The purpose of this study was to investigate the needs for exercise of adult inpatients and ultimately to provide basic data for planning nursing intervention of patients who need exercise. The tool used for this study was a structured questionnaire which consisted of 42 items. The test items were classified into seven factors. The seven factors of the needs for exercise were need for achievement, need for activity, need for affiliation, need for autonomy, need for catharsis, need for homeostasis, and need for exhibition. Subjects of this study were 127 patients in two general hospitals in Seoul, and one general hospital in Chun Ann City. The needs of exercise were identified and the data were analyzed by gender, age, occupation, education level, monthly income, size of patient room, patient group who requires exercise and the other patient group who requires bed rest, using one-way ANOVA and Scheffe test as post-hoc. The findings of this study were as follows ; 1) Among the needs for exercise of adult patients, the highest level of the needs was the need for homeostasis. The next highest was the need for achievement, then need for activity, need for catharsis, need for autonomy, need for affiliation, and the lowest was the need for exhibition. 2) Maintaining physical fitness stood first in the need for homeostasis, relieving psychological and physical powerlessness in the need for activity, mood diversion in the need for catharsis, happiness of the family in the need for affiliation, maintaining the balanced body figure in the need for exhibition, practicing planned life in the need for achievement, and improving the ability to overcome the crisis in the need for autonomy. 3) Male patients exhibited the higher level of the needs than female patients in all factors except the need for exhibition and homeostasis. 4) There was no statistical difference in the needs between age, occupation, monthly income, and the size of patient room. 5) The need for achievement was high as the level of education goes higher. 6) The patients who performed regular exercise before admission had higher needs for activity, achievement, and autonomy, compared with the patients who did not perform the regular exercise before admission. 7) There was no statistical difference in the needs between patient group who requires exercise and the other patient group who requires bed rest. The need for homeostasis was the highest in both groups. The results from this study suggest that the need for exercise of adult inpatients should be assessed before planning exercise intervention.