1 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:12,600 Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, welcome to another edition of Wisdom Wednesdays. Just 2 00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:16,599 Speaker 1: before we get into the subject of this week's podcast, 3 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:18,920 Speaker 1: I just want to ask a quick fever from you. 4 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the podcast, and please hit that subscribe 5 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:26,800 Speaker 1: button on whatever your favorite podcast player is, because, believe 6 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:29,800 Speaker 1: it or not, it actually has a huge impact on 7 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:33,400 Speaker 1: growing the podcast and helping me to continue to bring 8 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: content to you. Now, the other thing that really helps 9 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,760 Speaker 1: as well is sharing episodes, And if you're going to 10 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: share any episode, this week's one is the one to 11 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: share with anybody who you know that is interested in exercise, 12 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,720 Speaker 1: wants to do more exercise, or start an exercise program, 13 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:55,000 Speaker 1: or actually works in the allied health industry, because it 14 00:00:55,160 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: is an absolute cracker on exercise and personality. So let's 15 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: get on with the episode. Today, we're going to dive 16 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:08,960 Speaker 1: into something that straddles too particular passions of mind, psychology, 17 00:01:09,319 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: and exercise science. Now you have heard me talk a 18 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: lot about how critical movement is for both physical and 19 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: mental health. But here's a new angle. What if your 20 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:24,320 Speaker 1: personality could predict not only how fit you are, but 21 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:28,400 Speaker 1: what types of exercise you'll enjoy most and even how 22 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:32,320 Speaker 1: much stress relief you'll get from it. Well, a fascinating 23 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: new study out of University College London has just been 24 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: published in Frontiers in Psychology, and it explores exactly that 25 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:46,759 Speaker 1: The researchers set out to answer three core questions. First, 26 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: they wanted to know can personality predict be a sline fitness? Second, 27 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: doesn't influence how much people enjoy different kinds of exercise? 28 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: And third does personality in fact how much benefit people 29 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:06,800 Speaker 1: get both physically and mentally from a structured training program. 30 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: Now this wasn't just a lab study with elite athletes, 31 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:14,519 Speaker 1: it was a real world study. The team recruited over 32 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:19,480 Speaker 1: one hundred and thirty adults from diverse backgrounds, including university students, 33 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,360 Speaker 1: emergency service workers, and other professionals, and they did it 34 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 1: through email and social media, so the net was cast 35 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:32,920 Speaker 1: pretty wide in terms of diversity of participants, which is 36 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: often not what you see in studies. And they screened 37 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,799 Speaker 1: them for injuries and health issues and then ended up 38 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: with eighty six participants who completed the full eight week study. 39 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: So let's break down what they actually did. Before any 40 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: training began, participants filled out what's called the Big five inventory. 41 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: This is probably the most well established and sophisticated personality 42 00:02:58,840 --> 00:03:02,520 Speaker 1: measure and scores people on the Big five. Then it's 43 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: called the Big five. The Big five are extraversion slash introversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, 44 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: and openness. And they also completed a validated perceived stress skill, 45 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,119 Speaker 1: the same scale that I just used in my PhD. 46 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: And then they were brought into the lab for fitness testing, 47 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: which included doing VO two max assessments for cardiovascular fitness, 48 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:33,959 Speaker 1: body composition measurements, and strength tests such as push ups, planks, 49 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 1: and counter movement jumps. Interestingly, everyone raated their enjoyment of 50 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: each session on a one to seven scale. Now after testing, 51 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: then the participants were organized into groups or categories around 52 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: their aids, their sex, their body mass index, and their 53 00:03:53,720 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: baseline fitness. And then they were randomized into two groups. 