How Parkour Helped Me Overcome ADD Without Medication

“parkour is powerful because it shows you that you can do things you didn’t think you could in a way that few other practices can.”

Parkour helped me deal with and even overcome Attention Deficit Disorder, and it could help you too. When I was in middle school I did fine in class but I pretty much never did any homework and teachers noticed I had trouble concentrating. Academic psychologists tested me for learning differences, and it was determined that I had Attention Deficit Disorder or ADD (this is different from ADHD, which includes “hyperactivity”). For many reasons, my mom decided not to put me on any medication as a kid (I thank her for that), and I’ve just had to find ways to adapt ever since.

Nowadays it seems like everyone and their mother is diagnosed with some kind of attention deficit. As a result, more and more people (particularly kids) are given medication that doesn’t address the root cause, and carries with it its own set of problems. In my case, I was briefly put on Ritalin as a child, which changed my personality so drastically it actually scared my mom to see a different person in her child’s body.

I was taken off Ritalin and I’ve managed to get this far without medication. While ADD may not be the most difficult handicap to overcome, I honestly don’t think I could have finished university without some kind of assistance. For me it was parkour and its philosophy that helped me along the way.

Focus and concentration will always depend on how interested you are in what you’re doing - whether or not you see value in it - and parkour helps find interest in what would normally be challenging tasks in two ways.

First, parkour is powerful because it shows you that you can do things you didn’t think you could in a way that few other practices can. Parkour’s progress is very tangible because you can SEE and FEEL the difference between getting over a low wall, to a wall that is your hip height, to getting over a wall that’s taller than you. Anything becomes possible when you feel that things that were quite literally impossible obstacles in your way, become not only possible but something fun and engaging. That feeling then extends out to the world around you. If I can overcome a huge wall with some training and practice, then I can train and practice to overcome anything and even enjoy the challenge, including my ADD!

Second, parkour is also very personal and adaptable to each person’s abilities. Parkour philosophy emphasizes overcoming obstacles with whichever method fits the situation best. How different people approach a particular obstacle can vary wildly, because each person is different. The attention deficit itself, then, can be overcome in one’s own way. 

For me personally, Parkour was immediately interesting because I saw the value of being strong, being capable, and being able to move through the environment. The more I practiced parkour, the more I saw obstacles as an opportunity for growth and becoming more badass. As I listened to more experienced practitioners and the community around me, I learned that obstacles are everywhere and they can all be overcome. I realized this while at college, where I hated doing what felt like pointless homework for classes that didn’t interest me. I often still think a lot of homework is pointless but I also see it as another obstacle to overcome. So I went from almost never doing homework and failing several classes, to getting 80% or above in all my classes. Maybe I wasn’t getting straight A’s, but it was a huge improvement. 

My ADD never went away, and I still have trouble concentrating in many situations. But I’ve learned to adapt and even overcome my spacey brain, and so can you! I apply the lessons I’ve learned from over a decade of parkour practice to every aspect of my life. The art of overcoming obstacles applies to everything.