The Secret To Sticking With Exercise May Be As Simple As Asking Yourself These 5 Questions
A new study suggests that the secret to exercise motivation may lie in your personality type.
The findings could help tailor exercise programs to your personality, increasing the odds you'll work out... and enjoy it.
Here's what top experts want you to know.
For some people, the idea of getting after it at the gym is the absolute last thing they want to be doing. And as it turns out, that might actually be something you can change.
That's the major takeaway from a new Frontiers in Psychology study, which found that the secret to workout motivation could be as simple as matching your go-to exercise with your personality type. Of course, the findings are a little more detailed than that, but they raise some good questions about how to find inspiration to keep on keepin' on at the gym. Let's dig in with help from experts.
Meet the experts: Dani Singer, CPT, founder of Fit2Go Personal Training; Thea Gallagher, PsyD, clinical associate professor at NYU Langone Health and cohost of the Mind in View podcast; Flaminia Ronca, PhD, study co-author and associate professor at University College London
For this study, researchers recruited 132 people for lab testing to determine their baseline fitness levels. From there, the participants were split into two groups. One group did an eight-week home fitness plan of cycling and strength training, while the other group were asked to continue with their usual lifestyle and workout plan.
Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire on how much they enjoyed their training at the start of the eight weeks, the one week mark, and at the end. The researchers simultaneously looked for the following personality traits in the participants:
Extraversion (having a tendency to be outgoing and energetic)
Conscientiousness (being organized and disciplined)
Agreeableness (being kind, empathetic, and focused on harmony)
Neuroticism (being more easily upset and prone to anxiety)
Openness (having a willingness to embrace new ideas and perspectives)
The researchers discovered that people's personality types actually dictated how likely they were to enjoy a particular type of exercise. Why does that matter? Well, the findings can help people tailor their exercise programs to their personality to try to increase the odds they'll enjoy their workouts, the researchers wrote in the conclusion.
Based on the study's findings, extraverts are more likely to enjoy high-intensity activities like intense endurance sessions, or a HIIT session, says Flaminia Ronca, PhD, study co-author and associate professor at University College London.
And while this particular study didn't focus on introverts, Ronca says these folks may overlap a little with those who score high on neuroticism. 'People who score high on neuroticism might appreciate being given privacy and independence for their workouts, and this group really benefits from the stress-reducing effects of exercise,' she says.
Ronca also notes that personality traits can interact with each other. 'A person who is very neurotic might be less likely to exercise due to fear of being judged, but a person who is both neurotic and conscientious might be more likely to exercise because they know about the health benefit of exercise,' she says. 'So, they might actually become more anxious if they miss their workout.'
Asking yourself how you fall on these five traits might be the magic key to finding a workout that actually works for you (and your brain).
There are a few reasons why personality plays such a crucial role in workout drive. 'We all have different characteristics that determine our behavior, as well as our preferences,' says Ronca. So, if you can understand your own personality, it may help you to make more informed decisions about the best activities for you, she explains.
Tapping into your personality also just allows you to have a better sense of what may be good for you, says Thea Gallagher, PsyD, clinical associate professor at NYU Langone Health and cohost of the Mind in View podcast. 'Just doing things because we know it's good for us doesn't tend to work out well,' she says. 'The best motivator is one where you're reinforced by joy or it's something you really enjoy doing.'
This is crucial for sticking with workouts, says Dani Singer, CPT, founder of Fit2Go Personal Training. 'Trainers who consistently achieve the best results with their clients don't overlook the 'personal' aspect of personal training,' he says. 'They often train multiple clients with the same fitness goal, using different 'trait-friendly' modalities.'
Gallagher stresses that personalities tend to exist on a spectrum, so you may find that you have some introvert and extravert qualities. But there are certain signs that you may be more prone to one category over the other.
'Extraverts tend to seek stimulation,' Ronca says. 'If you like bright colors, loud music, being around a group of friends, and you enjoy being part of a crowd and performing in front of others, it's quite possible you might be an extravert.'
On the other hand, introverts don't really require stimulation, according to Ronca. 'They are more sensitive to stimuli, so they prefer quiet spaces, and maybe a relaxed meal with one or two close friends,' she says.
There's also a category called an 'ambivert,' which is when you're a little of both personality traits. 'Some people might thrive in social environments but then need some quiet time to recover and be on their own,' Ronca says.
Again, personality types tend to exist on a spectrum, and it can be hard to put yourself in a box. But Gallagher says the findings are a good reminder that not all workouts are for everyone. 'Give it the old college try, but if you find that you don't like a certain style of working out, try to think of something else,' she says. 'Eventually, you'll find something that works for you.'
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