Gym and Fitness in GTA 6: Will We Get Swole Again?

Remember Getting Ripped in San Andreas?

One of the most beloved features in GTA San Andreas was the gym. You could work out, build muscle, change CJ’s body type from skinny to absolutely jacked. It was simple — mash buttons on a bench press, run on a treadmill, box against an opponent — but it gave you tangible results. Your character looked different. NPCs reacted differently. It felt like your choices mattered.

Then GTA V happened and all of that was gone. Michael, Trevor, and Franklin looked the same from start to finish. No gym. No body changes. No physical progression.

Miami Is a Gym

Look, I need to state the obvious: Miami is one of the most fitness-obsessed cities in America. Outdoor gyms on the beach. CrossFit boxes on every block. Yoga studios, boxing gyms, cycling classes, MMA training centers. The fitness culture is inescapable.

Setting GTA 6 in Vice City without gyms would be like setting it there without nightclubs. The culture demands it.

What I Think We’ll Get

My realistic expectation: gyms exist as locations you can visit, with basic minigames (weight lifting, cardio, maybe boxing). They might provide temporary stat boosts rather than permanent body changes — your character gets a strength or stamina buff for a few in-game hours after working out.

The dream version: a full fitness system where consistent gym visits change your character’s physique over time, similar to San Andreas but with modern-era character modeling. Work out regularly and your arms get bigger, your posture changes, your walk animation shifts slightly. Skip the gym for weeks and you soften up.

…which, okay, maybe I’m overthinking this. Character model changes based on gameplay behavior are technically expensive. Every outfit needs to work with every body type. Every animation needs to account for different muscle mass. It’s a development nightmare.

But Rockstar had a decade. And they did it in 2004 with San Andreas. With 2025 technology and 2025 budgets, there’s no reason they can’t do a better version.

Outdoor Fitness

Here’s what I really want: outdoor fitness options. Beach pull-up bars. Running paths. Outdoor yoga. Basketball courts where you can actually play pickup games. These wouldn’t need interior environments — they’d be integrated into the open world, available when you stumble across them during exploration.

GTA V had tennis, golf, yoga, and triathlons. Some of them were genuinely fun (tennis was great, fight me). GTA 6 should build on that foundation and add activities that fit the Vice City lifestyle. Beach volleyball. Surfing. Paddleboarding. Outdoor boxing.

The key is making these activities feel like a natural part of the world rather than gamey minigames. When I jog on the beach in GTA 6, I want to see NPCs doing the same thing. When I use the outdoor pull-up bars, there should already be someone there. The world should feel like it exercises whether I’m watching or not.

Boxing or MMA Gyms

Miami has a strong combat sports culture. Boxing gyms in Little Havana. MMA training centers throughout the city. If GTA 6 includes any kind of hand-to-hand combat system, tying it to gym training would make sense. Train at a boxing gym and your melee combat improves. Learn grappling and you get new takedown options.

San Andreas had boxing and martial arts training at different gyms. Each taught a different fighting style that changed CJ’s combat animations. Imagine that but with modern motion-captured fighting styles and an actual progression system. Start as a brawler, train your way to a technical striker.

I’m setting myself up for disappointment here. Probably.

The Vanity Angle

Even if gym mechanics are purely cosmetic — no stat changes, no combat improvements, just aesthetic body modification — that could still work. Player character customization is huge in modern games. People want to look a specific way. If going to the gym is part of the character’s look that you curate alongside clothing, tattoos, and hairstyles, that’s a complete appearance management system.

And in a game with selfie-taking NPCs and social media integration, looking good might actually matter. Not mechanically — but in the way that players engage with the game’s social systems. Your character’s appearance becomes your avatar in Vice City’s world.

Rockstar, please. Give me the gym. Let me deadlift in Vice City.