The Often Overlooked Key to Progress: Post-Exercise Recovery

In sports and fitness, whether you are on the pitch or just your average gym goer, people can have the goal of looking to progress and perform better. This mindset can lead people to increasing their training frequency and trying to push weights that are beyond their capacity, however as the saying goes, “less is more”. Recovery is just as important as training, as without adequate recovery, the benefits of training are significantly diminished, and athletes risk injury, fatigue, and plateaus. Areas where recovery can be optimised is sleep, diet, and general movement outside of training.

Sleep and Recovery

Sleep is arguably the most powerful and underrated recovery tool. Chronic sleep deprivation is when you’re cutting >1-2 hours each night over a prolonged period. This can have profound effects on both physical and cognitive performance. Studies show that consistent poor sleep can impair decision-making, reduce focus, and elevate perceived exertion during exercise, making training sessions and performance feel harder than it actually is (Charest & Grandner, 2020).

Physically, sleep is when the body repairs tissues, balances hormones, and consolidates motor learning — all of which are vital for muscle recovery and adaptation. Mentally, it helps reduce stress, emotional volatility, and cognitive fatigue, which can directly impact motivation and performance.

Generalised tips on ways to improve sleep can be:

  • Aiming for a consistent bedtime
  • Limiting screen time an hour before sleep
  • Keeping your bedroom cool and dark to avoid caffeine later in the day. 

More specifically for athletes in sport,  if travel and competition timing are affecting sleep, a strategy that can take place are supplementary daytime naps that are less than 60 minutes to achieve sufficient sleep duration. However not to nap immediately prior to competition, as this can likely result in reduced performance due to that groggy and tired feeling that you can get right after waking which is also known as residual sleep inertia (Cook & Charest, 2023).

Diet and Recovery

What you eat — and when — can dramatically influence how well your body reacts to training. Recovery nutrition isn’t just about protein shakes; it’s about fueling your body with the right nutrients to repair tissues, replenish energy stores, and support immune function.

Protein is critical for muscle repair, with 1.6–2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day being a common guideline for active individuals. Carbohydrates are equally important, especially after intense training sessions, as they restore glycogen levels in the muscles which are the primary energy source during physical activity. Including healthy fats, antioxidants, and micronutrients (like magnesium, vitamin D, and zinc) also supports recovery by reducing inflammation and aiding muscle function.

Hydration is another key element — even mild dehydration can impair recovery and muscle performance. Athletes should aim to replace fluids lost during training and maintain consistent hydration throughout the day. A general guideline is aiming for 2-3L per day, and 5-7 litres if your day consists of intense training and during hot weather.

Light Aerobic Activity and Recovery for Strength Athletes

Whilst in strength sports such as weightlifting, powerlifting and strongman etc, the main measurement of performance is lifting the most amount of weight possible, this can sometimes lead to a reduced priority of getting in movement on rest days.

Light aerobic activity such as walking and cycling has been shown to improve post-exercise recovery (Zouhal et al, 2024). Consequentially by improving post-exercise recovery, this can lead to reducing risk of injury. Due to not adding significant fatigue or stress to the body within light aerobic activity, this would not have a negative impact on performance. Further, this light aerobic activity can be achieved through step count/day, ideally aiming for 7,000 to 10,000 steps/day.

Conclusion

Recovery is more than just a rest day, it is ticking the boxes to allow your body to feel primed for when you train or compete next. Prioritising quality sleep, fuelling your body with the right nutrition, and maintaining consistent movement can significantly enhance your training results, reduce injury risk, and keep you healthy to progress over the long term.

References

  • Charest, J., & Grandner, M. A. (2020). Sleep and athletic performance. Sleep Medicine Clinics, 15(1), 41–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsmc.2019.11.005
  • Cook, J. D., & Charest, J. (2023). Sleep and performance in professional athletes. Current Sleep Medicine Reports, 9(1), 56–81. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40675-022-00243-4
  • Zouhal, H., Abderrahman, A. B., Jayavel, A., Hackney, A. C., Laher, I., Saeidi, A., Rhibi, F., & Granacher, U. (2024). Effects of passive or active recovery Regimes applied during Long-Term Interval Training on Physical fitness in healthy trained and untrained individuals: a Systematic review. Sports Medicine – Open, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-024-00673-0

 

Written by: Brendan Micallef