About a year ago, I wrote about a new exercise journey I had begun. It was an online personal training program. I had a trainer who would send me workouts over an app. For most of the year, I stuck with it. However, after not seeing much in terms of gains, I lost motivation, and not too long ago, I quit altogether. This left me without an exercise plan. I spent maybe a week or two wondering what was next for me and exercising. Then, I signed up for a week-long trial of a dojo. I am now enrolled in jujitsu classes.

I have a bad relationship with exercise. I get movement in, but my heart rate does not get up very high. I am gaining weight, and my clothes are beginning to become uncomfortably tight. I have known this for a while now, but I have procrastinated doing something about it. Part of why I haven’t done anything yet is not knowing what is going to help me. I hate exercise, and I don’t see any way for that to change. This means I won’t be motivated to work hard. I need someone to ensure I am working hard. This led me down the path of exploring personal trainers. However, my previous work with a personal trainer was less than effective. We only met once a week, only worked on strength training, and did not make any sustaining gains/changes.

Well, it has been over two years since my last BOREDOM BUSTER post, so I figured it is time for another one. This time we are examining how to bust the boredom of exercise. That activity is the bane of my existence. I do it, but I do not like it. I have to get creative to make it not awful. Here are some ways I accomplish this.

One thing that I have always struggled with is: What is normal? What is it like to not have ADHD? I am always going to have some level of distractibility. Even non-ADHDers do. So, where should I be? When it comes to treating and managing ADHD, am I where I should be? Do I need to be doing more? Do I need to up the dosage of my medication? Do I need to switch medications? Do I need more coping skills? Do I have non-ADHD issues getting in the way of managing my ADHD?

Who wants to go through life with every day being a grind? No one! Who wants any part of life to be a grind? No one! So, why, then, do we do things we find to be a grind? Because we let the things we do become a grind. Everyone has things in their life that are a grind. However, we do not simply have to accept these things as a grind. We can find a way to gamify these tasks and make them fun.

Every year, millions of people stay up until midnight on the night of December 31 to ring in the new year. I have never understood this. I find this quite arbitrary. Prior to midnight, we write "2018" on our checks, and after midnight, we write "2019." If we are celebrating the changing of one element on our calendars, then why are we not doing this every month or every day? One could argue that we celebrate because we only change the year once every 365 days, but if we are simply celebrating the novelty of the changing of the date, it would make more sense to celebrate a new decade.

Richard Simmons spent decades helping people get in shape and lose weight. His flamboyant style and compassion brought him great fame. Although he has not made a public appearance since 2014, his legacy endures, and it is applicable to ADHDers.

Exercise is one of the most common “alternative treatments” for ADHD bandied about on the internet. At first glance, it might seem weird that this would be promoted for ADHD. How would going for a run help one’s ability to concentrate? However, this issue is not without at least some scientific backing.

Extreme puzzle involves doing a jigsaw puzzle and running. I do the puzzle on my kitchen counter and, for every piece I place in the puzzle, I sprint up a nearby staircase. I have to hit both feet on the top of the stairs, it does not count. Typically, the sprint up the stairs occurs immediately after the piece has been placed in the puzzle. However, if I get on a roll, I allow myself to connect all of the pieces I can and then do however many sprints I owe in a row. For example, if I saw three pieces that I could immediately connect to the puzzle, I would place those three in the puzzle, and then I would do three sprints up the stairs in a row.

Exercise is BORING. This means it is hard for me to enjoy doing it, and when I do not enjoy doing something, there is a good chance I won't do it. That is why I continue to find new and exciting ways to exercise. However, to make exercise fun, it is sometimes beneficial to bring back a physical activity you did as a kid.

I don't really have a name for this exercise routine. Lately, I have been calling it "Imaginary basketball." Essentially, it is a basketball game involving only yourself. You take control of both teams and dictate how they perform.