Your personality type, such as introverted or extroverted, could impact the type of exercise routine you stick to.
Introversion and extroversion have to be two of the oldest personality types in the book – and we all love finding new details on how to harness the power of our outgoing or introspective traits. New research suggests that our workouts can do just that.
A study of 2,000 people, commissioned by nutrition company Dymatize, found that introverts are more likely to exercise in the morning, whereas extroverts are more likely to exercise at night. On the surface, that might just sound like an odd quirk. But as an introvert, I can attest to the importance of morning training to manage my mental health.
For me, working out first thing is crucial to being able to manage the rest of my day. That’s not only because my circadian rhythm is set up to prefer early mornings, but because prioritising alone time is important for introverts to ‘recharge’.
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According to Psychology Today, introverts gain energy from reflection and lose energy in social gatherings. As someone in a job that requires a lot of talking and engaging with others, I need to prioritise myself first thing in the morning in order to have the metaphorical battery power to be a good colleague and friend. I do that through my hour in the gym – the ultimate form of self-prioritisation.
Morning workouts are also important for Leah Sinclair, Stylist.co.uk’s senior digital writer. “I generally find being surrounded by loads of people draining at times so when the gym is more chill it’s oddly more motivating for me than when it’s super busy and filled with gym bros,” she says.
And I concur – there have been many times I’ve gone to the gym a little later than usual, on the weekends for instance, and felt stressed, overwhelmed and even anxious at the crowds of people.
But that’s the extrovert’s dream. Many of them prefer training in the evening, the research suggests, as they’ve had all day to energise through socialising.
Amy Beecham, Stylist.co.uk’s news writer says she needs to charge her batteries by spending the day around others before heading to the gym. “My ideal time to go to the gym is at like 9pm,” she says. “I’m usually buzzing in the evening if I’ve had a lot of interaction throughout the day – so either I’ll want to burn the energy at the gym or go out and do more socialising.”
Miranda Larbi, Strong Women’s editor, has found that her extroversion syncs with her training styles in a different way. “I often go to group exercise classes where I don’t know anyone but rather than making me feel full of endorphins, they actually decrease how ‘topped up’ I feel from socialising. That’s why I either train with friends or a partner, and if not, then it’s always alone listening to podcasts or energetic playlists. I’m also a morning lark, rather than a night owl, so do prefer to train first thing as that’s when I have the most energy to spend.”
So while your personal time allowance and access to fitness can impact the training styles you choose, à la Miranda, other studies have also found that there are links between our personality and our workout schedules.
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A 2018 paper by the British Psychological Society investigated how Myers-Briggs scores were associated with fitness habits to find that extroverts prefer exercising at a gym rather than at home, often with other people. “Many attend the same classes regularly so that they can develop relationships. Most also enjoy sharing their exercise achievements with others,” researchers found.
Interestingly, introverts were found to be ambivalent about exercising in the gym or at home – as long as they got to do it alone. People with a preference for ‘thinking’ (those who put more weight on objective principles and impersonal facts) on the Myers-Briggs test were the most likely to want to exercise alone.
And while most personalities preferred walking and cycling different routes, those who were ‘intuitive’ (who pay strong attention to the patterns and possibilities in information) or ‘perceptive’ (who prefer flexible and adaptive lifestyles) strongly disliked taking the same path.
While we’re encouraged to have a goal-first approach to our training – prioritising movement depending on if we want to build muscle or improve endurance, for example – maybe we should actually think more about how our workouts suit our personalities. After all, the workout that you’ll get the best results from is the one you’ll stick to – and that comes from working with your body and mind rather than against them.
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