Hi all:

I find the notion of hidden agenda very interesting and yet slightly frustrating. According to the description of the hidden agenda on socionics.com, my hidden agenda is to be healthy. I'm occasionally obsessed with my health, but this obsession is not exactly hidden. My friends and family know that I aspire to a very healthy way of life. But my dedication to a healthy lifestyle has been intermittant to say the least. I do find that if I am not eating healthy and exercising, that I have difficulty functioning.

I've joined gyms off and on, and I often got frustrated especially on the weight machines. Sometimes I would join for a few months, get frustrated and quit working out at the gym.

For example, I often got obsessed that I was doing the weight machine exercises the wrong way, so in 2004 I signed up for a few sessions with a personal trainer and put on 15 pounds of muscle in a few months. After that, I got very stressed out with school and quickly could not focus on exercise or eating properly, which made me feel a lot worse. By the time I felt better, I was out of school, needed a job and thus couldn't afford to go to the gym anymore. Once I got a job working nights, I felt I had no time to go to the gym anyways. I limited my exercise to long walks (which I do enjoy taking).

Lately I got a much better job in another city and decided to join the YMCA. I now go every night alternating workouts on the treadmill and on the weight machines. I also watch what I eat, i.e I eat more protein, complex carbs, less sugar. I also feel a lot more comfortable using the weight machines. A trainer told me during my free fitness orientation/plan that I should do 3 sets of every machine she set me up on until failure, 3x a week. So far, I've stuck to that plan. I feel great, but am worried that I might spiral back into another period of "unhealth" soon.

My question is this: Can INTJ's have a "gift" for fitness when they put their minds to it? I guess that's true for every type, but it seems that INTJ's are at a disadvantage in regards to extroverted sensing, which I assume is important for working out. I suppose my lack of "E-sensing" is what made me feel so insecure about my workouts in the past.