How to find your fitness personality

(Wallenrock)

Numerous studies tout the benefits of getting outdoors for an optimal workout and with longer days and more light in the summer there is little excuse. However, your fitness personality type may suggest that you need a different kind of motivation.

According to various health and fitness sites (WebMD, Wellspan, Experience Life, Gaiam Life), personality fitness quizzes can help you identify what types of exercises will keep you active every day.

To get started, WebMD recommends a simple approach to determine if a gym is the right place for you, by asking yourself a series of questions:

- Are you happy when you go the gym?
- Do you like to work in a group?
- Or, do you prefer to be on your own?
- Do you like machines? Free weights?
- Do you play a sport?
- Is there an activity you enjoyed as a child?
- What is fun to you?

The key is to find out what you like and enjoy so that a daily routine will be easy to maintain.

Another quiz is adapted from the book The Complete Guide to Walking for Health, Weight Loss, and Fitness, by Mark Fenton ($18.89/€15.38) by PBS.org, the online site for the US's Public Broadcasting Service

That quiz asks only three essential questions:
- When you get out of the bed in the morning, what do you expect from your day?
- You have things you should drop off at four friends' homes today. How is it most likely to happen?
- You're making dinner plans with close friends, and are picking a restaurant together. [How do you participate?]: http://www.pbs.org/americaswalking/health/quizfitness.html

The well-being site Gaiam Life explains that there are six common fitness personalities: disciplined and driven (martial arts and swimming); relishes routine (consistency with machines or videos); conscious contemplative (Pilates, yoga); plays well with others (water aerobics, dance, golf); compulsive competitor (train for marathon, team sports); and avid for adventure (mix it up with Zumba, kickboxing).

To learn the ‘color' of your personality, try taking the 8 Colors of Fitness free online quiz. The author of the quiz and the book of the same name ($14.27/€11.62) by Suzanne Brue, MS, the president of The Association for Psychological Type International (APTi). The eight colors are linked to a standard personality quiz and can give you greater insight into the best fitness approach for you and your personality in general: http://the8colors.com/HTML-QUIZ.asp