I started my coaching career 18 years ago as a personal trainer.
Somewhere along the way, through practice and learning from other coaches, I picked up one habit that never left me:
asking clients for just one more rep, when they were convinced they were done.
And here’s what I learned very quickly.
Every client, every single one, no exception, always had at least one more rep in them.
“When you think you're done, you're only 40% into what your body's capable of doing. That's just the limits that we put on ourselves.”
— David Goggins, the baddest ass Navy SEAL out there.
And there's good research on that.
There’s a framework in exercise science called the Central Governor Model (CGM), proposed by exercise scientist Tim Noakes.
In simple terms, CGM is about:
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Safety mechanism: Your brain acts as a governor. Its job is to keep you alive, not to help you reach your potential.
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Neurological fatigue: Fatigue isn’t just muscle failure. It’s a sensation created by the brain to slow you down.
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Predictive regulation: The brain pulls the emergency brake long before your body is actually at risk.
So when your brain says, “I’m done”, that’s not the truth. Your brain is lying to you to keep you safe. (It wouldn't be the only time)
That’s just a prediction. A conservative one. Just to be safe.
And once you see that, you start seeing it everywhere, applicable to your whole life. Not just weights.
I use this exact same rule when I don’t want to work on a project, a report, a client file, or a piece of writing.
I hear the familiar voice: Enough. Not today. I'm done.
And I answer it the same way I did in the gym for my clients:
“Just one more rep, Angela.”
One more page.
One more hour.
One more day of showing up.
What I’ve learned, and what my clients learned too:
Once you do just one more, you discover there’s A LOT more in the tank.
It’s like stretching.
Flexibility isn’t missing from most bodies, permission of your "central governor" is.
The brain just hasn’t been shown that it’s safe to go further.
Once you pass the perceived finish line, the landscape changes.
A new horizon appears.
Possibilities you literally couldn’t see before come into view.
And then something magical happens.
You realize:
If I could do that one, maybe, just maybe, I can keep going further than my mind’s eye can currently see.
So over to you, dear reader,
Where could you overrule your central governor by committing to just one more rep?
PS They say as you climb, things don’t get easier - you get stronger.
I believe it’s simpler than that. You’re just updating what your governor thinks you can handle, using real-life proof.
