Strategies for Alleviating the Boredom Associated with Exercise

Just about every expert in the ADD field will tell you that exercise is one of the best ADD management strategies there is. According to the book Delivered from Distraction:

"When a person exercises, she sets in motion a cascade of events that her brain loves. She sends more blood to her brain. With more blood comes more oxygen. Exercise also stimulates the release of a plethora of nutrients, hormones, chemical precursors of neurotransmitters, growth factors and cleansing agents that bathe the brain in precisely what it needs to function at its best."

And in addition to the health and focus benefits, exercise feels good. So why don't we do it more?

For many adults with ADD, the answer to that question is "boredom". When exercise becomes boring for an ADDer, it becomes something to avoid.

Here are 4 strategies for alleviating the boredom associated with exercise:

1. Get out of the Gym

Many ADDers join gyms with a lot of excitement, only to find that their enthusiasm wears out quickly. Being on a stationary bike, treadmill, or stair climber for 30 minutes begins to seem like torture after a while.

Instead of feeling forced to get your exercise at this gym, take these activities outside. Walk or bike around the neighborhood, or find some real stairs to climb! Change of scenery goes a long way in alleviating boredom.

2. Follow the Seasons

Find seasonal activities that you might enjoy. In the winter, skiing, ice skating and snow showing are great forms of exercise. In the summer, the choices are almost limitless: team sports, swimming, rollerblading, biking, etc.

3. Join an Activity Club or Take a Class

A great way to ensure that you get regular exercise is to follow some pre-set structure. Exercise classes that meet once or twice a week for an hour or so will really help you shape up. Try dance or martial arts classes for a good workout!

Or, if there is a physical activity that you really love, but never allow yourself the time to enjoy, give yourself permission to join an activity club. You'll meet new people, spend more time on what you enjoy, and get your exercise in the process.

4. Use Music

If you must go to the gym, bring along some headphones and some fun music. It will keep your energy level up, and will allow you to focus on something a little more interesting than the wall in front of your exercise equipment.

Exercise is an excellent tool for managing ADD. It offers many physical and mental health benefits, and it can be a lot of fun! Remember, when an ADDer starts to get bored with exercise, it's time to mix it up.

Note: Always check with your doctor before beginning a new exercise routine.

Jennifer Koretsky is a Professional ADD Management Coach who helps adults manage their ADD and move forward in life. She encourages clients to increase self-awareness, focus on strengths and talents, and create realistic action plans. She offers a 90-day intensive skill-building program, workshops, and private coaching. Her work has been featured in numerous media, including The New York Times Magazine and The Times (UK). To subscribe to Jennifer's free email newsletter, The ADD Management Guide, please visit http://www.addmanagement.com/e-newsletter.htm

MORE RESOURCES:

RELATED ARTICLES

5 Mistakes People Makes When Doing a Workout Program
When you start out with a workout program - whether the purpose is weight loss exercise or another - you have started a training process that hopefully is going to last for a while. It is important that you are aware of some factors that can decrease your motivation for the exercising or even damage your health - while you are executing your training program.

Sports Specific Exercise
The Greek physician Galen (AD 129 - 210) is generally accepted to be the originator of formalized exercise, he even pointed the way forward by stating,"?movements which do not alter respiration are not called exercise".Whilst he was chief physician to the Gladiators, Galen devised training drills to replicate movements from the arena, as seen in the 1960 film Spartacus.

How to Keep Your Body Fit
Fitness is just as imperative as health. As a matter of fact, fitness is linked directly with your health.

Exercise Smarter Not Harder - 10 Ways to Make Consistent Progress in Your Exercise Plan!
My name is Greg Ryan. I am a fitness expert, professional bodybuilder personal trainer to movie stars, and former employee of Kathy Smith.

The Importance of Stretching Exercises
Muscles and connective tissues shorten over time and that results in less flexibility. If your muscles have gone some time without being used, they tend to become weaker and quite stiff.

