I recently celebrated the 11 year anniversary of my “Fitness First” ritual: I make my workout the first thing I do every day. My morning workout is non-negotiable.
My original motto was: No days off. No excuses. And I’ve held to that commitment.
I haven’t missed a day in over 11 years.
Sometimes people question the rigidity of this rule, or whether it’s really a “good idea.” They wonder if it’s healthy and suggest I take a day off.
I haven’t yet found a compelling reason to change my routine. In fact, daily exercise works well for me. Here are 7 reasons why daily exercise works for me, and why it can work for you, too — especially if you have ADHD.
(1) Get Inertia Working in Your Favor
Inertia is defined as
a property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is changed by an external force.
The best way to get moving in your day is to get moving in your body.
Stated differently, flow creates flow. When you start moving your body, you unlock your creative and cognitive flow.
(2) Plug in Your Brain
I don’t know whether it’s the dopamine boost, the endorphins, or the adrenaline — and to some extent, does it even matter? — but exercise helps me plug in my brain. Movement helps me wake up and “come online” so I can function during my day.
(3) Establish Your Rhythms
My “Fitness First” ritual is an anchor in my day. It helps me get up and start moving. This anchors everything else that happens in my day.
But it’s not just about my activities. I’ve found that my consistency in exercising daily has also helped many of my physical functions. Our bodies operate in particular rhythms and cycles. When we are consistent in our time of waking up and getting going, that helps the body’s systems align all the different cycles.
Before I started exercising daily, my cycles were all over the place. After years of consistent exercise at the same time of day, I noticed that my cycles were so regular I could predict them better than my period-tracking app.
(4) Eliminate Decisions
Decisions might be the biggest energy vampire lurking in every day. They are a distraction for anyone, but especially for people with ADHD, as they drain precious executive function resources.
By deciding once that I would exercise daily, and that it would be first thing in my day, I never had to make that decision again. This saves me not only from those basic decisions, but also from the inevitable decisions and renegotiations that can happen when you “plan” to exercise and then change your plan.
(5) Overcome Perfectionism or the Myth of “Not Enough”
Women with ADHD can be all or nothing: it has to be perfect or it’s not worth doing.
Even people without ADHD can fall into this trap. If you’re only exercising once or twice a week, you might be tempted to over-do it if you’re feeling good. Or you might be annoyed or frustrated if you have a bad workout.
Knowing I’m going to exercise again tomorrow removes some of this pressure. There’s actually a ton of freedom in the “constraint” around doing something daily.
When you exercise daily, you can do a little bit each day and not worry that you haven’t done enough. Tomorrow is an opportunity to do more.
(6) Eliminate “Start-Up Energy”
Doing something for the first time requires immense “start-up energy” to overcome all the hurdles of beginning something new. You’ve got to create space in your schedule for it; you must get your gear together. Make your plans.
These logistics can feel like a big mountain to climb, just to get started.
Not giving myself the out to take days off means I don’t have to overcome the huge hurdle of “getting back into it” that people often have when they take an extended break
Over the years, I’ve had many periods where I “just didn’t feel like” working out. I still maintained my practice: I’d show up at the gym and go through the motions to do the bare minimum. I might have done this for weeks. When I finally had the energy to get back into it, I was already in the place. By staying in the practice of showing up, it was much easier to restart.
(7) Feel Better in Your Body
Daily exercise has helped me feel better in my body in many ways.
A new relationship with my body. It’s helped me develop a new relationship with my body. I can appreciate what my body is able to do without punishing it for what it cannot do.
Less soreness. I generally don’t get sore from a workout because I move my body daily. Knowing I’m coming back tomorrow keeps me from going too hard today, so that I’m never too sore to move.
Boosted immune system. The saying “movement is medicine” is more than just a slogan. I do not get sick often. When I do, it’s usually not intense and I recover much faster.
Movement is crucial to the working of the lymphatic system, which is a network in the body that is a crucial part of the immune system. The body relies on the lymphatic system to remove waste, like bacteria, viruses, toxins and abnormal cells.
The lymphatic system does not have an organ like the heart to pump fluid around your body. The contraction of your muscles make it flow.
It Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
There’s a lot of freedom within the constraint of a daily commitment. Don’t overthink it. Just get your body moving every day, in some way.
It is good for the body and for the mind.
Love it? Hate it? What do you think? Don't hold back...