FITNESS Q&A: ; You’Ll Stick With Exercise That Fits Your Personality

Dear Cindy,

I’ve done it again. My New Year’s resolutions that I vowed to uphold are shot. I feel horrible because I need to exercise and lose some weight. Can you tell me what makes some people succeed with their resolutions and others, like me, fail? Any helpful hints will be appreciated. – Catherine

Dear Catherine,

As someone who has spent most of her life in the fitness industry, I have been able to observe countless numbers of well- intentioned exercisers setting out to change their lives each year on Jan. 1.

They arrive at a gym with robust energy and choose an activity, usually one that a good friend and regular exerciser recommends. It is fine at first, but a month later, they are expending more energy thinking up excuses not to go to the gym than they did in the actual workout. Why? Failure, you say. I say you are not a failure. This is merely the failure to match your personality to the right type of activity.

By the way, I’m pretty sure the whole concept of New Year’s resolutions wasn’t intended to make people feel like failures. It was just a means of getting people to think about ways to improve upon their life, health and happiness. The beginning of the year seemed like a perfectly good time to start things and so began New Year’s resolutions. So don’t despair.

It seems you have succeeded at an important part in that you are thinking about your life and you have identified areas where you desire change. You have decided you need to lose weight. You have a goal. Goals are essential for change. What you don’t have, Catherine, and what is common to most who fall short of their resolutions, is a clear game plan and perhaps some helpful hints to accomplish your goals.

You have plenty of company with regard to feeling your interest fade after starting a new exercise program. In fact, only an average of 20 percent keep their resolutions. Researchers have long wanted to know why so many turn away from an activity that seemed so perfect on Jan. 1. They believe that you first must consider your personality before jumping into the nearest class, sport or gym.

After their research, a group of professors, including James Gavin from Concordia University in Montreal, believe there are seven important personality traits that can guide us to choose activities we are suited to. They contend that finding the right type of activity, one that is not at odds with our personality, will often determine the likelihood of sticking to the program.

According to Professor Gavin, the seven characteristics are: competitiveness, sociability, motivation, sense of adventure, spontaneity, aggressiveness and the ability to focus.

Here are their helpful hints:

A person who is shy and a solitary type who attends a gregarious aerobics class probably will be too embarrassed to show up to a second class. A better choice would be yoga, tai chi, swimming, cardio machines.

Those who are aggressive and/or like taking risks are better suited to karate, boxing, competitive running, skiing. They might also enjoy a personal trainer who challenges their physical limits.

Self-motivated exercisers should lean toward weight training, jogging or swimming, but can also benefit from pursuing a personal yoga practice.

Adventurous souls will satisfy the need for new challenges by participating in anything new offered in a gym and in more daring outdoor activities such as mountain biking, skiing and hiking.

Individuals who have strong mental focus would do well to take a yoga, Pilates or martial arts class. They might also benefit from taking tennis or golf lessons.

Highly social people usually enjoy anything group oriented, particularly spinning, water aerobics, circuit training and dance as well as team sports activities. For these people, weight training by themselves in a gym would not be a good choice. If you find a highly social person who stays in a gym setting, you’ll notice they resemble a social director stopping to talk with everyone rather than exercising.

Those who are spontaneous will experience success in classes such as kickboxing, karate, salsa and outdoor activities such as mountain biking, hiking and any kind of skiing.

Catherine, keep in mind that all activity is not created equal. Some exercise can inspire you and hold your interest while other types will do just the opposite. Don’t give up. Don’t get stuck in a rut doing the same workout day in and day out. Most of all, don’t deem yourself a failure.

Try something new and keep trying until you find a form of exercise you look forward to. Look beyond the traditional (step and strength). You may achieve health through a variety of mind and body exercise: taking brisk walks in a park, riding a bicycle, stretching to your favorite music in your home, gardening – whatever makes you feel good will be good for you.

Working out is not something we sign on to at the beginning of every year. The pursuit of health and fitness is an ongoing lifetime commitment that can be rewarding both physically and mentally once you take the time to look inside yourself and find a style of movement that personally suits you.

Cindy Boggs, free-lance fitness professional and state director of Activate America, has been an ACE-certified fitness coordinator/ instructor at the Charleston Family YMCA since 1989. Have a question pertaining to fitness and/or health? E-mail her at cindysays@aol.com or visit her at www.cindysays.com.