Page 4 of 6 [ 89 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6  Next

NEWanderer
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 73

20 Jun 2010, 1:46 am

Matt55 wrote:
From my observations, probably the majority of Aspergians are non-athletic and tend to be sedentary given that alot of them tend to be interested in activities that don't require any physical excertion (computer programming, video games, electronics, etc...), in addittion to their poor coordination. Poor coordination is not permanent! I used to have terrible physical coordination However the more I hike and run the trails near my home, the more my coordination improves. The reason for this is because to be a good hiker and trail runner; you have to be very sure footed at times and know where to take your next step, otherwise you risk tumbling down the side of a steep hill/mountain. I strongly believe that individual sports are the key to most Aspies becoming physically fit and coordinated. With individual sports you do not have the pressures of socially interacting with team members and meeting the high expectations of a coach. It is simply you and the landscape in which you will partake in your sport/activity of your choice.


Not a huge feat but this month I qualified for USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals. If the finishing times in Tuscaloosa this year are anything like they were last year I don't think making Team USA would be the hardest thing I ever did.



kx250rider
Supporting Member
Supporting Member

User avatar

Joined: 15 May 2010
Age: 57
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,140
Location: Dallas, TX & Somis, CA

21 Jun 2010, 9:52 am

I was never interested in team sports, but I am definitely athletic in that I'm a weightlifter/bodybuilder, and have also been into motocross since I was 13. I doubt I'd be any good at team sports though. It boggles my mind how any players can follow all those hand signals from the coach, umpire or captain. I'd likely tackle a fellow team member and cause a touchdown for the other team. Not to mention how bad a thought it is, that other players would be invading MY space, and bumping into me. Not good.... I'd rather get bitten by a pit bull.

Charles



layenrubber
Butterfly
Butterfly

User avatar

Joined: 2 Jun 2010
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 13

23 Jun 2010, 6:23 pm

I do power yoga and traditional yoga 3 times a week. I think this is very helpful because it increases coordination and balance and It works every muscle group in the body. I feel like with yoga I go from borderline uncoordinated to actually more agile than the average person perhaps.

I also used to be a good jogger being able to jog over 8 miles without really building up to it. Mountain biking was also fun and I was pretty decent at climbing the mountain faster then probably 80% of the other bikers.

Another sport I used to be interested in was dirtbiking. I became obsessed with it and learned how to repair my first dirtbike that I bought broken for $300 when I was 14.

I'm ok at rock climbing too. Its frustrating though that I can never get that good at coordination so I'm stuck just above average in several sports. Well the advantage with aspergers I guess is you can use your special interests to kick ass in life but other than that its hard.



Dilbert
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,728
Location: 47°36'N 122°20'W

27 Jun 2010, 12:20 pm

NEWanderer wrote:

Not a huge feat but this month I qualified for USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals. If the finishing times in Tuscaloosa this year are anything like they were last year I don't think making Team USA would be the hardest thing I ever did.


That is huge actually. I race in Ironmans 70.3 mostly. I do plan on racing the USAT regionals in Oregon this August. My chances of qualifying are slim. I was a roadie so my bike split is fast, and the run is good. My swimming on the other hand is attrocious. Fast swim is far more important in oly distance that it is in the Ironman.



DerKodeMeister
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 23 Jul 2009
Age: 31
Gender: Male
Posts: 182
Location: USA

27 Jun 2010, 2:51 pm

I'm a pretty competitive table tennis player, and have been a regular at my state club for the past 3 years. Probably not going to start playing in tournaments until college, but I've won a few of the club-wide ones. Besides that I'm not big on playing sports, but I do like to ride my bike and hike.


_________________
If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.
-E.O. Wilson


NEWanderer
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 73

01 Jul 2010, 11:27 pm

Dilbert wrote:
NEWanderer wrote:

Not a huge feat but this month I qualified for USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals. If the finishing times in Tuscaloosa this year are anything like they were last year I don't think making Team USA would be the hardest thing I ever did.


