Your Exercise Personality
What Is Your Exercise Personality?
Everyone has a different attitude towards exercise, and this attitude can affect not only how much exercise you do but also the type of exercise you do. In this article, we will look at four of the most common exercise personalities.
As you read each description try to determine what most applies to you, as this will help you to better understand what motivates you and how you can improve what you are currently doing.
The Exercise-Aholic
The exercise aholic is a fitness fanatic. These types of people go to the gym every single day of the week, and never miss out on a training session.
They enjoy all types of exercise, and always try to push themselves to the limit. Exercise is something the exercise aholic takes very seriously, and is always willing to try out new things.
Potential Dangers
Whilst working out frequently is something we should all do, exercising too often can lead to burnout and cause serious injury.
In addition to this, you may also find that you become bored of exercise and so will begin to enjoy it less and less.
Making This Exercise Personality Work For You
Exercise should always be fun because ultimately this is what will keep you going in the long term. So try something less intense, but something which still challenges you such as taking dancing lessons or yoga.
If you always workout on your own then try joining some classes, as this will open up the social side of exercise to you.
Since the body requires time to recover from any period of activity, a good tip is to vary the activities you do throughout the week.
For example, on one day you may do strenuous exercise and then the next something less strenuous. This will keep you challenged, whilst also keeping you interested in the exercise that you do.
The Stressed Out Exercise Personality
The stressed out exercise personality describes a person who wants to exercise, but for whatever reason feels as though they don’t have the time to exercise.
Their intentions are good, and they may even join a gym, but for whatever reason can never seem to stick to their fitness goals.
Potential dangers
If you feel as though you don’t have time to exercise then you won’t, as you will always put off getting fit to someday in the future.
Even if you do join a gym, or buy a fitness video, unless you start exercising there and then you probably never will. As result the only thing you will have accomplished, is to waste your money and your time.
Making This Exercise Personality Work For You
In order to make the stressed out exercise personality work for you, you need to make exercise a priority in your life.
Even if you think you don’t have time to exercise, you most likely do as even extremely busy people are able to find the time to go to the gym at least a few days a week.
If you think exercise is a waste of time, think again. Everyone needs to exercise, because as old saying goes, a healthy body gives a healthy mind.
Once you get yourself into shape, you will become healthier, look better, feel better and produce better quality work. As an added bonus, you will also live longer which means you get to work for longer!
Start seeing exercise as something you must do in your life, as a priority, because once you get this attitude you are likely to put a lot of time and effort into exercising and so will get a lot out of it.
For those people who are extremely busy, hiring a personal trainer can help you to achieve your fitness goals by keeping you motivated and on track.
If stress is an issue for you, try joining yoga or tai chi classes as these will help you to unwind at the end of the day.
The “Body Is My Temple” Exercise Personality
This type of personality describes a very spiritual person, someone who likes to take care of their body and is interested in the spiritual side of life.
They see their body as a Temple, and as result view exercise as a very important part of life. They also tend to eat well, usually eating organic food and avoiding junk food.
The main type of exercise preferred by this personality is yoga or walking. As a result they don’t like to work up a sweat very often, but prefer to take things easy.
Potential Dangers
Whilst gentle exercises such as yoga and walking provide many health benefits, they aren’t very effective at providing a cardiovascular workout.
So if this is the only type of exercise that you do, then your fitness levels will tend to be quite low as a result.
Without doing any cardiovascular exercise, such as running or riding a bike, you won’t receive the benefits such exercise provides like a reduced risk of heart disease.
In addition to this, if you never work up a sweat when exercising then you are unlikely to burn any fat. So whilst yoga or pilates may help you to tone your body, they won’t actually shift any excess weight.
Making This Exercise Personality Work For You
In order to improve your overall level of fitness it is important to do more strenuous exercise which raises your pulse and causes you to sweat.
For example, doing yoga on one day and then running the next day. This will help to improve your stamina and your flexibility, whilst also helping you to loose weight.
The Social Exercise Personality
This type of personality enjoys the social side of exercise. They see the gym as a good place to meet their friends, have a chat and perhaps meet someone special.
As a result exercise tends to be quite a low priority, which means they spend most of their time chatting rather than actually working out.
Potential Dangers
Although working out should be fun, if you’re exercising your mouth more than your body you are not actually improving your fitness levels or losing any weight.
A good workout session should include periods when you’re working out by yourself, and periods when you are in groups with other people.
However it is important to balance working alone and working with a group, because too much emphasis on one or the other will lead to either boredom or poor results.
Making This Exercise Personality Work For You
Because you enjoy the social side of exercise, try to find activities in which you can work within a team, with other people.
For example, hockey, football, volleyball or basketball. This will allow you to have fun with other people, whilst also giving you a good workout.
If you like to exercise in a gym with your friends, arrange to meet them after your workout session so that you can exercise while your in the gym and then have fun afterwards when you leave.
