Are You Choosing the Right Workout for Your Personality Type? Study Provides Insights

A new study published in Frontiers in Psychology by researchers at University College London (UCL) suggests that matching exercise to personality traits could be the key to helping people stick with fitness routines and reduce stress. The study highlights how personality influences exercise enjoyment, offering a potential path to more effective, personalized fitness interventions.

The new study aimed to explore how personality traits influence both enjoyment and adherence to exercise, and the resulting impact on fitness and stress levels.

Researchers recruited 132 volunteers with varying fitness backgrounds. Participants were assigned either to an eight-week cycling and strength-training programme or a resting control group. Baseline fitness was assessed using press-ups, planks, countermovement jumps, and VO₂ max testing. Participants also completed the Big 5 personality assessment, which categorizes individuals by dominant traits: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness. Enjoyment ratings and stress levels were tracked throughout.

The study revealed notable links between personality and exercise preference. Extroverts enjoyed high-intensity exercises like HIIT, while individuals high in neuroticism preferred short bursts of activity and less monitoring during workouts. “We found some clear links between personality traits and the type of exercise the participants enjoyed most,” said Dr. Flaminia Ronca of UCL Surgery & Interventional Science. “We could potentially use this knowledge to tailor physical activity recommendations to the individual – and hopefully help them to become and remain more active.”

Interestingly, while conscientious individuals tended to be fitter overall, they didn’t report greater enjoyment, suggesting their motivation may stem from long-term health goals rather than immediate satisfaction.

Perhaps most strikingly, those with higher neuroticism saw the greatest stress reduction. Ultimately, the study concludes that the best way to promote lasting physical activity is to help individuals find an exercise they genuinely enjoy.

Reference: Ronca Flaminia , Tari Benjamin , Xu Cian , Burgess Paul W. , Personality traits can predict which exercise intensities we enjoy most, and the magnitude of stress reduction experienced following a training program, Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 16 – 2025, 2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1587472

10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1587472, ISSN=1664-1078