The aim of this study was to examine the role of perfectionism, social appearance anxiety and type of physical activity in explaining the symptoms of primary exercise addiction. Exercise addiction involves an exaggeration in the amount and intensity of training that has harmful physical and / or psychological effects on the individual's well-being. If exercise addiction occurs in comorbidity with an eating disorder, then it's called a secondary exercise addiction, and if it occurs without an eating disorder, then it's a primary type of exercise addiction. The results obtained on a sample of 195 recreational and 39 registered athletes showed that 6 % of exercisers belong to the risk group for developing exercise addiction, 80 % of exercisers belong to the group with some symptoms of exercise addiction, while 14 % of exercisers were without symptoms of addiction. The results showed a significant corellation of socially prescribed perfectionism in explaining primary exercise addiction. Contrary to expectations, there was no significant association between social appearance anxiety and primary exercise addiction. Furthermore, a significant contribution of socially prescribed perfectionism on top of gender, age and athletic status was obtained in explaining social appearance anxiety. Regarding the type of physical activity, registered athletes reported more symptoms of primary exercise addiction compared to recreational athletes, but there was no difference in primary exercise addiction symptoms with regard to competitive status and category of sport. Furthermore, women reported higher level of social appearance anxiety than men and recreational athletes reported higher levef of social appearance anxiety than registered athletes. Participants in ball sports showed lower social anxiety than participants in sports focused on aesthetic outcome and endurance sports. Sports psychologists, coaches and clinicians in working with athletes should pay attention to the level and quality of perfectionistic aspirations of athletes and their motivation to exercise in order to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle of athletes.