ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1587472
This article is part of the Research TopicMotivations For Physical Activity - Volume IIIView all 20 articles
Personality traits can predict which exercise intensities we enjoy most, and the magnitude of stress reduction experienced following a training programme
Provisionally accepted
- University College London, London, United Kingdom
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Introduction: The aim of this study was to determine if personality can predict physical fitness, enjoyment of exercise by intensity, and engagement in an exercise programme in the general population. Methods: Participants were assigned to either an 8-week home-based cycling and strength training intervention or a resting control group. Results: Personality traits were strong predictors of baseline fitness levels, and of enjoyment of different exercise intensities. For example, conscientiousness predicted greater general fitness and more weekly hours of physical activity, whereas extraversion and neuroticism predicted higher V̇O2peak and poorer heart rate recovery, respectively. Extraversion also predicted greater enjoyment of highest intensity activities, whereas neuroticism predicted lower enjoyment of activities which required sustained effort. Importantly, those who scored high on neuroticism benefited the most from potential stress-reducing effects of aerobic training. Discussion: These findings provide insight into how personality can determine engagement with physical activity, and the degree to which one enjoys different forms of exercise, thus aiding the development of tailored exercise programmes.
Keywords: Big 5, physical activity, neuroticism, Exercise tailoring, fitness
Received: 04 Mar 2025; Accepted: 12 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ronca, Tari, Xu and Burgess. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Benjamin Tari, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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