54 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: So these two groups were pretty well matched. One was 55 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: a training intervention and the other was a control group 56 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: in any good study, and those in the control group 57 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: maintained their normal lifestyle but also added ten minute stretching 58 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:16,400 Speaker 1: routines each week to maintain a minimal level of engagement 59 00:04:16,440 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: in the study. And the intervention group, however, followed an 60 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:25,000 Speaker 1: eight week home based exercise program that included three different 61 00:04:25,080 --> 00:04:28,720 Speaker 1: styles of cycling, and those styles were low intensity cycling, 62 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 1: threshold training, and hit high intensity interval training. Plus they 63 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: also did one strength training session a week. And here's 64 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:41,560 Speaker 1: where it gets interesting. The workouts were personalized using heart 65 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:45,520 Speaker 1: rate zones calculated from each participant's VO two peak test, 66 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 1: so it wasn't a one size fits all approach. It 67 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,840 Speaker 1: was very very tailored, and each cycling session had specific 68 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:57,440 Speaker 1: physiological targets, so zone two, which I've often talked about 69 00:04:57,480 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: for those easy long rides, and in the higher zones 70 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:06,000 Speaker 1: for threshold and hit sessions. And the strength work used 71 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: body weight movements like squats, lunges, press ups, glut bridges, 72 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:14,840 Speaker 1: and was scaled based on how hard participants actually perceived 73 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: the effort. So this was a beautifully designed study where 74 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: the intervention was actually personalized so that everybody was getting 75 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,799 Speaker 1: the same kind of intensity independent of their fitness levels. 76 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,560 Speaker 1: So it's a great example of an accessible but smartly 77 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:35,479 Speaker 1: structured training program. So what did they find. Well, let's 78 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: start with their baseline fitness. It turns out that the 79 00:05:38,320 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: Big Five measure of conscientiousness, which is a kind of 80 00:05:42,560 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: a tendency to be responsible, hard working, organized, and goal orientated. 81 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:53,520 Speaker 1: These guys are The level of their conscientiousness predicted better 82 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: all round fitness. They did more weekly exercise, they had 83 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,800 Speaker 1: lower body fat, and they had better performance and strength, 84 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: So that's not surprising given what conscientiousness lends itself to. Now, 85 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: extraversion was linked to higher cardiovascular capacity, while neuroticism was 86 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: tied to poorer heart rate recovery, which I don't find 87 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,160 Speaker 1: surprising at all. People who are neurotic are much more 88 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: likely to have anxiety and be easily stressed, and that 89 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 1: suggests that they were less efficient or had less efficient 90 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: recovery after intense effort. Now, interestingly, agreeableness and openness didn't 91 00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:38,160 Speaker 1: predict basline fitness at all. The only ones that had 92 00:06:38,200 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 1: an impact were conscientiousness, extraversion, and neuroticism. But the real 93 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:49,320 Speaker 1: interesting thing here was how the personality actually affected enjoyment. 94 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 1: People high an extraversion enjoyed the high intensity VO two 95 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:58,200 Speaker 1: max and HIT sessions those all artwork arts where you 96 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: leave everything on the back are on the mat. Now 97 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:05,600 Speaker 1: on the flip side, those with higher levels of neuroticism 98 00:07:06,080 --> 00:07:09,760 Speaker 1: found the moderate threshold training sessions and even the low 99 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: intensity rides less enjoyable, so they obviously didn't like the 100 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:19,600 Speaker 1: stress of exercise. And yet this is really worth pausing on. 101 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:24,760 Speaker 1: People with high neuroticism reported the biggest reduction in stress 102 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:28,760 Speaker 1: after the training program. Right, So the big takeaway here 103 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:32,120 Speaker 1: is you don't have to really enjoy the process to 104 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,559 Speaker 1: benefit from it, especially when it comes to mental health, 105 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 1: and people who are hiring neuroticism are more prone to 106 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 1: mental health issues, so that whilst they don't seem to 107 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:47,679 Speaker 1: enjoy exercise, they are the ones that benefit the most 108 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:51,680 Speaker 1: from it. Now, moving on to your agreeableness, that predicted 109 00:07:51,960 --> 00:07:56,640 Speaker 1: enjoyment of the easier steady state sessions sorry the zone 110 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:03,720 Speaker 1: two long slow rides, while openness surprisingly predicted lower enjoyment 111 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: of the threshold which is higher intensity and then the 112 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:09,360 Speaker 1: hit which is the super intensity in and out of 113 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:15,720 Speaker 1: big intensities. And then conscientious participants, despite being fitter, didn't 114 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: necessarily enjoy the workouts more. In fact, they actually showed 115 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:26,000 Speaker 1: smaller gains in peak par possibly because the intervention may 116 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:29,880 Speaker 1: have been less demanding than their usual routine. So these guys, 117 00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,840 Speaker 1: