The 18 FitSpan Laws

Non-negotiable principles for staying in play for decades.

Michael Donovan, PhD

1/12/20261 min read

A gym equipment laying on the ground on a sidewalk
A gym equipment laying on the ground on a sidewalk

1. The Law of Biological Truth

Your body is not a suggestion box. It votes with real consequences.

2. The Law of Energy Before Ego

If ego runs the show, energy tanks. If energy leads, everything rises.

3. The Law of Repeatability

If you can’t repeat it next week, it wasn’t real performance.

4. The Law of the Floor

Raise your floor and the ceiling rises automatically.

5. The Law of Nervous System First

Strength, endurance, mood, resilience — all downstream of your CNS. Guard it like a password.

6. The Law of Play

If your life stops being fun, your physiology goes on strike.

7. The Law of Compounding Inputs

Small deposits daily beat heroic withdrawals monthly.

8. The Law of the Governor

When your system is redlined, discipline won’t save you — downregulation will.

9. The Law of Load & Longitude

Train for a body that can do things at 70, not just win things at 40.

10. The Law of The 4% Edge

Push just beyond current capacity — not into fantasy land, not into fear land.

11. The Law of Rhythms

Your biology keeps score in cycles, not checklists.

12. The Law of Precision > Volume

More is rarely better; better is always better.

13. The Law of Measurement

If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. If you can’t interpret it, the measurement is noise.

14. The Law of Recovery Investment

Recovery is not soft. It’s strategy.

15. The Law of Identity Upgrade

Performance follows identity. Become the type of man who trains → the training becomes inevitable.

16. The Law of Adventure Load

Adventure demands capacity. Capacity demands training. Train for your life, not your gym.

17. The Law of Alignment

When your training matches your life season, everything feels easier.

18. The Law of Long Games

You are not building a body for summer. You’re building one for 30 more summers.