How to Build a Consistent Workout Routine with ADHD
- Zoe Lewis
- Mar 16
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 16
You signed up for a gym membership with the best of intentions. At first, it's going great! You go and do your workouts several times a week. Then, it becomes once a month. After a while you realize it's been months since you were last there (and you're still paying for the membership!) It ends with shame and frustration. "I want to workout! Why can't I just be consistent?"
Maintaining a consistent routine is a very common struggle for those with ADHD. We follow the typical advice which doesn't account for our brain wiring, and then feel frustrated when it fails. You don't need more willpower, you need an ADHD informed routine. I'm sharing a framework that will allow you to build your own routine to stay consistent with workouts, even with ADHD!
Reduce the Barriers to Starting
A lot of ADHDers also tend to be perfectionists. We may think that there is one "right" way to workout (which often involves a lot of steps). We need to get into some fancy athletic outfit, and take ourselves to a gym or class. The truth is, it doesn't have to bed that way!
Getting started is always the hardest part, so we need to make it as easy as possible. A few ideas include:
Doing home-based workouts
Working out in what you're already wearing
This can also include starting your day with workout clothes and changing after
Keep equipment like dumbbells and yoga mats out and visible
Ultimately the less steps, the better!
Utilize Habit Stacking
Habit stacking is a great strategy to implement when you're trying to adopt a new habit or routine (which is notoriously hard for people with ADHD).
If you aren't familiar with it, habit stacking is when you attach the new habit you want to pick up to another habit that is already established by doing the new one before or after.
For example: if you're already in the routine of making an afternoon smoothie, you can decide to go for a short walk while drinking it to fit in some movement.
Make it Fun!
Incase no one has told you this yet, you don't have to hate your workout. If our workout is something that we genuinely find fun and enjoy, we are SO much more likely to actually do it!
Of course what someone considers to be fun is very personal, but get creative! Here are a few ideas:
Dancing (freestyle, following a dance workout on YouTube, going to a dance class)
Fitness games like Just Dance or Fitness Adventure
Bouncing on a mini trampoline AKA rebounding
Swimming
Do something with a friend (which also incorporates body doubling!)
Account for Fluctuating Energy Levels
Our energy and motivation levels naturally fluctuate which is just a reality of having ADHD. Often things fall apart when we get into all or nothing thinking traps. "If I can't do my regular workout routine, I'll just skip it today". In order to prepare for this, we can create options with modified routines so we can keep up the momentum.
The Baseline: This is what you would like to accomplish in your workout on an average day.
The Bare Minimum: A modified version of your baseline that is really as bare bones as you can get. It's shorter and less intense, but still better than nothing!
The Gold Standard: For those days when you're feeling extra energetic! This can be a full routine that includes more, or a list of optional things you can add on if you so choose.
Broadening what your routine looks like leaves you with options rather than the choice of if you're going to do the one workout or not. Even when you're doing the bare minimum, it's something. Keeping up the momentum is so important for our self esteem!
Have a Restart Plan
A lot of ADHDers focus on how to be "more consistent", but really what we need to figure out is how we can restart when a rythym gets distrupted.
There are a lot of variables that can come up in life that take us out of our workout routine. It might be an especially busy time at work, coming down with a cold or going on vacation.
Coming back from these pauses is where I see people getting stuck, so preemtively having a plan of how you'll reintroduce that routine can reduce the down time.
Progress Over Perfection
Perfection is the enemy of progress. Doing something is always better than doing nothing! Even if all you could do for the day is a short walk, that is much better than staying seated.
Celebrating the small wins every day or every week can be a lovely way to remind yourself of all that you are doing (because I know how much our brains love to fixate on everything we're not doing, or could be doing more of).
A Consistent Workout Routine with ADHD Means You're Showing up for You
This workout routine is for you, and needs to work for only you! It's okay if it isn't what you've been told you "should" be doing, if it's a little "out there", or you don't know anyone else who does it this way.
You've tried the typical way, and it hasn't worked. It's time to try differently, and uniquely for you!
If you'd like additional support and gentle accountability in building and maintaining a workout routine, ADHD coaching would be a great fit! Let's meet for a free 20 minute discovery call to explore how I can help support you.
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