I like eating cereal without milk.
I adore cuddling with my cats, but only where I can quickly clean up their fur.
I hate seams anywhere near my toes, making it very difficult to find socks I like.
I’ve got quirks and those quirks are important in helping me to embrace all the weird ways in which I’m going to find myself loving or hating something. Just because I’m a crazy runner, doesn’t mean I believe my friends should be and just because they enjoy lifting things heavier than my couch doesn’t mean I’ll ever find that fun.
My fitness self is one whacky lady. She doesn’t at all match up with my work self or my food self or my daughter self…she’s kind of a nut.
But a nut who never lacks in the fitness motivation department, which is why today we’re going to discover our fitness personality! 
I don’t need variety.
Variety might be the spice of life, but if I had my way I’d run 8-9 miles every day and be done. I’d probably not spend a second thinking about abs or stretching or weights and CrossFit sure as hell wouldn’t be on the plan. That sounds dreadful to a lot of you and that’s ok, this is my personality!
I’m a social loner.
Sorry, what? I really love to run alone…but I also really love having 1-2 running buddies for my long runs. I think this is most pronounced when I’m already doing a couple runs over 8 miles during the week. That gives me plenty of mental time to think and frees me up to chat away on a long run.
Plans and I rarely work.
Without realizing it from the very beginning I’ve listened to my body when it comes to my workouts. I push hard on days I feel good and go easy when things hurt or I’m sore. This allows me to workout most days of the week and for years remain injury free. Every time, I tried to follow a strict plan I felt burned out, my love of running dropped and guess what…there went my built in motivation!
Running never ceases to amaze me.
The Paramour song “Still In To You” really says it all. I feel like after 15 years I should be over how amazing it is that I can run, but I’m not. Every single run makes me feel like a rock star because I did it. It was hard, I showed up, I conquered…even the really bad runs.
I never lack the motivation to workout.
It’s an outlandish statement for many of you, but I believe it’s because I found what suited me after years of trying all kinds of other workouts.
“When people are similar to the activities they pursue, they tend to be happier, express more satisfaction and stay with it longer.” — James Gavin, Ph.D., professor of applied human sciences at Concordia University in Montreal
Walking makes me happy.
One of the reasons I never could do the walk/run method is that I am perfectly content to walk. I enjoy it! I walk A LOT…I don’t even know why, but I just do.
Nature excites me.
It’s part of what helped me get in to running. I love being outside, taking in the sunshine and world. Every run feels like an adventure, will I find a random lost shoe, see elk cross the trail, sniff out someone making cinnamon rolls? You just never know and it’s always worth finding out.
Intrinsic Motivation
Are you driven by race day? I’m not. I’m driven by my own internal goals and needs to feel a certain way. Knowing this can help tremendously and I talk about it in maintaining motivation after the big goal>>
How to Discover Your Fitness Personality?
Consider how often you have to force yourself to do things like vacuum, scrub the toilets, eat carrots while everyone else is having donuts. If your workout is on the same level, then of course you’re going to struggle with motivation!
“Research suggests that people who engage in personality-appropriate activities will stick with the activities longer, enjoy their workout more and ultimately have a greater overall fitness experience,” says Susan Davis-Ali, PhD.
A few questions to ask yourself:
- Are you more likely to show up if you’re accountable to someone? –– Try a running group or pick a consistent workout class
- What time of day do you feel your best? — You might not always be able to workout at that time, but try if it will increase enjoyment
- Do you thrive on routine? — You gotta be a runner
- Do you need variety? — Join an outdoors Meet up group to go kayak, climb, hike, run, bike or join ClassPass
- Do you need intensity or competition to feel accomplished? — Try group workouts, November Project, track clubs
- What do you want from a workout? Calm, accomplishment, fun, friendship?
- How would you describe your general personality?
- If you had a motto would be no pain no gain? Enjoy the moment? Second place is the first loser?
- What makes you feel the best when you finish a workout? — Try digging in to your why
No matter what your preferences or in my case quirks, there’s a sweat style out there that you’ll find yourself drawn to. It’s a whole lot more fun to do something that doesn’t require talking yourself in to it because you think you should!
Are you forcing yourself to do things because you believe you “should”?
Or have you figured out what gets you excited??
I want to hear about your fitness self!!
Other ways to connect with Amanda
Instagram: RunToTheFinish
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Oh boy, I love this post. This is so great. I love what you said about being a social loner because I love to do long runs with other people too, but I like doing shorter runs alone. And I like a bit of variety, but running will always be my favorite. I used to do things more because I thought I should, but now I find myself really craving the workouts that make my body feel challenged, workouts where I can either get out in God’s creation, or listen to something in our room, and those ones are definitely the best for me! I actually get kind of lost in group classes, so I’ve never been super attracted to a lot of group classes.
I literally could’ve answered the questions the exact same way you did. Variety is the spice of life? Not for this girl. Multiple stress fractures have put me a little in my place but I still wish I could run every day all day!
We are very similar! The only major difference is I can no longer run everyday, my 53 year old body just isn’t as happy. I’ve added cycling to the mix and that has been great. I still prefer going alone, don’t need to be accountable to anyone to get out the door everyday. Definitely not driven by race day – 10 races in 20+ years. I’ll always love running.
Yeah I had to cut to 5 days a week…and with the knee I”m down to no more than 3…but once I recover, who knows :)
I like variety in my workouts, but more than anything, I like a routine. I like to know that I’m running Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday; yoga Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday; HIIT workouts Friday…etc. I like working out by myself and getting in my zone but I have also come to enjoy community supporting my fitness whether CrossFit or other online community based programs…that may be because my current (life) situation isn’t not very social so I don’t mind a heavier community based fitness program (for now).
You know as we have moved around, I had to force myself in to more social workouts at times because yes that was how I finally met people!
I am such an extrovert. Until I”m not. I like to run alone–I crave alone time. so many people don’t understand that! And I’m a can’t stop, won’t stop kind of gal. This was a fun post, gave me a lot to think about!