Aspies and Bodybuilding/Poor Muscle Tone

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I have bad posture, and my arms in particular are very weak.

I upon this thread through a google search, as I was suddenly curious as to if there were any links between hypotonia and autism. This thread is old; maybe wikipedia didn't exist back then, as I strongly feel the need to bring in some correct information.

First, muscle tone is exactly what it means, the tone of the muscle. None of the hogwash from big marketing that claims that it's losing weight, or magically increasing muscle size through the unscientifically explained phenomenon of the nitrification of fatty acids to make them into the mysterious proteins of muscle tissue.

Basically, your muscles have a default tone. I.e. they are always contracted a bit. It seems that autism is associated with hypotonia. Someone hypotonic might have very strong "core" muscles yet have a poor posture, because those muscles are not firing much unless the person consciously activates them. Autistic babies are supposed to feel like a sack of potato and their head doesn't follow the body.

Muscle tone can have a slight effect on the appearance of muscle, as hypotonia will make you look a bit flatter. But it has nothing to do with muscle size in general or with strength. I believe I might have a small case of hypotonia, as I find talking to require significant efforts and I much prefer writing. I also tend to lean onto everything instead of standing straight even though I have walked in the past a few times over 30 kilometers without any weakness from the "core" muscles. I believe hypotonia might be associated with "resting as*hole face", a situation where the default face of a male always seems to be unhappy (little tone in the face = slight frown).

On the other side, I have never had any problems developing strength and muscles, although I seem to fare better on the strength side than on the muscle side (although strength correlates with muscle size, the two can be independent). It is possible that my muscles look a bit more flat than they should; as my identical twin died in the womb (just kidding), I will never have anybody to compare to.

In 1972 I bought this weight training book by Gold's Gym. You used a barbell and you used a weight that you could do curls with 10 times but not 15 times. Their were 10 exercises, and you did them as fast as you could, so you got out of breath. You went through the exercise routine two times. And you did the routine every other day. When you got so you could do more than 15 curls then you added weight. In six weeks I looked soo different. In six months I was ripped. I would recommend it for anyone.

1) It means that our muscles are "scrawny," and underdeveloped/undersized in general, leading to reduced strength/chronic fatigue symptoms.

2) I've hit the gym/exercised/worked physical jobs for extended periods several times in my life. I've gotten stronger and fitter each time, but never really strong/big/fit. As I've indicated in other threads, I've learned a lot about the underlying cause of my Autism and have been treating it for the last 4 months or so with immense success - a 95%+ reduction in symptoms. I've also put on more muscle mass & upper body strength in the last 4 months or so with less working out because what I'm doing is working. I still have yet to lift weights aside from materials at work, otherwise it's all running/yoga/pushups/crunches and a few chinups here and there. And of course a healthy diet. I've begun putting on the muscle mass I ought to have for my efforts and the difference is very noticeable. For an easy side by side comparison, I have a twin brother who's also afflicted by all of this yet refuses to accept his "differences," (ADHD/Autism etc) and thus still refuses to initiate the treatment protocol I'm putting myself through.. so, put us side by side and you can see the low muscle tone he has compared to myself now quite strikingly. To the average person they'd say I workout and eat better and he doesn't, and while that's true.. I've done those things before without being able to put on this much muscle mass & strength, proving to myself that this treatment is working for both the mental and physical symptoms.

I've yet to share with the group as I want to first see if over the coming months I can completely heal & cure all of this permanently before I share how I've done it. Based on stats I've read about those on the spectrum, this should work for at least 70% of us - at least all of us that have the same underlying cause of Autism.

So, yeah, low muscle tone is a common and very real symptom of Autism.. but it can be overcome. I'm living proof. Nope, I don't expect anyone to take my word for it.. in fact, I'd prefer you didn't. I hope that when I share what I've been doing and why and how it's working that you & everyone gives it a sincere go themselves to see if it benefits them in the life changingly miraculous ways it's rapidly changing my own life.

I have been the gym the odd time,
For me I'm 110kg with a natural muscular build. but I do have very bad fatigue.

digress a little , doing anything is better than doing nothing. Good diet, exercise, understand why and how the gym or any exercise will benifit said person. Martial Arts is very good I feel for people, with AS and other comorbid/releated disorders in many ways.

Anyone can build up muscle if they do it correctly

building muscle is said to be 75% what you do in the kitchen, 25% what you do in the gym. Consume the right stuff, get the right amount of sleep and set out the correct weights sessions with the right amount of rest between muscle groups and you will fairly quickly start growing!

why has this never worked for me then i wonder?

even in my 20's building muscle was next to impossible.

now i've got the fight of my life just to hang on to what little i've got left.

a predisposition to hypotonia is the first hint i've had that there might be a logical explanation to why my body doesn't respond to the same stimuli the same way as others. and i've worked out, lifted weights, with plenty of partners, had intense nutritional focus, etc. etc.

i think it's a mistake to believe because something is generally true, it is always true.

I tried the gym route only to get various injuries [epicondylitis to be sure] and never really was able to build any more muscle. the exercise machines are not so ergonomically friendly to one built like I am built [tall and skinny with long limbs], they tend to be designed for more compact sorts with better leverage of extremities.

of course it is not always true if the person has a condition that specifically stops them from doing something. That would be the exception and not the rule though, quite obviously.

I have it on my schedule to go to the gym on Tuesdays & on Fridays. I haven't been for the last 3 weeks, and today it was explained to me that it would be a good idea if I made sure that I went.
The problem is that it is very boring.

Today I was strict with myself & went to the gym. I spent an hour in there.

In fact, I do feel better in mood afterwards.

I have a naturally athletic build. I've practiced martial arts and work out fairly consistently for a long time now, so my body's been in pretty good shape. Even as a kid without any training I tended to be faster and more athletic than most other kids though.

I was one of those AS kids who felt very awkward in my body when I was little. It took me longer than average to learn how to ride a bike or do sports. I had a hard time learning how to aim when throwing things. Strange thing is when I was a little older, sometimes some things became easier than for others.. For example, I became more agile and quick at climbing trees than my neighbors after I figured out the basics.

I had bad posture as a child. I think a lot of it was from anxiety depression and low self esteem and from the mental and physical exhaustion and muscular pain and tension I had from anxiety and difficulty fitting in. I also have one leg longer than the other, which irritates my spine.

I have weird family genetics. I inherited a muscular build from my family. If I work out it is rather easy to get muscle tone, and gain some muscle mass. Also I have a 'nordic' muscle and tendon build, and need to stretch and cool down longer than average, and I usually take at least twice as long as anyone I know to heal past the soreness and stiffness after training. What may take another person three days for recovery might take a whole week for me.