because they're conscientious, may have been stricter around their exercise, 118 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: so they didn't benefit as much from the program. Now 119 00:08:36,960 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: when it came to adherence and consistency, which are really critical, 120 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:45,200 Speaker 1: probably the most critical things in long term exercise program, 121 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: this is where things get even more interesting. Neurotic participants 122 00:08:49,480 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: were less likely to upload their heart rate data consistently, 123 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:59,680 Speaker 1: not because they weren't exercising, but likely, the researchers think, 124 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: because they were more anxious or hesitant about being monitored. Meanwhile, 125 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:11,400 Speaker 1: the extroverts, despite being very enthusiastic, were ironically less likely 126 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:15,560 Speaker 1: to show up for their post study testing, a reminder 127 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:20,040 Speaker 1: that enthusiasm and follow up don't always go hand in hand. 128 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:24,800 Speaker 1: But what about real results? So the intervention group, compared 129 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:29,199 Speaker 1: to the control group, they showed clear measurable improvements across 130 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:33,160 Speaker 1: multiple markers. Their VO two max, their strength, their endurance, 131 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:39,640 Speaker 1: and exercise duration all improved significantly. Even better, these gains 132 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:44,840 Speaker 1: were consistent regardless of personality, meaning that everybody got something 133 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:46,760 Speaker 1: out of it, just some got more out of it. 134 00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: But those changes in perceived stress with a cherry on top. 135 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,200 Speaker 1: The people with the highest levels of neuroticism, the people 136 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:58,280 Speaker 1: who found the workout's harder to enjoy and tend to 137 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: get more stressed in life, they experience the biggest reductions 138 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:07,319 Speaker 1: in stress. So this tells us something powerful that structured 139 00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:12,200 Speaker 1: exercise may be particularly therapeutic for those who struggle with 140 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:16,160 Speaker 1: anxiety or stress, even if they don't feel amazing while 141 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:18,839 Speaker 1: doing it. And I've said this for a long long 142 00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:24,280 Speaker 1: time that particularly anxious people will benefit most from exercise 143 00:10:24,360 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: because it trains them to deal with the physiological feelings 144 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:33,719 Speaker 1: of stress. So what's the take comes? Firstly, if you're 145 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: someone that's trying to build a more consistent workout habit, 146 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:40,560 Speaker 1: knowing your personality can help tailor the process, and you 147 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:45,679 Speaker 1: can actually do a free Big five test online and 148 00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:49,959 Speaker 1: I will stick a link into that free assessment into 149 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: the show notes. Now, if you're extroverted, you might thrive 150 00:10:53,760 --> 00:10:57,000 Speaker 1: or might lean towards high intensity classes or team workouts 151 00:10:57,000 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: where you're interacting with other people. If you're more agreeable 152 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:06,520 Speaker 1: or conscientiousness or conscientious sorry, a consistent plan with progress 153 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: tracking might suit you really well. And if you're high 154 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 1: in eu auticism, don't be discouraged by low enjoyment at first. 155 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 1: It's really about sticking with it because you are the people. 156 00:11:18,800 --> 00:11:22,720 Speaker 1: Whether stress relief is the biggest and then for coaches 157 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,679 Speaker 1: and trainers out there, this is an absolute goal mine 158 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:31,320 Speaker 1: of information. Understanding your client's personality can help you to 159 00:11:31,520 --> 00:11:36,920 Speaker 1: personalize their plan, not just to maximize physical results, but 160 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:41,240 Speaker 1: to boost enjoyment and to reduce their stress, which we 161 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:45,400 Speaker 1: all know are key for long term adherence. And finally, 162 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: if you've ever struggled with sticking to a workout routine, 163 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:51,960 Speaker 1: it might not be a matter of willpart it might 164 00:11:52,040 --> 00:11:55,640 Speaker 1: be a matter of fit for your personality. Finding the 165 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 1: right type and intensity of exercise for your personality and 166 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: the situation and could be the game changer that you've 167 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,840 Speaker 1: been looking for. So, folks, that is it for this week. 168 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:11,120 Speaker 1: Hopefully that gives you some good food for thought around exercise. 169 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:14,640 Speaker 1: And please, if you know someone who's struggling with exercise 170 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: or wanting to increase their exercise, then please share this 171 00:12:18,480 --> 00:12:21,400 Speaker 1: with them. If you know somebody who's in the fitness industry, 172 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:23,920 Speaker 1: then share this with them because it will help them 173 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:28,000 Speaker 1: to be more effective in helping their clients. That's it 174 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 1: for this week, folks, catch you next time.