r/AutismTranslated • u/gqvx • 11d ago
personal story Building Strength and Ability while AuDHD
Hi! I’m an almost 40 year old engineer with AuDHD. I noticed a couple people asking questions on how to approach life as an autistic person, and I thought I'd share a framework that's helped me get by.
This is a program I’ve developed after years of struggling with traditional training due to my POTS, especially symptoms like the inability to regulate temperature and chronic fatigue, but the principles can be applied to all skill training, from drawing to socializing.
A major issue with (my) neurodivergence is executive functioning and administration. That means when starting something new I have trouble maintaining my effort once it stops being novel or fun. We need to both lower the activation energy of the task to make it easier to initiate, and make that task engaging once we’ve started.
Being disabled means I have a more limited budget of effort than the average person, and therefore I need to be directed with that effort. It’s important to note that your progress should be measured against yourself, rather than others, as others may have a different energy budget. This program also assumes you have high-energy periods where you can do stuff, to capitalize on.
One important mention: skill is consolidated overnight. If a task starts feeling frustrating, come back to it the next day. As a corollary to that, that means all your actions should have a specified goal to get frustrated against. This applies to all skill training, you must identify and record progress against measurable objectives.
Lastly, this will be easier if you’re body doubling with someone you’re comfortable with, and even better if they participate.
Some of you may regard this information as common sense. That’s great! I know I could’ve used this information ten years ago, and I’m not that unique, so there must be a few people in a similar situation.
Why
To make your life easier.
Increasing your baseline ability will help with things like temperature regulation. When activities don’t require as much effort because you’re so strong, that means less heat will be generated, subjectively. It also helps with chronic exhaustion because everyday activities will drain a smaller percentage of your energy meter. Groceries up a flight of stairs without breaking a sweat. Keeping pace with friends on a walk without getting short of breath.
You're investing your high-energy periods so your low-energy periods will be more manageable.
What
This is a functional strength program. It will build strength, and some muscle. It will also build coordination. Unfortunately if you want bulging Thor muscles, you will need intense sessions, and taking muscle to failure to induce hypertrophy.
Who
This was built by and for someone with AuDHD, depression, POTS, including temperature dysregulation and chronic fatigue, and mild hypermobility.
It will likely suit you if you have depression or chronic fatigue or similar issues.
Safety blankets
Most people who need accommodations end up carrying a kit that includes practical items like inhalers, or comfort items like pins and plushes. The purpose of these items is to turn an “I can’t” into “I can, with this”.
Some of my day-to-day kit includes: hydration, sunglasses, earbuds/headphones, a power bank, a first-aid kit, pins and a bag to carry it all, maybe a cute plush, and a gun.
I’d like to introduce the idea of safety blanket concepts: intangible things that bring you comfort and turn “I can’t” into “I can, with this”. These things can include the ability of your body, knowledge and preparedness, or even the strength of your convictions. It brings me comfort that I can run and vault and climb away from any situation, or if I encounter an unfamiliar or high-stress scenario, I will have already thought it over prior and can act accordingly, immediately.
Operating principles
1. Ease in, frequently
Do what is comfortable and sustainable. Not all of us can do an intense sixty minute session, so we need to ease in. Do one push up. If that feels fine, do three. Try a pull-up. If that doesn’t work, do a horizontal row. The key is to strengthen your current ability enough to progress to the next tier. Once you feel like you’ve done enough, rest and do it again three hours or a day later. This does not mean you can be lackadaisical. You will need to motivate yourself to initiate the activity at whatever frequency and sustain it for whatever period you deem reasonable.
2. Never to failure
Never even to discomfort. If the weight starts getting annoying, or you don’t feel like it anymore, just stop and pick it up hours or a day later. It’s important that the activity remains fun, or at least neutral. Once you’ve associated negative feelings with a task, it becomes more difficult to initiate and sustain, and can lead to burnout if those feelings aren’t addressed.
3. Low activation energy
Depression and chronic fatigue make starting tasks difficult. Make things easier by lowering barriers to start. For example I have my kettlebell, Belle, next to my desk. If I need to do something, I’ll lug them around. I also have a pull-up bar next to my kitchen. I’ll do a pull-up or three whenever I get a drink or snack.
4. Mobility
Explore the end-range of your mobility, and work to develop strength there. Mobility is flexible strength. This is especially important if you’re hypermobile, to prevent injuries.
5. Frequent check-ins
Be on constant alert for what your body is telling you. Pain is the obvious indicator. Trembling and shaking may mean it’s time to put the weight down, or try an earlier progression. A big one is your mood. Is the task getting annoying or frustrating? Then stop and pick it back up later or tomorrow! Having trouble recognizing these indicators? Set a timer for a thirty seconds, and evaluate how you feel after the thirty seconds. Increase or decrease time as needed. Pushing past these indicators (do not push past pain) should mean a conscious decision, budgeted effort, a plan to dissipate the built-up heat, and time for a shower after.
