How to Not Burn Saucepans: Chapter 1.4 – Exercise

In the previous section, I touched on the dark side of exercise. Like anything, it can be taken to extremes. In the right dosage though, it’s wonderful. For me personally, doing an hour of exercise per day is great for my mood, energy levels and ability to concentrate. My grandma has a little king charles cavalier named Bo that doesn’t get much exercise. When we go see my nan, Bo will jump on everyone and run around causing havoc. The solution to a relaxed lunch is to take him for a 20 minute walk. A bit of exercise and he’s placid as can be. I don’t tend to jump on people but internally my thoughts are as wild as Bo is if I don’t burn off some energy in the morning.

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Running is the most effective form of meditation for me. Sitting still first thing in the morning either feels like torture or an invitation to go to sleep. I find getting out in nature and breathing deeply while running has a lot of the benefits that people attribute to meditation. I still meditate but not the first thing.

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My exercise schedule

I currently do a mixture of cardio (running/cycling/cross country skiing) and resistance training (free weights in my home gym). 

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My current training schedule is:

Daily
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• 10 minutes of yoga when I wake up
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• Then I go for a 20 minute run or bike ride
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• 10 minutes of yoga in the evening

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Three times per week
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• 30 minute weights/mobility workout

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Exercise snacking

I also do exercise snacking throughout the day. That involves short bouts of exercise (e.g. 60 seconds of pushups/squats) every half an hour or so. It serves multiple benefits:
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1. Boosts focus - I find my brain is a lot sharper if I raise my heart rate. Recent research suggests that is common for ADHDers and may be due to changes in GABA from exercise.
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2. Better mood: if I'm getting frustrated by a task or a colleague, busting out some pushups is a great way to relieve tension.
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3. Better posture: left to my own devices, I'll get into hyperfocus and sit there for hours at a time. The result is normally a splitting headache by the end of the day due to my poor posture. Standing up and stretching/exercising seems to fix this. I've tried standing desks and haven't felt the same benefit - I just end up with sore legs and it reminds me of my time working as a cashier at a supermarket (not my favourite job!).
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4. Fitness benefits: on days I don't have many meetings, I'll end up doing 15 minutes or so of relatively intense exercise spread out throughout the day. I don't think it's as good as doing 15 minutes in one go but it's definitely not nothing.

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I use the Focus Bear app to remind me to consume these exercise snacks 🤤

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Aerobic exercise

In the past, I’ve run ultramarathons and cycled double centuries (200 miles/320km) in a day. That amount of exercise now strikes me as excessive and I’ve adjusted my goals to be content with not running as far. The furthest I run now is a half marathon (21km). More than that and training starts to take up a huge amount of time in the week. 

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My typical week looks like:

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During autumn/winter, I switch more of the sessions to roller skiing because there’s a cross country skiing race my dad and I do each year (the Kangaroo Hoppet). I get up to the snow as much as I can. In 2022, I managed 3 weeks up at Falls Creek (a ski resort in the state I live) which was amazing. XC skiing is fantastic exercise as it uses your whole body and it’s also great fun. I love being out on the trails away from all the concerns of daily life. It’s exceptionally quiet and the scenery is beautiful.

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When I go running I try to get a nature bathing hit at the same time. There are some nice coastal trails near my house where I can run next to the cliffs and look out over the ocean. A lot more fun than running on a treadmill!

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Resistance training

I resisted doing resistance training for a long time. I never felt comfortable in a gym and found it hard to motivate myself to consistently do body weight workouts. Follow-along video workouts changed it for me. I started with workouts on youtube and then ended up getting a subscription to beachbodyondemand.com which has a huge array of high quality workouts. It makes it much more enjoyable for me to turn on a video workout and copy what they’re doing. The trainers normally tell jokes along the way, there’s music and it feels much easier than if I did a workout on my own.

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After doing bodyweight exercises for a few months, I decided to experiment with lifting weights. I had hired a personal trainer in the Philippines and he kept telling me that I’d get better results if I pumped iron. There was some trepidation on my part: I was concerned about getting injured because when I had gone to the gym in the past, I had hurt myself using weights (lifting too much too soon). He reassured me that he’d make sure my form was solid before I started lifting anything that could hurt me. 

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I bought myself a set of adjustable dumbbells and found I quite enjoyed it. I now lift weights with him 3 times per week.

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The weights I use are still very light (max 25kg dumbbells for chest press) and I have no aspirations to be a bodybuilder (my body type isn’t compatible with that goal anyway) but it is satisfying getting stronger over time.

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←Previous: Chapter 1.3 - Caffeine & Stimulants

Next→: Chapter 1.5 – Attaining equanimity

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Back to Index: How to Not Burn Saucepans – Table of Contents

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