Should Aspie exercise for coordination and body control?

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BTDT
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26 Feb 2018, 7:01 am

Given that a lot of Aspies have problems with poor coordination and bumping into things, wouldn't it make sense to do things that require good coordination and spatial awareness? I find that these issues are less of a problem if I get enough practice.



nick007
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26 Feb 2018, 7:23 am

BTDT wrote:
Given that a lot of Aspies have problems with poor coordination and bumping into things, wouldn't it make sense to do things that require good coordination and spatial awareness? I find that these issues are less of a problem if I get enough practice.
Doing things like that a lot cause me to become frustrated which isn't good for my mental health.


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Embla
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26 Feb 2018, 7:56 am

I used to be an acrobat, and while I learned to be very well coordinated in that setting, I'm still ridiculously clumsy anywhere else.
I think it's because when it's a planned out and well practiced motion (like a dance move), I can be very graceful. But when I don't think about it, my coordination is about the same as always.
However, by balance has vastly improved. Before, if I slipped on the ice, I would fall. Now, my body will react faster and save me from landing on my ass before I even notice it myself. So my coordination is still poor, but overall body control and balance is much better. So, yeah. It's definitely possible to train the mind-body-cooperation. Just don't know if it makes you less clumsy.



TimS1980
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27 Feb 2018, 4:45 am

In Temple Grandin's book Different... Not Less, chapter 12 (book chapter 7) contains the story of Anita Lesko.

There, it's described how her P.E. teacher gave a failing mark and wanted to recommend remedial training, because of her difficulty completing P.E. exercises. Her mum went to a meeting with the teacher and the principle, bringing two photos of Anita's amazing achievements in horse riding. This shut down the P.E. teacher and principal in their tracks. I think the point was that they felt so right in holding someone on the spectrum to a particular standard, until they were shown how that person's actual strength could be found if they simply look in the right place.

This illustrates the point I would raise from other sources, both in Autism-specific and NT-generic literature: never spend so much effort trying to eliminate your shortcomings that you forget to take advantage of your strengths.

This would underpin my advice - if something is holding you back, or if it's an interest, by all means work on it - just remember you'll profit most from leveraging your strengths in the long run. Give yourself permission to be you.

I think Embla's case in the post above might also be an example of this approach.

Working on things (strength or weakness) might lead to a build-up of stress, a point nick007 fairly makes. Advice in my sig applies to that.


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auntblabby
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03 Mar 2018, 2:56 am

i'm less accident-prone since concentrating on core fitness. I can do things like open sticky sliding windows easier, without straining. before, it was such work for me that i'd slip and fall more often than not.



starcats
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03 Mar 2018, 8:28 am

I am extremely clumsy in regular life, but I do just fine in ballet, yoga, horseback riding because they are all practiced skills. I don't feel good and am really accident prone unless I do at least one of those things every day.