You might already know that your personality can influence your relationships, career choices, and whether you feel energized by a night out with friends or a quiet evening with a book. But did you realize that it may also shape your workout preferences?
That’s according to a recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, which revealed links between personality traits and certain types of exercises. Matching your workout to your personality, researchers suggest, could lead to better consistency and results.
“Our personality can influence how we respond to, and engage with, exercise,” lead study author Flaminia Ronca, PhD, an associate professor at the University College London, told Health. “Knowing ourselves and knowing the personalities of our patients can help us make personalized recommendations that can produce more sustainable changes in physical activity behavior.”
Read on to find out what exercise plan might be right for your personality—and what else to consider when assessing your ideal workout.
Untangling Personality and Exercise Preferences
To better understand how to make physical activity more enjoyable for people, researchers from the University College London decided to investigate how personality affects exercise preference and commitment. They recruited 86 people via email newsletters and social media advertisements for an eight-week study.
To begin with, participants filled out two surveys: the Perceived Stress Scale 10-item questionnaire (PSS-10) for their general stress levels and another used to assess personality traits, such as agreeableness and neuroticism. They then received baseline fitness testing in Ronca’s lab, followed by an assignment to one of two groups:
- The “resting” control group, which maintained their typical lifestyle behaviors and performed 10 minutes of weekly stretching exercises (although this wasn’t measured)
- Another that performed cycling and strength-training activities at home
During the initial lab testing and during the first week of the study, participants completed questionnaires assessing how much they enjoyed their fitness sessions. They continued to log their perceived enjoyment after each exercise session. After the study’s conclusion, participants again filled out the PSS-10 questionnaire.
What’s the Best Workout For Your Personality?
The study didn’t pinpoint exactly which exercises individuals might prefer based on their personality type, but it did reveal some general patterns linking what’s known as the “Big 5” personality traits and workout preferences. Here’s what researchers found:
- Extroverts like high-intensity workout sessions with other people around. (Think team sports.)
- Neurotic people enjoy private workouts with breaks in between sessions.
- Conscientious participants tend to cram in more physical activity each week and have greater overall fitness.
- Agreeable people like to work out for a while but prefer lower-intensity exercise.
- Open people are willing to try different workouts regardless of how curious they are about them, and rate strenuous and higher-intensity workouts lower than other groups.
It’s no surprise that personality can strongly influence your workout preferences. Traits shape your willingness to try new things, your perception of effort, and your comfort level in different environments—making exercise a natural outlet for expressing these tendencies, said Matthew Sacco, PhD, a sports medicine psychologist at Cleveland Clinic.
Sacco also noted that the study was strengthened by using “objective measures” rather than relying solely on self-reported data, which is common in similar research.
Still, the study had limitations. More than 70% of participants were classified as open-minded, conscientious, and emotionally stable, suggesting the sample may not reflect the broader personality distribution in the general population, the authors noted. Additionally, the study did not account for participants’ prior experience with physical activity or their reasons for choosing specific workouts.
The Takeaway
According to Ronca, tailoring your personality type to your fitness program “could potentially maximize” exercise gains and overall health. Finding workouts that people will actually engage in and stick with is one key to ensuring consistent physical activity, she added.
If you want to try a new type of workout, experts recommend reflecting on your own personality traits and the types of activities you typically gravitate toward. “It’s worth paying attention to how we feel after a strength session or after a yoga or run session,” Ronca said. “Does it energize us, or make us calmer, or does it just make us too tired to do anything else?”
However, it’s also important to consider other factors that may increase your likelihood of sticking with an exercise, Sacco pointed out—such as accessibility, injury status, and fitness goals.
“Being willing to change, be flexible, and ultimately tailor your own plan for success will help you sustain more long-term benefits,” Sacco told Health. “Utilizing very targeted goals that include objective measurements is a great way to build towards success.”