That is huge actually. I race in Ironmans 70.3 mostly. I do plan on racing the USAT regionals in Oregon this August. My chances of qualifying are slim. I was a roadie so my bike split is fast, and the run is good. My swimming on the other hand is attrocious. Fast swim is far more important in oly distance that it is in the Ironman.


Thanks. It's usually easier than qualifying for Kona or Clearwater, anyway.

Another way you could qualify is with a duathlon, as I inadvertently did in June. The swim had been cancelled due to the weather.
I think I would have still qualified with the swim. My weakest leg is the cycling.

Have you done any swim clinics in the off-season?



RosieOne
Butterfly
Butterfly

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jun 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 14

05 Jul 2010, 2:23 pm

I'm a little surprised that no one has mentioned skating or hockey, other than one person saying they roller skate to work.
Both of my AS sons, ages 9 and 11, play hockey. The older brother got into hockey via a Special Hockey team in the area, but both now exclusively play on regular teams. They both compete at high levels of youth hockey, including AA and AAA teams.
In addition to being great exercise, they both LOVE skating. They also play baseball, basketball, soccer - just about any sport that can be played.

The older brother did struggle to master hockey - it is HARD to learn to skate like that and play the game at the same time. Skills that other players learned in weeks took him months sometimes. But I have no doubt that he will continue to love and play the game for a very long time.



Dilbert
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,728
Location: 47°36'N 122°20'W

08 Jul 2010, 8:34 pm

NEWanderer wrote:
Dilbert wrote:
NEWanderer wrote:

Not a huge feat but this month I qualified for USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals. If the finishing times in Tuscaloosa this year are anything like they were last year I don't think making Team USA would be the hardest thing I ever did.


That is huge actually. I race in Ironmans 70.3 mostly. I do plan on racing the USAT regionals in Oregon this August. My chances of qualifying are slim. I was a roadie so my bike split is fast, and the run is good. My swimming on the other hand is attrocious. Fast swim is far more important in oly distance that it is in the Ironman.


Thanks. It's usually easier than qualifying for Kona or Clearwater, anyway.

Another way you could qualify is with a duathlon, as I inadvertently did in June. The swim had been cancelled due to the weather.
I think I would have still qualified with the swim. My weakest leg is the cycling.

Have you done any swim clinics in the off-season?

I spent every Saturday for 5 months 1-on-1 with a swim coach. I'm still slow. Endurance is terrific and my technique LOOKS good... but I'm just slow.

Duathlon, eh??? Maybe I should target races where they have frequent storms??? :)



NEWanderer
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 29 Dec 2008
Age: 47
Gender: Male
Posts: 73

18 Jul 2010, 1:53 am

Dilbert wrote:
NEWanderer wrote:
Dilbert wrote:
NEWanderer wrote:



Have you done any swim clinics in the off-season?

I spent every Saturday for 5 months 1-on-1 with a swim coach. I'm still slow. Endurance is terrific and my technique LOOKS good... but I'm just slow.

Duathlon, eh??? Maybe I should target races where they have frequent storms??? :)


Or any duathlon sanctioned by USAT. Private coaching is good. Have you done any video clinics? I did a couple, each with top national masters swimmers. One had underwater videography. Seeing that footage enable better analysis for yourself and the coach. There may be subtleties you may just not be able to pinpoint from the deck. Granted there are uncontrollable variables such as your height; but if you have good finesse are plateaued maybe a different mix of speed work or off strokes would do good.



starquake
Raven
Raven

User avatar

Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Gender: Robot
Posts: 122

19 Jul 2010, 1:21 pm

Here's another athletic aspie. I've been into cycling seriously when I was much younger, but I was feeling very uncomfortable when riding in a larger group. Now I know why... :) But I still love individual time trials, and done an Ironman with about 1 week practice (I hate to run or to swim).