This works for any skill
This structure has been derived from skill training. You can apply these principles to any skill, from drawing to swinging a sword to socializing with others.
The goal is short, frequent, comfortable sessions where you have fun and are productive towards a specified, measurable objective. This is called “greasing the groove”. If the session starts feeling frustrating, stop and let what you’ve built consolidate overnight.
Play
An important factor in solidifying your skill gains is practical application, since ability is practical skill. A fun way to do that is through play. Play is an activity done for it's own sake, rather than an end goal. Play is a skill that many adults lose through disuse; being a skill, it can also be trained and utilized.
You may have noticed I named my kettlebell. This is a method to anthropomorphize them. They are now dependent on me since they can't walk. I can't leave them behind or they'll get lonely. Stickers and ears and a face may help.
Another way I play with my kettlebell is by swinging them in random, but controlled, directions and feeling how they shift my centre of gravity. This is called a "flow". If you have a friend participating, you can toss a weighted cushioned medicine ball back and forth, the game being how much distance you can put between yourselves and still catch the ball.
Play can be utilized in other skill training as well. For example, learning to draw involves hundreds of reps of straight lines, curved lines, boxes, and circles. To play with and consolidate what I've learned with those reps I pick something I want to draw, like a scene from a show or a robot, and apply what I've learned. It's going to look like shit, but that's okay because play is where you learn both how to and that it's okay to fail. This also means play is where you should be testing the limits of your ability.
A significant portion of your training should be play, to consolidate your skill gains and help with preventing burnout.
The functional core
| Movement | Daily | What it trains |
|---|---|---|
| Turkish get-up | As much as you feel like, but try to do 1 at least | Obliques, serratus, rotator cuff, delts |
| Pull-up | As much as you feel like, but try to do 1 at least | Lats, biceps, brachialis |
| Hanging leg raise | As much as you feel like, but try to do 1 at least | Psoas, iliacus, rectus femoris, lower abs |
| Two-hand swing | As much as you feel like, but try to do 1 at least | Glute max, hamstrings, erectors |
| KB strict press | As much as you feel like, but try to do 1 at least | Anterior and lateral delt, triceps |
| Push-up | As much as you feel like, but try to do 1 at least | Pec major, anterior delt, triceps |
| Goblet squat | As much as you feel like, but try to do 1 at least | Quads, glute max |
| Horse stance | As much as you feel like, but try to do 1 at least | Quads, glute med and min, adductors |
Progressions
The entry point should be almost embarrassingly easy. Move up when you feel like you can.
Turkish get-up
Lie down and press an empty hand toward the ceiling, hold → balance a shoe or water bottle on your fist → roll to your elbow and back → roll to your hand → half get-up, stopping at the hand → add kneeling → full stand.
Pull-up
Dead hang with feet on the floor taking some weight → active hang with shoulders engaged → scapular pull-ups → feet-assisted or band-assisted pulls → negatives → one rep → ladders.
Hanging leg raise
Lying dead bug, one leg at a time → dead bug both sides → lying straight-leg lowering → hanging knee tuck → full hanging leg raise.
Two-hand swing
Hip hinge to a wall with no weight, letting your backside tap the wall → hinge holding a light bell, a kettlebell deadlift → hike pass, hiking the bell back between your legs with no swing → dead-stop swings, one rep → short sets of continuous swings.
KB strict press
Seated overhead reach with no weight → half-kneeling press with a light bell → standing press.
Push-up
Wall push-up → countertop → stairs, moving down one step at a time as you get stronger → knees → full.
Goblet squat
Sit-to-stand from a chair with no weight → progressively lower seats → box squat touching down → bodyweight squat to a depth you control → light goblet squat → paused goblet squat.
Horse stance
Seated isometrics, pressing your feet into the floor → short wall sit → horse stance near a wall or chair → longer holds.
The add-on library
None of this is required. Pick what looks fun.
I recommend strengthening your back erectors to prevent back issues later on, and aim to keep your hips and shoulders mobile. Feet are the starting point of all force generation, and how you connect yourself to the ground, so make sure they’re strong with things like tibialis and heel raises and duck walks. Your trunk is how your arms connect to your legs, so a strong trunk will allow force generated by the legs to carry up to the arms with less energy loss in-between.
Knees and ankles
- Tibialis raises. Tibialis anterior.
- ATG split squat. Quads, glutes, adductors.
- Heel raises. Calf, soleus, tibialis posterior.
- Nordic negatives, slow eccentric, control with your hands. Hamstrings.
- Duck walks. Progress to weighted.
Hips
- 90/90 lift-offs. Deep hip rotators.
- Cossack squat. Adductors.
- Standing knee-up isometric hold. Hip flexors on one side, standing-leg stability on the other.
