005: How I Prep Gym Sessions for My Brain, Not Just My Body

Your mental health can be your emergency — and that means you can leave the gym if you need to. No guilt. No shame.

In this episode, Rhiannon discusses making fitness accessible for neurodivergent people, addressing everything from executive dysfunction to sensory overload at the gym. Learn practical strategies for overcoming mental barriers and why it's perfectly okay to prioritise your mental health, even if that means leaving early or adapting your workout. If this resonates with you, please share with someone who needs it 💖

In this episode of the Not So Typical Fitness Podcast, I’m diving into what it actually takes to mentally and emotionally prepare for a workout — especially when you're neurodivergent. From task paralysis to sensory overload, and even the overwhelming pressure to "just push through"... this is a safe space where we unpick all of it.

I'll share how I prep gym sessions around my brain, not just my body — and how I coach my clients to do the same. You’ll hear:

• The real struggles behind getting to the gym
• Why flexibility in your fitness plan is a non-negotiable
• How to build your own mental health toolkit
• And yes — why you always have permission to leave

Whether you're autistic, ADHD, overwhelmed, or just need to hear that fitness can work with your brain (not against it), this episode is for you.

Visit My Website: www.notsotypicalfitness.co.uk

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhiannonc/

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Email: rhiannon@notsotypicalfitness.co.uk

Timestamps

00:00 Your Mental Health Can Be Your Emergency

00:34 Welcome to Not So Typical Fitness

01:47 Preparing for a Workout (Mentally + Physically)

02:20 The Biggest Weight Is Your Own Mind

03:07 Flexible Plans for Real Brains

04:47 All-or-Nothing Thinking & Neurodivergence

05:29 What Counts As Movement? Small Wins Matter

06:48 Toxic Fitness Culture vs Inclusive Coaching

08:34 When Even Showering Feels Impossible

10:45 Sensory Overload After the Gym

13:01 Standing to Record: Flexibility in Action

14:00 Anticipating Struggles Before They Happen

15:07 Health Includes Mental Health

16:50 Task Paralysis: The Car Scroll Struggle

18:48 Planning Micro-Steps to Start

20:25 Decision Paralysis at the Cardio Machines

21:25 When It's Too Much: You Can Always Leave

24:22 Real Life Flexibility: Ending the Episode Early

25:17 Final Thoughts & Ask for Support

🎧 Listen and subscribe for more honest, empowering chats about fitness, mental health, and neurodivergence.

📣 Tag a friend who needs this reminder: You’re allowed to do things differently.

Ever had a panic attack in the gym car park?

You're not alone. Our complete guide to overcoming gym anxiety reveals why gyms feel so overwhelming for anxious people—and shares 7 proven strategies that actually work.

• The 5 real barriers that make gyms intimidating
• Practical strategies for sensory overload & social anxiety
• Word-for-word gym etiquette scripts
• A realistic 4-week confidence-building plan

