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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

The three main staples for the growth and longevity of plant life are sunlight, water, and soil.
While their genetic disposition determines the rate, size, and characteristics of their development, these
three elements are essential for them to not only exist but flourish and maximize their potential.

If you were to buy a plant, the type that produces fruit, vegetables, or an herb of some kind,
and it failed to grow at the rate or to the size you expected it to, what would you do? You might decide
to adjust the amount of sunlight you were exposing it to, the amount of water you give it, and even
the type of soil you have rooted it in. However, the one thing you likely would not do is eliminate one
of those essential elements. Yet, some of us have that very mindset when it comes to our own fitness
and health.

There three main staples necessary for us to become fit and maximize our potential to become
the healthiest version ourselves are exercise, a healthy diet, and rest. If you had a vision, or currently
possess one of when and where you'd like to be with your weight and level of fitness, and that vision
was never realized or has yet to be, would you ever think to eliminate one of those staples out of your
life? Of course not! However, some of us do. Why?

Sometimes it might be due to misinformation, but often it is fueled by frustration. After all
the hours, days, weeks, and perhaps months of work we put in the gym, eating things because they
are suitable for us and not because they taste good, to not yield the type of results necessary for our
vision to be realized engenders feelings of disappointment, despair, anger, and frustration. Such
emotions often drive us to remove one or all three of these staples, embracing the false notion that
we are just not meant to be fit and healthy.

However, the combination of rest, a healthy diet, and exercise is as essential to our health and
wellbeing as water, soil, and sunlight are to plant life. Thus, we should never seek to eliminate any of
these but instead, adjust how we go about incorporating them into our lives. In other words, a change
in approach might be all that is needed for that vision we have of ourselves to come to fruition.

Two of the three staples--rest and a healthy diet--are self-explanatory. Most of us know what
healthy eating looks like and understand the value of rest. However, when I talk about exercising, I
am not just speaking about physical activities like weightlifting, plyometrics, calisthenics, etc., I am
also referring to that which involves the mind and the spirit.

Mental agility and fitness are just as important as physical fitness. When speaking on exercising
the spirit, I’m referring to the Greek word diathesis, which means attitude or emotional disposition.
Therefore, exercising the spirit would yield optimal emotional regulation, a characteristic of emotional

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