Bodybuilding Aspies?
I enjoy lifting weights but I certainly wouldn't consider myself a bodybuilder. I was weight training 4 times a week for around 2 hours at a time before I took ill, and am currently trying to work myself back upto that but it's hard staying motivated when you're out of the habit. I belong to a gym, but find I have a more productive and intense workout at home when I don't have to worry about people staring at me or judging me or getting anxious when there's loads of people there. I find it very good for relieving stress which is the main reason why I do it, and also it gives me something to focus on and feel really positive when I start to see results. Unfortunately my poor diet lets me down.
kx250rider
Supporting Member
Joined: 15 May 2010
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,140
Location: Dallas, TX & Somis, CA
I hope you dont get "huge" just because you think the ladies like it. I find it gross, personally, but who cares what I think. You are better off doing it for yourself to get fitter and stronger and not worry so much about vanity muscles. Guys(and ladies) who do martial arts tend to get lean and very strong and flexible. Think about Bruce Lee- he had a beautiful body. I think those big puffy muscles can go to sh*t pretty fast too if they get injured, which is likely when you only have big muscles and no flexibility.
My wife agrees. My goals are more to keep the well-defined hard body; six pack abs, veins sticking out, etc etc. I don't want to have a big round bulging 350-lb football player appearance... and as you point out, that thickness turns into body fat later, if you ever quit. I stay around 185 lbs, at 6', and keep the body fat below 6%.
Charles
I also agree, the bruce lee look is what I am trying to go for. I'm trying to incorporate more cardio into my week. I love swimming. I've been mainly focusing on the military exercises: crunches, push ups, pull ups, and dips for upper body. Diet is also huge too. This is good summary i put it on my facebook profile haha:
World-Class Fitness in 100 Words:
"Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips, splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports
I do weights normally on and off as I do not have the money to hold a gym membership or for any equipment apart from the obvious dips,pressups,pullups etc.
I aminly focus on my running, and my boxing, but when I do have the chance I love my weights my father is an ex-bodybuilder as well as an ex-pro thai-boxer, so he helps me out in the gym and in the ring as he is also a boxing coach so I am very lucky otherwise I wouldn't even get out of bed. I love my exercise but I am also lazy lol.
kx250rider
Supporting Member
Joined: 15 May 2010
Age: 56
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,140
Location: Dallas, TX & Somis, CA
Man Kx - wish Dallas was closer to Guymon. I'd beg you to let me work out with you when you go lol. I really miss having someone to push me during workouts!
women that lift weights are hot - don't mind our staring - we can't help it!!
I'm 43, and I've been bodybuilding since I was 13. I'm not a big bloke - I'm 170lb with around 6-8% bodyfat.
It's always struck me as an Aspie style persuit because of the obsessional nature of the training & dieting, the perfectionist nature, and the sheer eccentricity of the sport. I'd be willing to bet good money that the prevalence of Aspergers in the bodybuilding community is significantly higher than in the general population.
This probably applies to any of the individualistic sports, like running or archery. Most team-games are probably quite challenging for Aspies.
I am more athletic than body builder. Been training in gyms for about 20 years and always done lots of swimming. I always thought it important to keep my body healthy because then that may translate to a healthy mind.
I find it hard to put on weight. I have always had low body fat. Working out has bulked me up a little but I mainly do it to keep myself in tone.
In the past I have been very obsessional. At 20 I used to do 50 lengths of the pool every day.
I don't body buold but I do lift weights quite obssessively (sometimes doing hundreds of reps with light weights in a session). For me it's not so much about building muscle but about endurance and just seeing how hard I can push my body. I don't get the same kind of rush through lifting heavy weights with fewer reps, which is why I go for relatively light weights.
I used to run an hour and a half every day too but now I've moved to an area where I just don't enjoy running as much, so I'm saving up to buy a cross-trainer.
tennisballmorality
Emu Egg
Joined: 17 Nov 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 8
Location: charleston, sc, u.s.a., western hemisphere, northern semisphere, earth, milky way, universe
i bodybuild, or try to anyway. i actually thought that my interest in being big somehow excluded me from having AS because i didn't fit the stereotype of the nerdy gamer, but i have found over the last year that AS and PDD-NOS aren't bound to stereotypes. i honestly doubted that i had AS because i hate computers for the most part, video games make me nauseas with all the movement, and i hate most sci-fi/ fantasy things because i don't quite get why people would go out of their way for something intrinsically unreal, and my obsessions didn't match what the high volume of literature on AS would suggest is common., my obsessions are with philosophy, bodybuilding, and nutirition/bio-mechanics (though i def have social deficits). but it's kinda weird the way we found out that i had AS because i had to drop out of college because i had developed anorexia while away from home (i have this thing with eating alone: i've never done it, and probably never will, and given that i was lonely and lacking socially i decided to start a diet to compete with myself that went horribly awry) and it was in counseling afterward that we discovered i had it through being tested for ADD (it was raunchy enough to suggest that there was something more than ADD going on, and hence comes AS). but with the bodybuilding thing, i am VERY devoted to it, because 1.) that's how we made sure i ate for a long time, 2.) it really helps with sleep and anxiety, 3.) it boosts my confidence when i interact with people because i know that what they see first is my body, which makes them more likely to look past my social deficits for at least a little while for some reason, and 4.) if you are going to have an obsession, it certainly doesn't hurt to have one based around healthy living/ eating. but i will admit, if i go to the gym, i have to have my ipod because talking to people at the gym severely puts the harsh on my mellow. i'm really glad i'm not alone with the bodybuilding thing, because i really thought that because i didn't fit the stereotype of the math nerd (i'm dyscalculic, too!), gamer type that it just meant that i was raised poorly rather than had a legitimate thing.
I lift weights to maintain my sanity. I need that physical outlet for my internal frustrations. I don't like a lot of people around...in some cases I become very self conscious to the point of not being able to walk without difficulty. I like that most people aren't interested in working out an hour before closing.
I wouldnt describe myself as a bodybuilder, but I work out 3-4 times a week, spending some 30 mins doing cardio work and 60-90 min doing weights of various types.
Given my age, I'm not trying to bulk up, but maintain reasonable fitness and slowly improve my strength levels.
It's a major stress relief for me, too, althugh I tend to find I do a more intense work out on my own than with my current gym partner.
edit: I also prefer weight lifting because it's not competitive against people, or reliant on having fast reactions, or good hand eye co-ordination, teamwork etc.
_________________
Away with the fairies.
I know AS has this stereotype of the geeky/nerdy/weedy guy or gal, but since bodybuilding can be a very solitary and deeply obsessional activity, I would have thought it would have actually appealed to quite a number of Aspies?
I've been at it since I was about 18 (27 now), and it's one of the most fulfilling (if sometimes frustrating) things I do; the complexity and interaction of physiological, biological and mechanical aspects of the sport can provide many hours of stimulating research.
Anyone else? Even if you don't do what you might strictly consider 'bodybuilding'?
I've got AS and I bodybuild. I've been doing it for a few years now. It's become a bit of an obsession really I couldn't give a stuff about the scientific side other than the diet etc. I'm only newly diagnosed and started before I fully suspected I had AS. I'm still not sure if I do it so people are less likely to try to put me down or if I do it because it makes me feel good. I've never really been a geek neither except in my early years at school. I'm 30 now.
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