Read the Complete Guide HERE

Transcript

0:00

your mental health can be your emergency you can leave no one needs to know if you're there with a friend I'd probably tell your friend I probably wouldn't just abandon them but when it comes to everybody else in the gym they do not matter and what they think of you doesn't matter they will not know if you're leaving because you're overwhelmed or if because there's an emergency at home or(Music) the Not So Typical Fitness Podcast. I'm your host, Rhiannon Cooper, and this is the podcast about helping you find a way to prioritize your health in a way that works for you. I was late diagnosed with autism and ADHD when I was 30 years old, and since then, I've lost over 100 pounds of body weight and I have trained and qualified as a personal trainer. I support clients in person, in gyms in my local area, and also offer online coaching for those that are further away. My main goal is I want to help people into fitness I didn't know that I could exercise because of my neurodivergence. I'm privileged to get my diagnosis. It has changed my entire life. Not everyone is as lucky as I am. Not everybody is going to get a diagnosis. I am doing this podcast for diagnosed people, for undiagnosed people, for anyone feeling nervous or anxious or intimidated by the gym. This podcast is for you. So, we've spoken about inductions in previous episodes, and today we are going to talk about how to mentally prepare yourself, that's mind and body, for a workout. Whether that is at the gym or whether it's at home, sometimes you have to take extra steps to be able to complete the workout. It's not as easy as putting on some gym kit and turning up. There's often countless steps that are in order for us to actually move our body. And today we're going to look at those in some more detail. I think sometimes the... This is cringy but I'm going to say it. Sometimes the biggest weight in the gym is actually our own minds. And it's our minds that can be the catalyst for us succeeding or not succeeding. Well, I used to think that you would just have to push through, no matter what. No matter what. Your brain told you you just had to do it. And it took me a while to realise that my brain actually doesn't work like that. I'm one of these people. I like a plan. However, I need an element of flexibility. If I don't have flexibility and then something wrong, it can throw me. Whereas what I've realised is that when I'm building this element of flexibility, I actually have a way more productive session. it more as well, to be honest. And it just helps me feel in control of my own journey and in control of I put myself, whether that's in a gym, whether it's walking somewhere. And think as a personal trainer as well, this is why I make an effort to build in flexibility through my clients' plans and their programmes is because I get it. Sometimes might be a make or break. So what I'm saying is you open your app, so I use an app for my clients, and if they open it one day and their executive functioning is not there, so they actually don't feel able to even get up and drive to the gym or get up and walk to the gym or get the bus. However that person gets to the gym, they don't feel they can do it. Now there's a decision then here. So the decision is that person will not go to the gym because they can't, what then? else could that person do to prioritise their health? So what I will do is I will provide workouts that could be done at home with just body weight for instance. So providing flexibility it might be, well, today just try and get your steps up and if that's too hard you've got some stairs in your house, it might be on days where you feel like that, where you just can't get to the gym, rather than it feeling all or nothing because let's face it, what often happens is if you can't go into your exercise, then your nutrition falls because it's like, oh well, I've lost it now. So what I try and do is build in these options that can exist to allow for my clients to think can't do the gym today, that's okay, but what I can do is X, Y and Z. it's about giving solutions to problem or having options that stop somebody feeling like they've not succeeded. I think that I talk about celebrating the small wins and if your small win is that manage to, every time you boil the kettle, to make a hot chocolate because you want cosy drinks and food because you feel down. If every time that kettle boils, you do, two minutes of stretching, some yoga poses in the kitchen, you have moved your body. is what's important in my mind and that is what a lot of personal trainers don't account for let's face it, they can. I mean, I'm talking for many people here and only today I've had a video on TikTok go a little bit viral and I've, I knew it would happen but now it's obviously got over to the side of the non-inclusive gym people the trolling has begun. Now, when I talk about them, I'm not talking to you as a personal trainer who's listening to this podcast. If you're listening to this podcast, I know you care about inclusion, neurodiversity, perhaps your autistic ADHD, neurodivergent yourself, perhaps you have clients that are neurodivergent or family members and you want to help them. So I'm not talking about you here but there are a lot of personal trainers out there who have it easy in the sense that they can just get up and they can go to the gym because it's just what they do. They make a decision, they're going to the gym, they can get up, get dressed, have a good hearty breakfast, they can drive to the gym or get on the bus, they can walk through the door, get changed, whatever, they can just do it and then you've got people like me and you neurodivergent we struggle with the most basic of tasks. Sometimes getting dressed, sometimes getting out of bed, to be perfectly honest, I like to be honest in this podcast, definitely if you're a committed listener already you will know that I'm very honest. Some days it's really hard to get out of bed and it's not because I'm lazy, although that was what I would have been told growing up a lot it's not because I don't want to, it's because I can't and look there are days where that's going to happen. It is, it is life right? When you're neurodivergent it happens like that. There are some days where no matter what flexibility I offer myself I