But now I decided to do a 212km ultramarathon run next year, so maybe I should really start to exercise some running :D

Btw, I can't throw. With my right hand I throw like a girl. With my left hand I'm totally unable to throw to the smallest distance (or perhaps a meter or so). I was in a rugby team when I was a child, but my only benefit in the team was that I could run really fast compared to my age on a short distance. So soon my only job was to go for touchdowns once I was able to get the ball. :)



Dilbert
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,728
Location: 47°36'N 122°20'W

19 Jul 2010, 5:21 pm

NEWanderer wrote:
Or any duathlon sanctioned by USAT. Private coaching is good. Have you done any video clinics? I did a couple, each with top national masters swimmers. One had underwater videography. Seeing that footage enable better analysis for yourself and the coach. There may be subtleties you may just not be able to pinpoint from the deck. Granted there are uncontrollable variables such as your height; but if you have good finesse are plateaued maybe a different mix of speed work or off strokes would do good.


No I have not done a video clinic. I'm planning on it, and my tri coach is asking me to and to send her the video. We have plenty of local tri coaches and resources. Someone has an endless pool with an underwater camera, I'm sure.

I do speed drills sometimes, and also swim with paddles/buoy. I'm still improving, slooooowly, so I don't think I've hit a pleateau.

Anyhow, I'm sitting out races at the moment. Knee pain. :( Hope to be back by August.



AspieJ
Butterfly
Butterfly

User avatar

Joined: 1 May 2007
Age: 49
Gender: Male
Posts: 11
Location: WA

20 Jul 2010, 5:35 pm

I've never been athletic growing up. I hated sports and I sucked at them...horrible coordination. But I discovered weightlifting and now consider myself athletic in this regard. I workout 4 days p/week. I'm generally really sedentary. Weightlifting has helped me develop balance, coordination, confidance/self esteem as well as a muscular body ;-) which i like now because I looked like a huge geek growing up. I'm still a geek at heart.
I also enjoy playing ping pong.



Rocky
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 May 2008
Age: 68
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,074
Location: Uhhh...Not Remulak

22 Jul 2010, 6:20 am

I am now in my 50's and now only take an occasional walk, but I stay active in my job in retail sales, and look fit. I actually am too thin, but I look like a marathon type runner. My new doctor was surprised when he learned that I am not a runner.

I used to do a lot of bicycle riding and commuting. I also used to do a lot of hiking. I used to play golf. I was also very much into Flying Disc ("Frisbee") sports, including Disc Golf, Freestyle, and Ultimate. I also used to Hang Glide and some sport parachuting. Rollerblading and skateboarding was fun. I even went to the skate parks, but although I got up on the walls, I only rode on my seat to keep my center of gravity low. I also used to juggle, which is not athletic, but great for hand eye coordination.


_________________
"Reality is not made of if. Reality is made of is."
-Author prefers to be anonymous.


Gallygun
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 21 Jul 2010
Age: 38
Gender: Female
Posts: 89

23 Jul 2010, 1:53 pm

I was never a fan of or exceedingly good at team sports, but in karate I was a star! I received my 1st degree black belt and was the first performer in the Mile High Karate "Black Belt Extravaganza" out of my whole team, male and female, old and young. I was only 18 then.

The only thing I couldn't do were the arial kicks. Even a simple jump side kick made me feel like I was going to blow away. As long as I was partially grounded, I did great :D



legionsdad
Raven
Raven

User avatar

Joined: 18 May 2009
Age: 50
Gender: Male
Posts: 101
Location: Cali

25 Jul 2010, 9:11 pm

wow, there's some amazing stories here. I was driven to exercise ever since I saw conan the destroyer, I think I was 9? I had a pile of logs in backyard, would throw them logs from one side of the yard to the other for hours. I trained like a madman, age 12, Penni Price (hall of famer prof bodybuilder) asked me to train with her, I didn't show up/ didn't think I was worth it. In HS I wrestled for 4 calaneder yrs (hs, freestyle, and greco roman) did well, placed top 3 most tournaments. Trained in thai kickboxing for a couple yrs, joined the military, stayed in for 7 yrs as a paratrooper till my body gave out. I miss long distance running (around 20miles), esp trail running.



silvskaterdude
Sea Gull
Sea Gull

User avatar

Joined: 9 Dec 2008
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 201

29 Jul 2010, 11:32 am

i played soccer on a team from age 7 to 14 then played on my high school team in grade now just horse around fro fun also love skateboardin and bmx biking gud times.