercise, I don't exercise. What surprised me is that this week I had some challenges that really could have fed into my resistance to exercising.

On Tuesday my Ipod would not turn on even after trying a few times to reboot it. This could have been a perfect reason for me not to exercise. For some reason I got on my Gazelle with my iPod and as soon as I started exercising it finally came on.

On Wednesday I could not find matching socks. I think I have 10 different styles of of white socks, yet none of them match each other. I have some athletic socks with arch support so it wasn't just that they didn't look like a match. It's also that they didn't feel the same on my feet. I finally just put on 2 different socks and after a few minutes the weird feeling of 2 different socks on disappeared!

Then today luckily for me I exercised before watching the news. George W. Bush was on the news talking about his Presidential Fitness Challenge. Don't get me wrong I think it's a great idea for the country to start exercising. However George W. Bush should not be the one trying to encourage people to exercise. He's an awful speaker!!!! He is not inspiring at all and he just sounds like an insensitive jerk. I don't want to turn this into a political rant but George Bush could have fed into my oppositional nature and been a great excuse for me to avoid exercising.

Even with my challenges this week was a success for me and I exercised 3 times! 

Share Your Goals

I was just flipping through Nancy Ratey's Book The Disorganized Mind: Coaching Your ADHD Brain to Take Control of Your Time, Tasks, and Talents and came across one of the tips on procrastination which is Share Your Goals. As an ADHD Coach I know this works well for my clients. In the ADD Coaching Club members share their goals on the Group Coaching Calls and some also share them on the private support forum too. So I know it works for others!

I'm not sure why but it still surprises me when I see things work for myself. Yesterday I was talking to my friend and colleague Becca Colao through IM. During our conversation I mentioned that I was procrastinating about exercising and that I wanted to exercise. With in minutes I got my socks and sneakers on and started exercising. So now I know that as both an ADHD Coach and an adult with ADHD that Sharing Your Goals does work.

I am now sharing a goal here on my blog to. Right after this afternoon's Free ADHD Teleseminar with Kate Kelly I am going to exercise!

Spark to Exercise

If you've read my blog posts "There's No Excuse" and "Exercising is Hard" you know that I was trying to get back on an exercise routine this week. I am happy to say that I did really well this past week. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I exercised for 30 minutes on the Gazelle. On Thursday I went to the mall and instead of just going to the 2 stores and leaving I walked around the mall too. On Friday though I had no desire what so ever to exercise I talked myself into just doing 15 minutes on the Gazelle and ended up doing 20 minutes. 

Reading Dr. John Ratey's book Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain helped to reminded me why I want to to exercise. I was pleasantly surprised when he discussed the idea of Should vs Want in the book when it comes to exercising too. In addition to the scientific research and reasons to exercise Dr. Ratey also goes into reasons why it's challenging for people people with Anxiety, Depression, ADHD and other issues to exercise. Unlike many other medical professionals he doesn't use the "just get off your ass" approach which I know has never worked for me. He does provide examples of people who were able to begin exercising and how it dramatically improved their quality of life.   

I highly recommend Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain