Alex Hutchinson: I think the big question that underlies the whole pursuit of limits is when I push to what feels like my limit is that everything that my body has to give?
And there is an idea that’s called the central governor these days thanks to a scientist named Tim Noakes who proposed this idea in the 1990s, somehow we’re hardwired not to be able to push all the way to the point where we sort of keel over on the savannah while chasing the antelope and die, some sort of circuitry that prevents us from pushing all the way to our physical limits.
Now this idea wasn’t just invented in 1996 when Tim Noakes started talking about it. People have speculated about it for decades and probably for centuries. But it’s only in the last couple of decades that people have started to try a little more systematically to measure this idea of: can we squeeze every bit out of the lemon or is there some sort of limit that prevents us from getting there?
Peter Frick-Wright: Certain things never get old. Pushing the limits of the human body… is kinda one of them. So, over the next few weeks, with the help of Outside columnist Alex Hutchinson who you just heard from, we’re revisiting some of our favorite stories from the last few years. Don’t worry, we’ll have new stuff soon,…
