Exercise addiction, obsessive passion, and the use of nutritional supplements in fitness center attendees

Exercise addiction is characterized by excessive and obsessive exercise patterns. New research indicates that the risk of exercise addiction is largely predicted by passion, but most evidence comes from studies employing relatively low sample sizes. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between addiction, passion, and the use of nutritional supplements, and differences between competing versus non‐competing exercisers and exercise in solitude versus with others. We conducted an online survey with 1255 fitness attendees with a mean age of 31.7 years and an average of 7.5 weekly exercise hours. The prevalence of high risk of exercise addiction was 7.7%. Results indicated that obsessive passion was a strong predictor of addiction, accounting for 48% of the variance. The addiction group used the most performance‐enhancing nutritional supplements (eg, caffeine and proteins). Those who exercised alone reported higher addiction scores and obsessive passion compared to those who exercised with others. Similar results emerged for competing exercisers compared to non‐competing exercisers. This study confirms the strong relationship between exercise addiction and obsessive passion and suggests that those at high risk of addiction consume more nutritional supplements than other exercisers, exercise more for competition, and are more often “lonely wolfs.”