Individual characteristics, exercise motivation and emotional aspects among weekend and no-weekend exercisers

The purpose of this study was to examine the differences in personality traits, exercise motivation and mood states, in weekend exercisers and non-weekend exercisers. A sample of 536 individuals was included in the study. The results have shown that weekend exercisers have higher scores in certain personality aspects, selfdetermined regulation and positive mood states. These results seem to confirm previous research results on the prevalence of more intrinsic motives and positive emotional states in participants engaged in frequent exercise but also show that training on the weekend could represent a risk for the development of dysfunctional exercise behavior. These findings can have practical implication for potentially identifying individuals who may be at-risk for overtraining symptoms and can help to target and guide the implementation of a prevention program.