What’s your movement personality?
You know that random urge to get your life together at 3 am? That was me last week. I got fed up with slacking off. I promised myself, “Okay, no more excuses, I will go to the gym and work on myself.” The next day, I picked up two dumbbells of 10 pounds each. I gave up after 2 sets. It ended with me crying on my way home because I couldn't even finish one exercise. So much for wanting to follow your own advice.
The Toxic Situationship Anecdote
I have been going to the gym since I was 16. Conventionally, that is long enough for someone to be “pro” at it. Yet here I am, wondering when this toxic situationship between me and movement will end. But maybe the problem was never me. Maybe I've just been trying to date the wrong kind of workout for four years.
Like, I kept forcing myself into the same silent, solo, two-dumbbells-and-my-thoughts setup and wondering why my will always bailed. Turns out not everyone's built for that. Some people need noise. Some people need someone next to them yelling "one more rep." Some people need it to feel like a game, not a punishment.
Here's the thing nobody tells you: "getting fit" isn't a personality trait some people have and others don't. It's not about who has more willpower or who can tolerate suffering the longest. It's about whether the way you're moving actually matches how you're wired.
I never actually stopped to ask what I needed. I just kept showing up to the same bad date and blaming myself when it didn't work.
So maybe I’m not bad at exercising, maybe I just haven't found my exercise type. And that’s the reality for a lot of people out there. So instead of asking "why can't I stick to a routine," maybe the question worth pondering over is, "what kind of a mover am I actually?"
So, What’s Your Movement Type?
By now, people who read my blogs know that I love analyzing and coming up with my own theories. So, I scratched my brain enough to come up with the different movement archetypes/personalities. A person could be one of these, or a mix. But labelling makes it easier to identify your needs and bring you closer to finding what works.
- The Rhythm Chaser
They need a beat to move to. Silence makes the workout feel ten times longer than it is. Thrives in dance cardio, boxing classes, spin, anything with a playlist doing half the work. Biggest red flag that they're in the wrong routine: doing a silent solo lift and monitoring the clock every 30 seconds. - The Statistician
They need stakes and numbers. A number to beat, a leaderboard, a race, a rep count from yesterday. Motivated by competition, they usually compete against their own past self-counts. Thrives in group sports, Peloton leaderboards, timed workouts. Red flag for them: a workout with no way to track progress just feels pointless to them.
- The Plus-One
Literal flagbearer of “gym buddies”. Can't do it alone. Not because they're weak, but because accountability is the whole engine. Needs a friend, a class, a trainer yelling next to them. Thrives in group classes, run clubs, workout buddies. Red flag: they own all the equipment and never use it, because there's no one there to show up for.
- The Lone Wolf
The opposite, movement is their only quiet space and other people ruin it. Needs to be left alone with their thoughts. Thrives in solo runs, empty gym corners, hiking alone. Red flag: forcing themselves into a group class and spending the whole time performing instead of actually moving.
- The Novelty Seeker
Gets bored fast. Same routine twice in a row and they're done. Needs constant variety like new classes, new sports, and new formats. They thrive on rotating workouts, trying random stuff. Red flag: a rigid 12-week program they abandon by week 2, without being able to tell why.
- The Creature of Habit
Opposite of the above — thrives on sameness. Same time, same plan, same gym corner. Structure isn't boring to them, it's safety. Red flag: constantly changing routines because they read they "should," and losing consistency because of it.
Honest Interpretation
Okay, so how do you decide which one fits you? You probably already know. Think about the last time you finished a workout and didn't want to lie down on the floor and question your entire existence. Was there music on blast? Was your friend next to you yelling something unhinged like "you got this"? Or were you finally, blessedly alone with your own thoughts for once? That's your answer. You've just never bothered to notice it because you were too busy calling yourself lazy, or unmotivated or whatever other 150 adjectives were easier to label yourself with.
Ask yourself those annoying questions. Do you need noise or silence? Does a friend keep you accountable, or make you want to fake an ankle injury and leave? Do you need numbers to prove the workout happened? And be honest about boredom: does repetition make you feel grounded, or make you feel like giving up altogether?
None of these answers are wrong, by the way. That's genuinely the whole point. I spent years assuming there was one correct way to work out, and I just wasn't built for it. But I wasn't built for that specific version of it. Huge difference. Would've saved myself a lot of crying in gym parking lots if I'd figured that out sooner.
Apparently, I Have a Type
As for me, I think I’m a strange mix of the Lone Wolf, the Creature of Habit and the Rhythm Chaser. I actually like going alone, putting my headphones on and disappearing into my own world. But it needs to be a minimum of 135 beats per minutes pounding through my AirPods, making me feel like I'm the main character.
And even though I complain about the gym constantly, I still love going back to the same fitness centre at UTM, using the same machines and finding comfort in knowing exactly where everything is. Maybe the problem was never the place. Maybe I was just expecting myself to enjoy a version of movement that did not suit me. Which is when I decided to try the reformer Pilates class, here at the RAWC. And unsurprisingly enough, I did not cry this time but ended the session feeling really content and satisfied with my workout.
The point is not that everyone needs to stick to the exact same workouts each time, or that everyone needs to keep trying new things. It is that, at some point, you have to slow down and take a moment to define your own movement personality.
Hopefully now I can burn more sweat than tears.