can't do any of it but is still okay, is basically a reminder that it's okay to not follow the plan actually if you're struggling with executive function, so things like getting dressed, having a shower, those sort of small menial tasks where other, you know that others in air quotes here, they can just do that we find hard, they are overwhelming for us it is just about working with your brain in a way that works which is where often traditional fitness spaces or gym environments they don't account for that need of flexibility. might need a rest day, they can just have a rest day, that's fine and actually they might want to then go in the gym because they've built this habit and this routine. When you're neurodivergent it can be a hyper fixation going to the gym. I've definitely been there where I thought about it all the time, it's all I wanted to do, then I fell out of love with it and then it got really, really hard and what happened is I had a personal trainer at the time who didn't have that flexibility with me. They didn't build in any options and it was like I then couldn't, that was it. But the reality is now and back I said I could have done something but it wasn't the plan that that person was trying to set me because my brain is different and their brain is not like my brain. That was very waffling. If you stuck with me, congratulations. Anyway, went off on a tangent then, I have actually got a list of things I wanted to discuss. for me really. today this podcast is for anybody who does find getting to the gym, overwhelming or exhausting sometimes. Not just the workout itself but everything that goes around with that. It might be that you can get to the gym and do your workout but actually what you can't do is shower after and I've been there again. There has been one or two occasions in my journey where I've come home and I've not showered. I'll be like, "I'll be fine." Then I wake up in the morning and feel horrific and I get loads of spots and I feel gross. I start itching because I'm really quite sensitive on my skin. like a vicious cycle then. A lot of the things that I want you to take away from today that don't have to do what everyone else does. Just get up, go and it be easy. You can a way to make fitness work for you thinking... I mean in an ideal world you'd get a personal trainer who understands your brain, who takes that time to understand a bit about you and just about what you need in order to succeed not everyone can do that and that's fine. What I would recommend is when you are feeling quite good but energized, take a moment and think about the biggest barriers that you have. if it is showering at the end of a session, well first of all you do not need to shower at the gym. I showered at my gym where I work yesterday, sensory nightmare and I work there and I hated it and actually I'm so exhausted because of that shower because I spent so much energy trying not to touch the side. I was wearing my Crocs, I didn't want to touch anything, I was all icky. It just it was horrible and I trained, I showered, I had an induction with a client and then I went and did a shift at work. I was exhausted when I got home and I can tell you it was from the shower. It wasn't everything else. So what I've realized is I've now about what I can do to make my life a little bit easier, take away that aspect because that aspect if somebody told me to go and do the same thing tomorrow couldn't train so like do exactly the same or you can only go and do your shift, would just go do my shift and I wouldn't train. I did not enjoy that shower. a little think of things I can do when I found these substitute wipes which I'm going to try next time because I know that I need to train on that day at that time because I won't have the energy at the end of my shift or what happens when you work in a gym is when you're then off shift, people don't make that association that you're then off shift so you basically don't get to work out because everyone asks you for stuff I do get but still it's the only time for me to do it before going to try these wipes. I'm not looking forward to it. I haven't tried them yet. I'll try them this week or week after. I'm not looking forward to it but that's what I need to do to be able to train that day then that's what I will do. I'll use a wipe and then I'll shower when I get home after my shift these are like specialist wipes for this purpose. I spoke to the founder actually of this brand because I met them at a conference that I went to they explained that they made them for people who were commuters who maybe sat in a long train and wanted to freshen up before work but what they found is it's disabled people that are using them and that's because of the ease that these give the that showering can face and that's not just physical disability but mental conditions as well like mine. could be a solution anyway throwing it out there. I'm going to try it. I will have to report back on how successful it is. I'm not sure yet but fingers crossed because I do want to train. do enjoy being in the gym now. It's hard and there are definitely those people who are like the other gym goers I referred to earlier who they don't get me and that's fine because I am allowed to take what's based in the gym and I just tell myself that but I know a lot of you out there that fear of those people existing is tough and I get that and I think that's why it becomes key to way in which you start your fitness journey and having somebody you can give you an induction and build confidence as you go because that will help you realise that you do deserve to be there. It's like a make or break in my opinion the way you get started gone off tangent again. Let me have a little look at my list. If you're watching this on YouTube you will see that today I am standing doing my podcast. Here's my lovely picture I'm trying to get different energy and vibe today I'm feeling quite good. I had a really productive morning and then I came home and I was still quite productive and I remembered to eat. That was great. I knew I had to film the podcast today this again was like a make or break. It was like I don't really want to sit in my office and and do a podcast so I was like okay what do I need to do to make it work and today doing a podcast standing up it's kind of working going to the gym