Easy and Effective Home Workouts
Many people think that creating a home workout gym is either too intimidating or too costly. So, often they instead invest their money in a health club membership not realizing that for the same amount of money (or even less) they can create a very effective gym right in their own home.

The Importance of The Fibonacci Numbers in Fitness Training
"Things do not change; we change." -Henry David ThoreauThe following article is a chapter from my new book, The Da Vinci Fitness Code.

What the Philosophy of Tai Chi Can Do For You
Taoist PhilosophyTo understand the purpose of the form it is important to understand its basis and roots.The origins of Tai Chi go back over 5,000 years and are based in Taoist philosophy developed and refined by the great Taoist thinkers such as, Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu.

Defeating Back Pain Forever
Back pain, one of the most common physical, and debilitating ailments today, affects 70% - 80% of us at one time or another in our lives. However, as a result of the obesity epidemic, that number continues to climb.

Mom, How F.I.T.T. Is Your Workout?
Moms don't have the time or desire to mess around with complicated workouts that don't get results. If you want real Mommy Muscle you need a plan that's based on principles not infomercials and advertising.

Exercise Intensity
"Physical Fitness"Some physical activities (exercise) are not intense enough to help you meet the FDA recommendations for being physically fit. Although you are moving, these activities do not increase your heart rate, so you should not count these towards the 30 or more minutes a day that you should strive for.

Will Your Personal Trainer Help You Achieve Your Goals?
Hiring a personal trainer can be a significant investment - even with hourly rates differing vastly across regions and countries - you are still paying a fair amount of money for the expert knowledge that will help you achieve your health and fitness goals and look after one of, if not, THE most important assets you have - your body.So how should you choose a personal trainer and what are the things you need to look out for, ask them and receive from them?First and foremost, you MUST ensure your personal trainer is fully and properly qualified.

The Great Forgotten Exercise -- Parallel Bar Dips
When it comes to building lower pectorals, triceps and frontal deltoids, dips are without doubt one the best exercises I've ever used. They are seldom used nowadays and the reasons are plain to see: you have to be able to handle your own bodyweight for reps - unless you have access to one of those fancy-dan machines that allow you to dip (or chin) with less than body weight.

Exercises You Probably Dont Do But Should!
This is going to be kinda short and sweet. .

Movement That Matters: Exercise With a Greater Purpose
You've seen the commercials Ive fallen and I cant get up! While this has been a topic of many jokes and late-night comedy skits, the reality is falling is a very real danger for many people. Too often falls can lead to broken bones, hospitalization, and sometimes life-threatening illnesses due to being confined to a bed while recovering.

Weight Loss & Low Body Fat - High Calorie Burning Techniques During Workouts!
My name is Greg Ryan. I am a fitness expert, professional bodybuilder, personal, trainer to movie stars, and former employee of Kathy Smith.

Got A Cold - Should You Work Out?
A recent study sponsored by the American College of Sports Medicine indicates that exercising moderately while you have a common cold doesn't affect the severity or duration of the symptoms.It's a widely excepted notion that exercising and keeping in shape will reduce your risk of getting sick, but nothing has been previously documented to demonstrate whether working out while suffering from a cold would reduce or intensify the symptoms.

Lance Armstrongs Training Tactics: #1 Rule - Greatness Needs NO Explanation!
Great endurance racers will tell you "Leave your egos at the starting gates." One of the hardest things in any race, especially the Tour De France that you will never notice is one's ability to tame the ego.

10 Best Workout Tips
Top Trainers share their secrets to getting slim, toned and strong in record time. It guarantees that you will see results in no time.

The Lactate Threshold - Reality or Fallacy?
For many years exercise science has perpetuated the concept of a lactate threshold - a point during exercise where a sudden, sharp increase is noted in the concentration of lactate in the blood. This phenomenon is supposedly noticed when blood samples are taken from subjects performing incremental to max exercise tests much the same as a VO2 max test.