How did Goku get stronger in the Other World?

[GSM123]

I mean, he told Gohan they were at their utmost limits:

And his Daizenshuu 2 bio supports this, refering to his CG counterpart as a "Full Power Super Saiyan" and saying he has drawn the SSJ power to its limits.

However, it's pretty obvious Goku has gotten stronger since he surpassed Gohan. How?

 

[Future Warrior]

Goku lied to Gohan.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Limits have always been shown to be broken pretty easily. Kuririn believed that the Ginyu Tokusentai (minus Gurd) were beings he could never rival, yet surpassed them all just a few hours later. Vegeta believed himself to have reached his limit after receiving a Zenkai from Dende's healing, yet that clearly wasn't the case. Goku's nonchalant and bored attitude to Elder Kaioshin saying he can bring someone far beyond their natural limit shows how little meaning the word holds in the series beyond being a temporary wall, with Elder Kaioshin's ritual being the only possible exception in the manga (prior to Super, anyway).

It's more accurate to think of "limits" as just a wall that's formed in terms of how far a certain regime can take someone and the only alternative is to switch up the routine. It seems somewhat fitting in Toriyama's love for Kung-Fu films as it fits well with a philosophy Bruce Lee had - "There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."

 

[Ultimate Cell]

In other world he was dead, he pretty much loss all the restraints he had when he was alive. This allowed him to get stronger.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Special training allowed him to surpass his limits.

 

[GSM123]

Limits have always been shown to be broken pretty easily. Kuririn believed that the Ginyu Tokusentai (minus Gurd) were beings he could never rival, yet surpassed them all just a few hours later. Vegeta believed himself to have reached his limit after receiving a Zenkai from Dende's healing, yet that clearly wasn't the case. Goku's nonchalant and bored attitude to Elder Kaioshin saying he can bring someone far beyond their natural limit shows how little meaning the word holds in the series beyond being a temporary wall, with Elder Kaioshin's ritual being the only possible exception in the manga (prior to Super, anyway).

It's more accurate to think of "limits" as just a wall that's formed in terms of how far a certain regime can take someone and the only alternative is to switch up the routine. It seems somewhat fitting in Toriyama's love for Kung-Fu films as it fits well with a philosophy Bruce Lee had - "There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."

Wouldn't the fact that Goku unlocked SSJ2 and 3 imply he definitely hit a wall though? I mean, he wouldn't need the transformations if he could get so strong.

In other world he was dead, he pretty much loss all the restraints he had when he was alive. This allowed him to get stronger.

He didn't lost all of his limitations, he still got tired as shit after fighting Boo for example, but i can see your point. He's not limitless, but his dead body is a notch better than if he were alive, right?

Special training allowed him to surpass his limits.

What kind of training? He spend most of his time with Kaio, who already teached him everything he knows on the Saiyan Arc. There's nothing special for Goku to do, only basic stuff like lifting weights and image training.
What kind of training?

 

[Ultimate Cell]

Limits have always been shown to be broken pretty easily. Kuririn believed that the Ginyu Tokusentai (minus Gurd) were beings he could never rival, yet surpassed them all just a few hours later. Vegeta believed himself to have reached his limit after receiving a Zenkai from Dende's healing, yet that clearly wasn't the case. Goku's nonchalant and bored attitude to Elder Kaioshin saying he can bring someone far beyond their natural limit shows how little meaning the word holds in the series beyond being a temporary wall, with Elder Kaioshin's ritual being the only possible exception in the manga (prior to Super, anyway).

It's more accurate to think of "limits" as just a wall that's formed in terms of how far a certain regime can take someone and the only alternative is to switch up the routine. It seems somewhat fitting in Toriyama's love for Kung-Fu films as it fits well with a philosophy Bruce Lee had - "There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."

Wouldn't the fact that Goku unlocked SSJ2 and 3 imply he definitely hit a wall though? I mean, he wouldn't need the transformations if he could get so strong.

In other world he was dead, he pretty much loss all the restraints he had when he was alive. This allowed him to get stronger.

He didn't lost all of his limitations, he still got tired as shit after fighting Boo for example, but i can see your point. He's not limitless, but his dead body is a notch better than if he were alive, right?

Special training allowed him to surpass his limits.

What kind of training? He spend most of his time with Kaio, who already teached him everything he knows on the Saiyan Arc. There's nothing special for Goku to do, only basic stuff like lifting weights and image training.
What kind of training?

All I said that the restriants of a living body was removed from him when he died. I didnt say he was limitless.

 

[GSM123]

Well if there are no restrictions there are no limits

Goku lied to Gohan.

That's not a surprise given how he also lied to Vegeta about being unable to beat Super Boo... Right?

 

[Future Warrior]

In the grand scheme Goku's gains weren't all that impressive if it took a whole 7 years just to surpass Gohan as a SSJ1, him attaining SSJ2 and 3 was treated as the real deal tho. If we consider that, then technically what Goku had told Gohan wouldn't be that far off from the truth.

 

[Ultimate Cell]

The whole limits shit is pretty much Garbage since :toei and will make the characters as strong as they need them to for the plot without giving a shit about powerscaling.

 

[GSM123]

I think we could trust them there though. I mean that was supposed to be the end of the series, it makes sense for them to be reaching their limits there. But then we have the final chapter with Base Goku matching his SSJ3 self, so doesn't care

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Limit in DB is nothing but an excuse to stop gaining power for sometime then before you know it, they surpass their limit through transformations and other new training. Basically that's just excuse.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

What kind of training? He spend most of his time with Kaio, who already teached him everything he knows on the Saiyan Arc. There's nothing special for Goku to do, only basic stuff like lifting weights and image training.
What kind of training?

Goku: “Un-unbelievable…I thought I trained considerably in the afterlife…But we’re completely even…You trained more than me…”
Vegeta: “…No, that’s not it…I think I did perform more special training than you, but you’re a greater genius than I am…

"Special training" could simply refer to someone training much harder than usual. Vegeta only had access to the gravity room, but he apparently thought he completed more special training than Goku did. Goku had access to weights, the expertise of martial arts masters throughout history (Goku said he was going to have an opportunity to meet them), and a body that would allow him to push himself far more on a daily basis. And that's all we know of. He could've had access to even better tools for training that we're not aware of.

 

[The_Authority]

In the short amount of time that was left, there really was no reason to keep training at that point and in that moment, they have hit their limit. It's kind of like when you're studying for an exam. The exam is the next day at 7 a.m., so you spend the entire day before studying. Once 8 p.m. hits, your brain turns to mush and nothing you look at helps you at all. That's it, you've hit the limit. There would be no point to keep going because you won't gain anything in those few hours that you didn't already know. I look at it in the same way here. They have exhausted themselves and could not receive any more gains even if they wanted to, so doing anything at that point was counterproductive. Sometimes to be the most effective, you just need some rest.

 

[Evil Vegeta]

Goku did intend to train on the outside in-between resting, but the stuff with Dende made him change his mind.

Overall, I feel like Goku and Gohan really were as strong as they could get and more time in the room would've just been unnecessary.

 

[Warmmedown]

Current limit only. When they make one additional skin cell their limit increases again.

 

[Flame]

I take that statement, as well as what daizenshuu says, as merely the Super Saiyan transformation. This is all before Super Saiyan 2 is even achieved.