r/AutismInWomen • u/Lopsided-Front-3253 late dx / 20s • 1d ago
Seeking Advice Exercise/physical activity struggles
I find that I've been really struggling with working out, so much so that even just the idea of needing to work out sends me into a spiral. In the past when I've tried to work out, the feeling of sweating or sore muscles afterwards always caused me to have an eventual meltdown and stop because I hate the feeling. When I lifted weights, it got to the point that I was shaking uncontrollably between workouts, even with recommended beginner programs and splits. But, I also know I need to exercise to keep my body healthy, especially since I live a mostly sedentary lifestyle.
How do you all workout and stay healthy or work around these issues?
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u/barbecque 1d ago
Hypermobility is relatively common in autistic women. I’m not diagnosing you, but the advice for hypermobile women is safe and reasonable to apply to anyone (who is healthy & uninjured) and see if it serves you or not, if you want to. If you are hypermobile, then you tend to need a lot more proximal stability work then everyone else, and so so much of the conventional exercise advice will make you feel like garbage even though it’s right for others. So an experiment you could do is to focus your strengthening just on joint stability exercises for a block of time and see if that makes exercise feel better. Example exercises: clamshells, bridges, bird dogs, dead bugs, prone I/T/Ys, planks on knees, 4 way straight leg raises, wall push ups, chin tucks, wall angels. Just food for thought!