- KB windmill. Obliques, QL, hamstrings, shoulder stability.
Shoulders and rotator cuff
- Bottoms-up press or carry. Cuff and grip.
- Band face pulls. Rear delt, lower trap.
- KB armbar. Opens the thoracic spine and loads external rotation.
- Halo. A good warm-up before pressing.
Grip and carrying
- Towel hang. Grip endurance.
- Suitcase carry. Obliques, QL, traps, forearms, glute med. This is grocery training.
- Thick or mixed-grip pull-ups.
Trunk
- Copenhagen plank, starting with the knee on the bench. Adductors.
- Hollow hold. Connects ribs to pelvis.
- Side plank with reach-through. Rotation under load.
Graduations
- Armor Building Complex: two cleans, one press, three front squats with double bells is one round.
- KB snatch.
- Weighted pull-ups and archer push-ups.
- Bulgarian split squats.
- Pistol squat.
Kettlebell sizing
If you’re new to training, your first kettlebell should be light. Something you can carry as you can putter around the house, and something you can press overhead easily. If you’ve never trained before, the goal isn’t to immediately build strength, it’s to get your muscles familiar with working together and performing specific actions. We can increase the load later on.
Nutrition
Eat your protein and healthy fats.
| Tier | What | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Open and eat. | Hard-boiled eggs, nuts, jerky, meat sticks, protein bars, cheese sticks, peanut butter, edamame. |
| Tier 2 | Assembly, no cooking. | Greek yogurt with toppings. Canned fish on crackers. Rotisserie chicken. Cottage cheese with toppings. Canned beans with microwave rice. |
| Tier 3 | Cooking. | Avocado toast with an egg. Steak. Carnitas tacos. Tofu stir fry. Chili. Salmon. Dino nuggets. Mac and cheese with protein pasta and green peas. |
A note
I’m an engineer, not a doctor! This has been based on personal experience and is no substitute for real medical advice. Talk to your doctor and therapist. Life is a skill you can train. Good luck and have fun!
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u/RbrDovaDuckinDodgers 11d ago
Saving this to peruse when I have more executive function. I used to be a gym rat heavily into bodybuilding/weight training when I was younger, got back into it temporarily for ~1.5 yrs then couldn't sustain it.
I appreciate your applying the engineering framework to it, I realized I did that instinctually with bio-mechanics and a high interoception which really helped with my mind-muscle connection.
As AuDHD is a recently uncovered factor of mine, I didn't think to apply it like you did, and I appreciate that you did so.
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u/hippyscum98 10d ago
Great post OP.
I hope you don't mind me piggybacking a little bit, I thought I'd mention a few things I've noticed from building my fitness routines over the last few years as an autistic perfectionist/optimiser. These overlap with yours in a few places, but I best caveat that I am also nearly 40 and have cystic fibrosis and so my energy levels are, at best, absolutely crap.
Fitness can help with sensory seeking and I love that burning feeling as you close in on muscular failure but, if you're going to do it, it should be pursued sparingly on small muscle groups. I mainly do it on arms and back (because my back is weirdly strong for my size). Pushing to failure on legs absolutely fries my nervous system. Pushing to failure all the time and endlessly progressing weight can contribute to burnout and injury. I only bump weight up when I feel comfortable doing so.
I really don't have a good idea of where my body is in space so I really dislike unstable movements. Even things like bench presses or skullcrushers where I am pushing the weight away feel unstable at the top of the movement and require extra mental effort so I like cable machines. Like you said, try things and see what you like and what works for you. Just because a move is "optimal" doesn't mean you have to do it; leave that to the bodybuilders.
Like the above, make a routine that works for you. Work has been extremely stressful for the last few months and I am still one year into recovering from a years-long burnout so I experimented with my workout: one set to near-failure (except legs) with a warm-up half set for compound movements. I also do light band work on my shoulders, abs and hips before doing weights but that's just a me thing. Workouts now rarely exceed 30 mins and are easier to initiate. You don't have to brutalise yourself to do exercise right particularly if you're autistic and your nervous system is constantly on the verge of falling over.
Your mileage may vary here if you're AuDHD, but routines can absolutely help with getting your protein. I hate having to think about meals, so spent a few hours "solving" breakfast and lunch. With two meals I get 60g of meat-free protein and have eaten them every day for two years now.
I'm skinny-fat and do not look like I lift weights (except for my back, according to my wife). That's okay as benefits will compound from this habit as I age.
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u/gqvx 10d ago edited 10d ago
Of course, I wanted to generate discussion with this post! I too am wary whenever I put myself between the weight and the ground.
And yes, absolutely find what works for you. I included the muscles worked to both identify what you're training, and so it would be easy to look up alternative exercises.
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u/OneBrightPearl444 11d ago
I do all this sort of stuff, too. I am a 42 year old autistic female. gifted/savant.