How I Inspired My Autistic Sister to Exercise

I remember the look of utter discontentment and refusal across my autistic sister’s face when I exclaimed one evening, “Let’s work out together!”

At the time, Jessica, my sister, was not a huge fan of exercising, which meant sweating and getting tired. So obviously she refused. I tried to come up with a way to convince her to work out with me. I started by saying “Exercising makes you stay healthy”— still a no. Then, I said “All your friends work out too. It would be really nice if you were my workout buddy.” Her eyes slightly lit up, but the painful thought of exercising must have washed over her because she quickly shook her head. I had no choice but to use—yes—bribery. I told her if she worked out with me, she could drink a Gatorade from the fridge, an appealing reward for someone with a HUGE sugar tooth. She immediately scurried over to the workout space on her yoga mat. I grinned as I pressed the play button to a workout video on YouTube.

It started off strong, but towards the middle of the exercise, she began to feel sore, started complaining, and asked to quit. I knew I could not give up on her, so I expressed encouraging, uplifting words to her like “You’re doing awesome, Jessica!” and “I’m so proud of you. Keep it up, you’re almost there!” With constant use of positivity and motivation, she eventually (although not happily, I must admit) completed the workout in its entire duration. After the workout, I cheered and gave her a high five, which made her smile. I didn’t need to remind her of her reward before she rushed downstairs to the fridge for the Gatorade. Over the span of a few weeks, she became more and more accustomed to working out and developed a routine out of it, even without the promise of a reward. I realized from this experience that autistic kids like Jessica are very routine-based and if you just let them adapt to a habitual activity/exercise as part of their routine over time, they can certainly do it! Now, Jessica is incredibly willing to workout, even independently, and sometimes reminds me to exercise with her when I forget to. She is such an inspiration, and I hope you can encourage your buddy to develop a healthy habit too!