Why Knowing Your Limits Helps You Achieve More, Not Less

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In this email I want to talk about a lesson learned from a man who swam 500km, how knowing your limits helps you achieve more, and why I tried to run a sub-20 5k for the first time. 

Let’s start with the swimming…

We recently dedicated an entire email to adventurer Ross Edgley, the ultra-endurance athlete who seemingly holds nearly every world record for distance swimming. 

In our research into how Ross is able to push his body to such insane lengths, we realised something pretty interesting. 

Here’s how we put it:

“As a scientist who rigorously measures himself, Ross knows exactly what his limits are—and by treating the laws of physics as one variable and his body as another, he can figure out whether any given challenge should be technically possible.  

While Ross’ mind will likely tell him to quit long before he reaches his true limit, the fact he knows exactly what he should be capable of is often enough to push through his mental barrier and achieve something great—whether or not he hits his goal.  

The combination of mental resilience, physical strength, and scientific understanding of his body is what makes Ross dangerous.”

In simpler terms:

1. Ross is super scientific when it comes to his training. 

2. As a result, he knows exactly what his theoretical ‘limits’ are. 

3. Most of the time, our bodies will tell us we’ve hit our limit long before we actually have (this is David Goggins’ infamous 40% rule—when our mind says we’re done, we’ve only reached about 40% of our true capacity.) 

4. If Ross knows his ‘true’ limits, he can ignore these early urges to quit and endure for far longer

It’s a fascinating way to approach any kind of challenge—and I was inspired by Ross to try it for myself. 

So I tried to follow Ross’ example and take a scientific approach to figuring out my limits. 

One of my goals for a long time has been to run a ‘sub 20’ 5k. This is the psychological tipping point where runners cross over from amateur to intermediate—fast enough to be competitive at local races, and probably in the top 2-5% of recreational runners in terms of speed. 

By analyzing my recent marathon time and using a combination of AI and general research, I figured out that scientifically, my body should have the speed and endurance needed to run a sub-20 5k. 

So I went to a local track and decided to give it a try. 

My hypothesis at the time was simple:

I’m probably going to get going and immediately think “I can’t do this.” But if I just ignore that voice in my head and focus on the fact that, scientifically, there’s no reason I can’t do it…I might just do it. 

In other words, I wanted to put Ross’ philosophy to the test. 

The results were pretty interesting. 

You can watch a fun video we put together of the entire thing at the link below:

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Your friends,

Benji and Jacob