Asperger's and Athletic

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Im not a fan of organized sports in general but I do everything a professional athlete does training wise. I imagine that alot of people with AS think that they will always have bad coordination and be clumsy etc. I have learned that this is not the case. When i was young i had terrible balance and i was extremely weak and people made fun of me yada yada yada. when i was 13 i was going stir crazy in florida somewhere and decided to start exercising for the hell of it(body weight exercises). Now im 20 years old and i have been going at it for 7 years. I have the balance and coordination of an olympic athlete along with a ridiculous physique. My AS has defiantly been a hold up compared to the average feller(strength comes slower and so does everything else). My point is that you can do anything you put your mind to, even if you dont know where it will take you. If you think you hate exercise and you dont even know where to start JUST DO IT it feels great and its great for your aspergers syndrome.

I was usually one of the last ones picked for team sports in school. I became obsessed with physical fitness in general and developed the strength and coordination to run track, play tennis, and racquetball. I continued to cycle, jog, lift weights, most of my life. I never did any team sports but ended up as Athletic Director at a Military Installation.

Just because your not athletic in the sense of playing team sports doesn't necessarily mean that you can't excel at physical fitness. I can't imagine a better coping mechanism in life than physical excercise in terms of burning off adrenaline from stress, releasing endorphins, increasing serotonin, and the general confidence in life that increased strength and vigor brings. I don't think I would have had the ability to cope in life, if I didn't have these advantages.

I was a swimmer for eight years, and then I played rugby for a few years after that. I don't currently play a sport, but I wish I were still playing rugby. Maybe someday.

I don't play a sport. I was never any good at the ones I had to try in PE.

I was never all that great in PE in school, but I did some capoeira in my late 20s and made some decent progress until I stopped going.

I am a bit clumsy, although I don't think I'm excessively so. I drop things a lot, bump into furniture, knock things over.

I had to vote no because I am now too physically impaired to do sports. But when I was younger I was more athletic. None of it officially sports though. I did a lot of hiking. And I climbed trees all the time too. Not little trees. Huge pine trees. Never fell once, and good thing. My brother and dad are autistic. My dad was on his high school football team and did a lot of hiking and jogging. My brother used to ride his bicycle over a small mountain range. Both were overweight when they did these things so they were breaking both autism stereotypes and "fat people don't exercise" stereotypes I guess.

I don't like competitive sports and I think the professional sports industry is one of the biggest scams of our time but I do like to stroll and explore on my own and running is great stress reducer, but I tend to break into a sprint and then slow down. I'm trying Yoga, though I try to stay away from trendy and lucrative practices. I like to dance to crappy '80's music too.

I don't think it's odd for an Aspie to be athletic. I try to stay in shape and exercise somewhat regularly. But I do think we are much less likely to be into team-oriented sports. I personally always loathed them, and PE was hell for me. In such a class, kids should always have options for solitary exercises instead of being forced into rigid social pecking orders. And it makes me so sick to see how there are some people who can't even read, yet they get their asses kissed all the way through school and are given careers just because of their size and their ability to throw balls, knock each other over, and act like gorillas.

do you mean organized or competitive sport or do you mean some kind of physical athletics such as walking or bike riding or running?

ruveyn

Yoga, surfing, marshal arts.

I consider it focused stimming.

I'm a distance runner. I also lift weights.

I've been a "physical training leader" for the U.S. Air Force for the past five years.

But I don't do "team" sports. Ugh. Or anything involving having to throw or catch things.

--XFG

I played baseball for years growing up and played football in HS. I was also in the Army for 4 yrs, which while not a sport is highly physical.

I ran cross country in high school, but in my late 30s I got into cycling, and ended up getting supremely fit, and raced for six years. Then I moved to the tropics and brought a bike, and stayed very fit for another 15 years. I still pedal around Portland a little. To me, to my life being fit was the best thing that I ever stumbled into.

No, I've always hated sports, especially team sports... I used to take karate lessons when I was younger, and I really enjoyed those once I got good at it, but gym class was a thing to be dreaded. I do like exercising regularly, but more solitary activities than group ones (I prefer yoga, pilates, cycling, etc).

I've never been particularly clumsy but I can't handle team sports because they require paying attention to several things at once, which is impossible for me to do. When I was a kid I also couldn't really understand why I should bother to go after the ball -- everyone else seemed to want it so why not let them have it?

I've never played on a sports team, but I'm addicted to Wii Fit.