{"id":270911,"date":"2025-07-18T02:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T02:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/270911\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T02:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T02:38:10","slug":"hate-exercising-factoring-in-your-personality-type-could-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/270911\/","title":{"rendered":"Hate exercising? Factoring in your personality type could help"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere\u2019s an adage in the industry saying that \u2018the best exercise is the one you will do,\u2019 implying the importance of personal preference,\u201d said Luigi Bercades, a senior lecturer in sport and exercise science at New Zealand\u2019s Auckland University of Technology, who wasn\u2019t involved in the study.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, finding someone\u2019s preferred mode of exercise is one important barrier to overcome,\u201d he said in an email. \u201cThe study reinforces these concepts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The initial 132 participants in the University College London study filled out questionnaires to assess stress levels and personality traits. They then attended lab sessions to measure basic fitness levels before being assigned to two groups.<\/p>\n

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The first group was asked to go through a home-based, eight-week cycling and strength-training plan. The second group was asked to maintain their normal lifestyles to serve as the control group. In the end, 86 people completed the tests. Dropouts were because of injury, illness or loss of contact.<\/p>\n

A key finding was that exercise programmes may benefit specific personalities in different ways, the authors said.<\/p>\n

Discover more<\/p>\n

People who had high neuroticism scores were most likely to experience the highest levels of stress reduction through exercise. They were also likelier to prefer lighter exercise sessions that didn\u2019t require a lengthy, sustained effort.<\/p>\n

Those associated with conscientiousness were the only group that did not have a preference for a particular exercise, possibly because they are likely to be motivated to exercise for health-protective purposes.<\/p>\n

Bercades advised that people shouldn\u2019t get fixated on figuring out their personality types before trying to find the best exercise programme.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s more important is for people to try out different sorts of physical activity until they find something they prefer and can adhere to,\u201d he said. That way, \u201cthey can better choose the \u2018best exercise\u2019 for themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n

Grant Tomkinson, a professor of human movement and exercise and sports science at the University of South Australia, said in an email that enjoyable exercises are beneficial in that people are likely to continue to do them over the long run.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd people should play the long game when it comes to exercise,\u201d he said, using a comparison to a retirement plan \u2013 where the more you do \u201cearlier in life, the more you\u2019ll be able to do (or have) later in life\u201d.<\/p>\n

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