Fitness from 0 to 5 - How long?

[Triangular Brick]

How long does it take to reach 5 fitness if you start with lvl 0 without any trait / occupation boost if you prioritize this over strength?

I usually train once every night before going to sleep until I reach the max exhaustion level.
I heard eating enough proteins to exercise gives a small xp bonus.


Additional Questions

1) Which exercise is the best to level up fitness fast?
2) I didn't find the tables of required xp required per level on the wiki. Where is it?
3) Is there any other technique than exercising to gain fitness?

I now take the weak trait all the time since it's doable to reach level 5.
I'm ready to do it for fitness as well if the grind can be done in 3 weeks or less. After all pressing F5 in solo is ok to me once you know how to handle the zombies strategically.
A pain in the beginning, but worth it after a while!

[midgetpounder1999]

i'm just going to answer number 3, since that's the only one i can answer.

the technique i use is to get somewhere safe, like a cabin in the woods. then get my character to ridiculously tired so he can't regain stamina, then use up all my stamina.
once you're really exhausted, you will start to passively gain XP just from standing still as your character tries to catch their breath. though, they can't catch their breath because the ridiculously tired moodle prevents stamina regen.
at that point, you can just fast forward for a couple days while taking quick breaks to feed your character.

[Ryukan]

There is no trait or occupation that makes it quicker, it takes about 2 weeks if all you do is exercise, sit in ground while resting, repeat till maximum tiredness and counter the pain. Protein intake only helps with str gain, not fitness.

1) I would say situps are the best at long term to do daily, they wont cause enough pain or cripple your character due to fatigue. Squats are better if you have painkillers or alchohol to counter the pain and all you are doing the whole day is exercising.

2) 1- 1500, 2- 3000, 3- 6000, 4- 9000 , 5- 18000 , 6- 30000 , 7-60000, 8- 90000,
9- 120000 , 10- 150000.

3) Not really, the other ways to gain stamina are way too inefficient both time and calories wise. As reference, i have a character that never exercised in the 1 year she survived, she got like only 4k exp in fitness while doing a lot of running and weapon swinging.

[Triangular Brick]

It's funny there is no bonus for these 2 when I think about it lol! Fast / Slow metabolism is a thing IRL.

Since you can find some painkillers on the zombies (renewable resources are important for me) and I don't get injured at all (I take traits making it more fatal, no room for error here) that seems good to me in SP! F5 is the messiah my character was "waiting" for!


1) I think when I'll want to level up all of that I'll raid the pharmacy for Painkillers / Sleep pills / Vitamins. Then I'll spam squats until I have none left and I'll swap to situps.

2) Thanks, that will help calculate the time it takes more accurately when I'll start to do that!

3) So with your answers, it seems the passive xp gain with max exhausted + tired is less relevant than the regular exercise.


Good to know: I used to play with Fitness instructor and you get a lot of regularity at the start of the game for different types of exercise. (all of them maybe but I don't remember)

0 Strength. 0 Fitness...
My new character gains a lot of trait points. Free? Certainly not. Worth it? For me it seems it is if it really takes 2 weeks by just spamming it!

Thanks for your answers guys!

[Ryukan]

Yeah, regularity at the start worth pretty much nothing, you can get that in less than a week and it only decrease the pain and endurance cost of the exercise. You either go 0 and 0 or 9 and 9, the only true downside of 0/0 is not being able to start with 9/9 and get the lvl9 special buffs. Its pretty easy to get lvl5, but Its nearly impossible to get lvl9 in str/fit with training alone. I used to always go 0/0, but nowadays i go 9/9 since i get bored at 1 or 2 years alive and start a new play. One good tip i can give you to survive is to use spears, they have a base 30% chance to instakill without debuffs, they are the underdog character best weapon and i assume you are getting ''handy'' trait since you have so much free points. Try to get as many +1 in all skills, having the first lvl of an skill at the start gives you 4x exp for it for the rest of the game, with the exception of str/fit of course. If you are wondering what the lvl9 fit/str buffs are, once you reach lvl 9 in str you get a big dmg bonus and lvl9 in fitness you get a big endurance bonus, having lvl6,7,8,10 worth pretty much nothing.

[Triangular Brick]

I'm used to have a minimalistic approach in many aspects and I learned it the hard way with the weak trait so I'm ok with the fact my inventory is very small since I use a vehicle anyways.

Not being able to go beyond lvl 5 is not an issue for me either since having a very "bad" character makes it more challenging and I learned to play differently.
I avoid fights as much as possible and just get the job I have in mind done.
I'll make some people triggered probably but for me: Fight = Waste of time. (Fighting is fun though! :P )
So indeed the spear is a good choice just like the handy trait (this one is in my essentials) for that kind of gameplay!

I'll play security guard (2 points, quite cheap!) so I'll have a toooon of points to spend yes
haha! (77 in my case!)

Only my brain with some luck to help a bit can save this character now. Let's go!

[Ryukan]

I get that, the feeeling of getting huge progress for your effort is aewsome, skills have diminishing returns. Did you know you that u get nearly double dmg once you get from lvl0 str to lvl2? Thats why lvl2 str is a priority. After that you get like 5%+ per level till lvl 9. Also if you are getting the ''stealth'' traits, stabby weapons can instakill from backstabs while stealth, even an pencil can do that 100% of the time, pretty usefull with weak characters. Good luck with your char, may you live a long life.

[Triangular Brick]

Yes the progression reward feels really good and is more engaging to stay alive for longer since it requires commitment and perseverance!

I didn't know for strength lvl 2 but that was one of my first objectives for my weak characters since it's quite easy to get it fast.

I'm used to play with blunt weapons because I do not damage the clothes on the zombies but I'll see if I'll try backstabbing. The only times I tried it I failed and didn't want to try again! But since it's a lightweight option I might consider it.
The weapon choice depends on how I foresee my future.
And thanks! He'll eventually get some hairs and a beard to trim!


Lil' bald, no beard and naked guy is having a good start and killed some zeds! Exhausted at the end of the day even though he killed 14 zombies. (I had to + I found a TIS shirt!)
So choosing your fights wisely and sneaking is mandatory! Just chose my first place to stay in before moving on after exercising and sleeping.
After this first day to me it seems just doable with this traits build if you are very cautious, especially with your exhaustion.

[Brother Frederick]

Answer is 42.

[Innuendobot 5000]

Originally posted by Varagyr Frederick:

Answer is 42.

And thanks for all of the fish!