later I was going to do legs but I tell you just standing is like aching my legs so maybe I have to be flexible but hey is what it's about. It's about your journey to what you need at the time is where the flexibility kind of comes in. So it's not that I knew this morning you see so I wake up this morning knowing I'd do the podcast today. That felt fine. Went about my morning like I had planned, came home like I had planned actually that's when I needed this flexibility was because it was about an hour before I started here now that I realized I didn't want to do it or I couldn't do it that's where that flexibility comes in. You can't really prepare for it. You can because you can think about things when you're in a good place that you can change up. You can think about what might make a difference but fundamentally you won't know what you need until you get to that point where your mind or your body says nah not feeling it today is why I recommend thinking in advance about the things that you might need like having a standing desk, having a hands-free mic. It might be going to the gym and doing a bodyweight workout at home. It might be going for a swim instead. It might be going for a walk with the dog that's like double the length because you know that when you get home you're going to sit down and that's going to be it and you know that's okay. You can only really account for how you feel when you start the most important thing I'm saying here is don't beat yourself up about it because actually important is that you're prioritizing yourself. If forcing yourself to through sensory overwhelm executive dysfunction the anxiety yourself do something because that's what you should be doing that can have a really negative impact on your self-worth. It could push you into a meltdown or a shutdown that's not what it's about. Health and fitness should be about making you feel good and stronger and better and fitter and healthier and that's not just in your body but in your mind as well. Now I wish I could wave magic wand and fix my mental health and your mental health and his and hers and theirs everyone's because mental health is so debilitating. mental health has such a huge impact on someone's ability to do then you get this vicious cycle again of like well can't do it I really don't want to just force myself to do it then you get overwhelmed exhausted burnt out and then you sort of flat lining it's like you can't then get back and it's really hard to find that balance again. So what I propose is when you get to a point and it's that's it can't do it not going to do it whether it's mind or body rather than forcing yourself through it or completely giving up try and have those little things in like a toolkit that you can try that might be you know walking the dogs for a bit longer. It might be walking one extra bus stop away in the morning to get to work or it might be the other way like when you come home from work. you can walk 10-15 minutes to the next bus stop along do that actually what you're doing something a bit extra will I know it doesn't feel like it but it will make you feel good actually what you can then tell yourself is look I didn't get to the gym I did do that that is what it's about okay. is why I think more people need to hear this is because talk to so many people it is this all or nothing it doesn't have to be. I feel a little contradictory because I was about to say there's always a middle ground and I'm exceptionally black and white like gray doesn't really exist for me maybe this is a form of gray. Maybe it is maybe I'm learning gray oh that's exciting very hard to find like a balance of things of course it is it's balance balance is hard like literally when you're trying to balance scales it's hard and when you get it it can be very easily knocked out and it doesn't it knocks a little bit at first that will be your flexibility so that's where you can find your balance again but you know if you knock the one off you're right down there aren't you and then you've got to build it back up and find that balance again and that's where it's really is such a thing as call it decision paralysis but I'm going to reframe it task paralysis so see if you relate to this. I have often driven to the gym parked up and then sat there for about half an hour scrolling on my phone like I can't do the next step that's really difficult I get quite comfortable in my own company. I love sitting in the car when I get places like whether it's getting home I could happily sit in the car like an hour before I come in the house I don't know why I just can it's like the most comfortable seat in the world and I think a lot of people resonate with that as well task paralysis and when you get to the gym you can't So if you're finding yourself getting somewhere to do the thing shopping or anything it doesn't just have to be the gym. I do this regardless of where I'm going to or where I've come from it's a thing. So the way that I get myself out of it is well first off I will build in time to my schedule decompression time so it is literally I build in next 10 minutes here and there is for me to know that if I do end up sitting in the car scrolling that actually I've built in for the time and it's fine and I think there's reframing it again this is what I'm meant to be doing that way you're actually gain more out of what you're doing as well because your brain is like this is what I'm meant to be doing and that feels quite good. The alternate to that is that if you're one of these people who doesn't like to do kind of what you're told to do if you reframe it that way and it's like where you're meant to be scrolling on your phone and maybe you'll get out the car quicker so you're gonna have to tailor this to yourself. what works for me is thinking about well what plan do I need to do like what am I going to do when I'm in there what's my plan it might be simple as get out of the car lock the car walk through the door go to the change room to have a wee let's face it I forget to go to the toilet all the time so I always need a wee that is a plan I know I'll probably start scrolling when I'm having a wee so then it's like okay so I need a plan so I'll go do some cardio and then again if I go on a treadmill or a bike can scroll as I warm up then it's kind of just okay well it's not like I