TL;DR
What this skill does
Fitness-domain skill. The Physique stat scales with this. Pre-requisite for the Fitness career and the gating skill for the 'Run a 10K' goal chain.
Who it's for
Who should level Exercise first
- Routine-driven Paras — daily workouts stack steady mood and need bonuses.
- Fitness career hopefuls who need Application Points early.
- You want to offset a desk-heavy build like programming with an energy routine.
Practice loop
How to level Exercise
Queue 'Treadmill', 'Lift Weights', or 'Yoga Mat'. Outdoor jogs work too but weather mood swings can cap gain. The trick most players miss: Hunger need below 50% cuts XP by 30%, but practising while Energy is high (above 80%) adds a hidden +20%. Take a nap right before a long workout block. From level 10, group classes at the Mountain Gym lot give a +50% XP boost. The Sun-pack 'Peak condition' card stacks on top of all of this.
Milestones
What you unlock at every tier
Skills cap at level 20. Highlights below mirror the Skin-system progression players reported during the first EA week. Treat them as expected rewards, not hard guarantees — patch 0.1.x may rebalance.
- Levels 1-4
Walk-pace cardio. Treadmill at 4 mph max.
- Level 5
Unlock 'Lift Heavy'. Visible Physique stat changes start appearing.
- Level 10
Unlock 'Group Class'. Fitness career promotion check. Self-confidence Mood +1 permanent.
- Level 15
'Personal Trainer' interaction — coach other Paras for §80/hour and earn XP from teaching.
- Level 20
'Athlete' capstone. Unlocks the Fitness career capstone and the 'Run a Marathon' Story Card.
Career path
Where this skill pays off
Paralives EA shipped 11 career domains. The ones below pull directly from this skill — salary tiers, promotion checks, and Occupation Perks scale with it.
Foundation of the Fitness career. Required at level 5 to enter the career at all. Pairs with Biology at level 8 for the 'Sports Medicine' branch.
Cheat path
Skip the grind with a console command
Open the console with Ctrl+F1 (or Cmd+F1 on Mac). Add one level with LEVELUPSKILL Exercise, or pin a target with SETSKILLLEVEL Exercise 10. Early Access ships no Steam achievements, so there is nothing to forfeit.
LEVELUPSKILL Exercise— adds one level instantly.SETSKILLLEVEL Exercise 5— sets to level 5.SETSKILLLEVEL Exercise 20— max out the skill.
Need the full command list? Open the cheats index for all 100+ Paralives cheats, categorised.
Common mistakes
Three pitfalls that stall this skill
Working out hungry
Below 50% Hunger, XP drops 30%. Eat before, not after.
Ignoring weather mood
Outdoor cardio in rain costs +1 Comfort need every 10 min, capping XP. Indoor treadmill in winter.
Skipping group class past level 10
Group class is 50% more XP-efficient than solo. Drag a friend along after level 10.
Related skills
Adjacent skills to climb next
Skills in the same domain (or careers that double-dip) level faster together. Players reported domain-adjacent XP carrying about 1.2× into related skills.
Keep exploring
Continue the field guide
Wider reading from the rest of the Paralives field guide.
Twelve skills, seven domains, the lifestage learning matrix and the Sims 4 crossover table — back to base camp.
100+ achievement-safe console commands. Money, skills, needs, build mode — categorised and searchable.
Pick the career that turns this skill into rent. Each domain pairs with a real Melino workplace.