(Warning: The sentiment expressed in the quotation that inspired this column may strike you as extreme. Do not stop reading simply because of that. The advice derived from it is not.)

Would I like you to be healthy? Without question. But there's something else I'd like for you just as much.To be happy.Despite the fact I sometimes sound like a just-smitten schoolgirl when I gush about the benefits of eating right and working out, you shouldn't find that too surprising. I believe being happy and being healthy go hand-in-hand.And so does some guy from history named Hamilton.No, not Alexander Hamilton, the Hamilton whose face you find on $10 bills, who dances about and sings a lot in the hip-hop and rap-influenced Broadway musical that bears his name. But Brutus Hamilton, the 1920 Olympic silver medalist in the decathlon and track and field coach at the University of California at Berkeley from 1932 until 1965 who became legendary by guiding the United States to 14 gold medals during the 1952 Olympics.In a sacred moment of sublime clarity, the second of the two Hamiltons said, "It is one of those strange ironies of this strange life that those who work the hardest, who subject themselves to the strictest discipline, who give up pleasurable things in order to achieve a goal, are the happiest men."Now do you see the need for the warning in italics at the start? I know that many readers have no desire to strive for superlatives, "to work the hardest," "to subject themselves to the strictest discipline." No sweat. In the "strictest" sense, I don't do that either.Take my diet, for example. On many weekdays, I consume six eight-servings of plain fat-free Greek yogurt, yet the man who has influenced me the most advises his clients to consume no dairy products whatsoever because of the natural sugars found in them. Furthermore, I strive to keep my body fat as low as possible to better climb hills on a bicycle, yet I usually consume half of my calories after 5:30 p.m., the time when food more easily gets turned into body fat.And my workouts? In a summer week where I work my "hardest," I ride about 250 miles - yet during a stage race in the summer, a pro could race 700 miles in seven days. Moreover, most of my training weeks include two rides of only an hour where the goal is to pedal easily - extremely easily - to allow my body to recover.So even though I find Hamilton's quotation inspiring - it's the first thing I see every time I turn on my laptop - I think its most practical application occurs when the superlatives are swapped for comparatives.Which reworks Hamilton's quotation this way: It is one of those strange ironies of this strange life that those who work harder, who subject themselves to stricter discipline, who give up pleasurable things in order to achieve a goal, are happier men than they were before.Or, as the title of this column suggests, your body and mind almost always benefit if you do "a bit more."The "always" needs the "almost" because improvements in fitness can't be sustained without proper recovery. But only the obsessive exerciser tends to forget that you need to back off to build up.The more likely scenario is this: You're moderately interested in eating right and exercising regularly, so you begin what the hard core might call a moderate plan. You run twice a week for 20 minutes, lift two more times for 45, give up drinking soda, and only snack on fruits and vegetables after supper.You're pleasantly surprised at how quickly you lose weight, but more importantly, how quickly you feel so much better. It's easier to wake up in the morning. You have more energy during the day and even at night. Throughout the day, you feel more mellow, less impatient.But after three months, those good feelings get replaced by the blahs. Everything seems to be an effort. The watching what you eat and the four-times-a-week workouts just don't seem worth it.You're right. They are no longer worth it.That's because your body - and your mind - have successfully handled them. The task has been accomplished. Guess what you need to do if you want to feel those good feelings again?Up the ante. Go harder. Be stricter. But don't overdo it. You'll be happier. Trust me on this one.Or place your faith in Oliver Wendall Holmes. He said, "The greatest thing in the world is not so much where we are, but the direction in which we are moving."And isn't feeling really good the greatest thing in the world?Contact Kevin Kolodziejski at

kolo@ptd.net