have to end my scrolling because I can continue it over there so it's finding a short-term plan get you to that next step that next stage chapter of your workout fundamentally a plan will help might be that you need a plan for your whole workout before you get there that's fine just take that time to realize that that's what you need and then you can implement and if you do get decision paralysis like I do so let's say that your task paralysis doesn't exist and you're all good you drive to the gym you go in you have a wee you wash your hands you walk out you go to get on some cardio to warm up I want to go on a bike a cross trainer a treadmill or a rower and they're all available and you just can't make a decision what then what then and I know that I struggle with things like being asked what restaurant I want to go to do you want to go out for food today yes that'd be great where do you want to go uh and it's like all of the answers leave my head and I can't even remember what restaurants are here and it can happen in the gym you know that you're someone who struggles with decision paralysis know that every time you go on a treadmill if the treadmills are busy then you go on a bike that's your routine have that in your mind so that you've got a flexibility built in for you to deal with the change not get stuck on the decision the decision itself else you're at the gym and you're overwhelmed maybe you've tried to push through it and you've reached that burnout exhaustion stage can leave can always leave there was a time um when I was at the gym and I was on a leg press which was in the gym I was in a busy area and I had it was my first exercise and I was not in a great place mentally and what happened is the people all around me were offloading the weights from their machines so these were plate loaded machines so rather than having a pin you've got big plates had headphones in I never leave the house without headphones and earplugs I wear loops highly recommend them but anyway have them in they're noise cancelling ones I could hear these clanks and I don't know about you but when I start hearing the clanks or hearing a bell or some sort of noise that's it I cannot not hear it then all of my senses started going I started feeling claustrophobic people were too close to me someone was coughing someone was sweating and like dripping and I couldn't cope and I'd done one set if that I think I've maybe done a warm-up set and I remember sitting there and being like what I can't do this I can't be here this is awful that point I didn't realise about my flexibility that I needed I didn't have a backup plan and so my backup plan was to leave and go home what I needed to do so I did it and there's no shame in that because actually what I was doing was listening to what I needed in the moment and doing the thing that I needed to do to feel better and that was to leave was not well at the time did knock me you know I came home and I was in a mood I really find when I'm really bad trying to come back to a sense of balance in my whole being an emotion is really tough and that did knock me back quite a bit now my flexibility is if that happens again it has happened again now the moment I hear a prank and I and another I get up and go and I go do something else but I always know I can leave at any point and that's okay don't need to beat yourself up about it if you need to leave you can leave you can walk in can set up and you can leave think a lot of the time feel like people would notice if we did that well first of all they don't of all just reframe it what if there was an emergency at home let's say it's somebody to the gym and they got a text because don't know a family member was going to hospital and it was urgent do you think they would worry about what it looked like if they left straight away no so just reframe it your mental health can be your emergency you can leave no one needs to know if you're there with a friend I'd probably tell your friend I probably wouldn't just abandon them but when it comes to everybody else in the gym they do not matter and what they think of you doesn't matter they will not know if you're leaving because you're overwhelmed or if because there's an emergency at home or because you're about to be sick like it doesn't matter they won't notice and they won't care you can leave I give you permission to leave the gym in the event that it is too overwhelming I have loads more on my list which I was going to talk to you about today but actually this has been quite exhausting and I feel like if I continue today what's going to happen is it's just going to go downhill and I would like this to be quite a good engaging podcast so I'm going to leave it here today but this is just a big reminder for you that it's okay for things not to go to plan try and have flexibility in your planning or have a flexibility toolkit so that you can a different option look this is pretty much me giving you a real life example of being flexible because got seven things on my list and I have covered so I'm just over halfway and to be honest I always go a bit ad hoc and off the cuff so I probably actually haven't covered my list anyway that is okay it's okay for your plan to need to change it's okay to have to be flexible and that's what I'm going to do today you're listening I hope that you have taken something from this podcast today one ask is if you have please share this with somebody else who you think would benefit from hearing about my journey and my tips and tricks that I have to help people prioritize their health in a way that works for them want to get this to as many people as possible who need to hear it because I think there is a lot of us out there I wish I had had a podcast like this two years ago when I started my journey share this with somebody who you feel needs it and please do me a favor by rating or reviewing the podcast as well on whatever platform you are listening or watching watching it on I will chat to you next week where I will continue on my list that I was supposed to do today have a great day thanks for listening to the not so typical fitness podcast with your host Rhiannon Cooper where I share all my top tips tricks and stories of late diagnosis and how I make fitness work for me and how I will help make fitness work for you have a great day bye