Suzanne Brue - The 8 Colors of Fitness: Discover Your Color-Coded Fitness Personality and Create an Exercise Program Youll Never Quit!

In The 8 Colors of Fitness, Suzanne Brue has produced a pragmatic and useful guide for exploring the needs of the sixteen personality types related to physical exercise. Her illustrations are entertaining and instructive, and her linkages to the sixteen types are thoughtful and engaging. Read it and learn about the exercise program youll never quit!

Roger R. Pearman, President, Qualifying.org, Inc.
Past President of the Association for Psychological Type International (APTi)

Forget those exercise books that promise you results youll never see. This book works because it gets to the heart of why people resist making fitness a part of their lives. Suzannes sound advice, based on years of research, will help everyone get fit and stay that way. The 8 Colors of Fitness delivers on its promise.

Rick Foster, consultant, co-author of
How We Choose to Be Happy and Choosing Brilliant Health

Suzanne Brues user-friendly version of contemporary consciousness-type theory offers us a practical, sensitive, and empathic approach to understanding what makes it harder or easier for us to exercise. Once you start reading The 8 Colors of Fitness, youll be on your way to choosing and developing a body maintenance routineand when youve finished the book, youll be a lot more willing to go the rest of the way.

John Beebe, M.D., Jungian analyst, author of Integrity in Depth

2008 by Suzanne Brue
Published by Oakledge Press, Delray Beach, Florida

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Myers-Briggs, MBTI, and Introduction to Type are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Trust in the United States and other countries.

The names of some interview subjects have been changed to preserve their privacy.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be copied or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, nor stored in any information storage and/or retrieval systems, nor photocopied, recorded, or otherwise reproduced without permission in writing from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

ISBN-13: 978-0-9795625-0-1

E-Book ISBN: 978-1-61397-965-5

Library of Congress Control Number: 2007908282

First Edition, First Printing

For Nord

CHAPTER 1
A Short Primer on Personality Type

CHAPTER 2
Introducing The 8 Colors of Fitness Program

CHAPTER 3
ISJ, True Blue:
Tried and True

CHAPTER 4
ESJ, The Gold Standard:
Just the Facts

CHAPTER 5
ESP, Roaring Red:
Now!

CHAPTER 6
ISP, Greener than Green:
Nature Beckons

CHAPTER 7
ENP, Quick Silver:
Masters of Exercise Disguise

CHAPTER 8
INP, Saffron Seeking:
Making Workouts into Play

CHAPTER 9
INJ, The White Canvas:
Trailblazers on Familiar Paths

CHAPTER 10
ENJ, Royal Purple:
Pursuers with a Plan

CHAPTER 11
Coaches and Trainers:
Working with the Colors

Many people were instrumental in the writing of this book, and I would like to extend my gratitude to all of them. First, I wish to thank all the people I interviewed. They cheerfully submitted to my interrogations about their exercise preferences, sharing their fitness stories in person, on the phone, via e-mail, or by responding to a questionnaire on my website. They were always available for follow-up as my research prompted the need for additional information.

Once I had my data, I was lucky to find just the right people at every stage of writing this book. While I believed that the stories I gathered told themselves, the job of putting them on paper was ahead of me. I could not have done so without the unflagging efforts of Pat Goudey OBrien. Together we wrestled with the many ways to organize these stories into a narrative. Pat, a talented writer and committed writing partner, always responded to changes as an opportunity for additional clarity and greater precision. She kept the big picture in mind, invaluable for me as I could find myself easily lost in the data. Pat always went the extra mileincluding several late nights and even an occasional all-nighter.

At the next stage, Lauren Starkey was the right person to refine the work and take it from manuscript to book. As an avid exerciser (and former fitness instructor) as well as a writer and editor, Lauren got it immediately. She knew what had to be done and with skill and Intuition carried it to the next level. I could now see the book taking form. Our partnership was so gratifying.

Sue Ducharme magically appeared to carry the book across the finish line. Her skillful proofreading and helpful editorial comments were just what were needed to prepare it for publication.

I am also deeply indebted to many professional colleagues in the Myers-Briggs/Jungian community who so graciously and generously shared their time and insights as I explored this new application of psychological type. Their interest, encouragement, and feedback were invaluable.

Special thanks to two individuals from the medical and fitness fields. Dr. Liana Lianov, Director of the Healthy Lifestyles Division of The American Medical Association, carefully read an early manuscript and suggested potential applications in the health field. Jim Mizes, CEO of Club One, suggested a number of revisions that made this book more user friendly for coaches, trainers, and others working in the fitness industry.

My gratitude to some special friends, whose interest in this project was unfailing. They enthusiastically supported me during the six years I spent on my research and writing: Iris Benjamin, Jill Gutknecht, Don Kjelleren, Dee Pomerleau, Rissa Seigneur, and Kevin Veller.

And finally, thank-you to my incredible family who cheered me on every step of the way: Alexia Brue, Erik Brue, Marget Brue, Ethan Klemperer, Hanna Brue, Nora Brue, Carolyn Off, Catheryn Brue, Leslie Brue, Ruby Brue, Trent Watts, Russell Watts, and my mom, Doris Watts. Special thanks to my brother, Ronny Watts, not only for his support with the book, but also for graciously allowed me to tag along and enjoy his years with the Boston Celtics. (And Ronny, thanks for doing your best to make sure I wouldnt throw like a girl.) To my husband, Nordyour enthusiasm, interest, and contributions to this entire project made it so much more fun!

Why do so many people start exercise programs and fail to maintain them? In The 8 Colors of Fitness , Suzanne Brue applies principles of Jungian psychological type to address this question.

Suzanne is an expert practitioner in the use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment (MBTI) and has in-depth knowledge of the Jungian personality theory on which the Indicator is based. A chance conversation triggered her to wonder if a personality type influences peoples preferences for the kind of exercise they find satisfying.

Her findings, resulting from six years of focused exploration, form the basis of The 8 Colors of Fitness: Discover Your Color-Coded Fitness Personality and Create an Exercise Program Youll Never Quit! The patterns she discovered demonstrate that the answer to her question is a resounding Yes!