Increasing your fitness stat is the way to dominate the game.

Most people just don’t know about the fitness game mechanic.

And 80% of those who do, are too lazy to do anything about it (they are usually the ones begging for cheat codes).

Since you’re here to learn how to leverage the mechanics, let’s go over 3 reasons why fitness should be a key component of our character build.

 Fitness moves emotion from a de-buff to a power-up

Emotion is a fucking rollercoaster, to be honest.

At least in my own journey, it’s a total ass kicker.

Emotions are like the weather.

They are going to happen.

We can’t avoid a rain storm, even in the desert.

They may be few, but they will still come, and violently so.

We can’t avoid anger and depression, even as isolated monks on a solitary mountain side.

They may be less, but they will still come, and violently so.

Assuming we aren’t dealing with extreme cases (desert, isolated monk), we can be sure that there will be a steady flow of both positive and negative emotions in our lives.

There will be steady sunshine.

And steady rainstorms.

We can’t effectively deal with these things through avoidance.

It’s going to rain, emotions are going to come.

So instead, we prepare for them because we know they are going to come.

Rain and sunshine are built-in mechanics of the game.

Positive and negative emotions are built-in mechanics of the game.

To prepare for rain, we do simple yet highly practical things;

•  We put roofs over our heads (this has other benefits, like keeping out intruders and bird shit).
•  We build gutters and drainage systems to prevent the rain from damaging our homes and towns.
•  We install lightning rods to protect us from literal Zeus wrecking our shit.

Fitness allows me to prepare for the inevitable flow of emotion in much the same way that we prepare for rainstorms;

•  It allows me to put a ‘roof’ over my head, protecting me from onslaughts of negative emotion by filling my body and brain with feel-good chemicals called endorphins.
•  It acts as a ‘gutter system’ that allows me to expel negative emotions like rage and anger without the consequence of hurting myself or others.
•  It acts as a ‘lightning rod’; by increasing the release of neurotropic proteins exercise causes my nerve cells to grow, thus literally improving my body’s electrical system.

I didn’t make any of this up.

These are game mechanics I learned by minoring in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League institution.

Still, don’t take my word for it.

You can read here about what Harvard Medical School (another Ivy League institution) has to say about how exercise is a game mechanic we must leverage if we want to transmute the emotion de-buff into a power-up.

“Research shows that exercise is also an effective treatment. 'For some people it works as well as antidepressants, although exercise alone isn't enough for someone with severe depression,' says Dr. Michael Craig Miller, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School... High-intensity exercise releases the body's feel-good chemicals called endorphins, resulting in the 'runner's high' that joggers report. But for most of us, the real value is in low-intensity exercise sustained over time. That kind of activity spurs the release of proteins called neurotrophic or growth factors, which cause nerve cells to grow and make new connections.”

+5 special attack (natural testosterone increase)

Fitness increases my testosterone and there’s 2 scientific reasons why.

First, exercise keeps my body fat low.

Fat has an enzyme that turns testosterone (male sex hormone) into estriol (female sex hormone).

Because of that, men who are overweight have low levels of testosterone by default.

But losing weight (fat loss through diet and exercise) can fix this.

Second, the type of exercise I do gives me a boost in testosterone.

I do many types of workouts, but the most frequent kind is high intensity interval training (HIIT)

HIIT is kind of like taking a sports car and slamming on the gas to go as fast as possible; doing this burns more fuel than if you went the same distance at a steady pace.

Same as the car, HIIT takes your body to the max output for a short amount of time forcing you to burn way more energy than if you were doing something like a light jog.

A no effort boost to my charisma stat

Look good, feel good.

It’d be great if we were all enlightened enough to not judge each other by our looks.

But, personally, I don’t think that’s happening any time soon.

Appearance is not the only thing that matters. 

True.

Character is, arguably, way more important.

And it’s also true that we shouldn’t judge a book only by its cover.

But, we do it anyways.

Because we’ve evolved to make accurate snap judgments with quick glances.

The survival of the human race is built on this ability.

Humans have some of the most highly developed ocular systems of any organism on the planet.

This is because our ‘eyes’ are actually just an extension of our brain; it’s literally an exposed nerve bundle that begins the process of interpreting data from inputs of light.

We then, over millions of years, genetically developed our ability to focus in on small details to make quick and accurate assessments about an overall situation (side note 1, see footnotes)

So, while it’s true that you “shouldn’t trust everything you see”, it’s also a good idea to keep in mind that your physiological ancestors put everything they had into evolving your ability to see.

This is vitally important to understand because it explains why we default to judging things at face value with quick glances.

We are good at it; even dumb people.

If someone looks like a fat slob, that’s probably an accurate representation of their character.

If they are always scowling with anger, that ‘cover’ says a lot about the ‘book’.

Yet…

If a person looks clean and fit, this more than likely indicates self discipline and self confidence.

If a person can routinely smile even in less-than-congenial circumstances, this may indicate strong character and traits of persistence and resilience.

All this being said (and understood), being generally fit and healthy is an easy way to definitely boost your charisma. 

People will be attracted to you (platonically and sexually) by default.

You will be a book with an interesting cover, and everyone will want to take a look inside just to see what’s going on.

Guarding yourself from this onslaught of attention is a topic for another day (boundaries and self respect are important as fuck).

The key take away here is that being fit and healthy will boost your charisma (and thus, your confidence) because you will unconsciously internalize that 80% of people just don’t have as interesting of a ‘cover’ as you do.

You don’t have to be arrogant about it.

But you are 100% allowed to be confidently aware of it.

I hope this gets your mind moving.

Remember, these are the game mechanics.

We could waste time trying to look for cheat codes, but those would lock away our ability to progress in story mode (if we could actually find any).

And we could get mad at the game design… but, to be honest, I don’t think the coders really care.

As they say, it is what it is.

Blessings,

Todd

PS. Yes, we still use lightning rods, I was ‘shocked’ to discover that too 👁️ 😉

Footnotes ~

Side note 1: This is why focus, in general, is such a superpower; this level 1 snap judgement technique can be taken to level 2 where, with enough time spent focusing attention, great secrets can be uncovered… secrets that most others are blind to. Most great humans achieve said greatness through this ‘flow state’ mechanism (Kobe Bryant, Thomas Edison, David Goggins, etc.).