If you watch elite sport, it may be easy to imagine that top athletes have perfected every detail: training, nutrition, sleep, recovery. Yet even elite athletes with expert support can struggle to maintain good recovery habits, like stretching or foam rolling.
Our study explored that gap between knowing and doing. We spoke to national and world class athletes and coaches across sports including swimming, triathlon and weightlifting. The lessons we learned could be applied to anyone participating in sport.
Athletes and coaches were clear that recovery matters. But day-to-day, recovery was inconsistent, easily neglected and often only prioritised after something went wrong. Both cohorts approached recovery differently too. Coaches saw recovery as part of the training cycle, helping athletes sustain high-quality sessions and improve over time.
Athletes, in contrast, usually talked about recovery in more immediate, practical terms: it was a way to stop feeling so sore, to keep training without pain and to avoid getting injured again. The goal was to get through the week without their body breaking down. That difference shaped how much effort athletes put into demanding recovery routines.
When we asked where recovery actually happened, the answer was clear: context mattered more than willpower. Physical recovery strategies, such as stretching and foam rolling, mostly took place at the training venue. They worked best when they were built into the end of a session, with teammates doing the same thing.
At home, it was a different story. Many athletes described home as a place to switch off from sport. After travelling, working or studying, recovery slid down the priority list. If recovery depended on motivation later in the day, it usually didn't happen at all.
Psychological recovery showed almost the opposite pattern. Activities like going for a walk, journalling, or spending time with friends were rarely part of formal training plans. But athletes described them as vital for "getting away from it" and mentally resetting. These strategies were easier to do away from sport, with friends and family who did not see them purely as an athlete. Despite their importance, they were often left to chance and were talked about far less than physical recovery.
Across both types, a simple rule kept coming up: athletes stuck with strategies that were convenient and felt good. If something was quick, easy and felt good immediately, it was far more likely to become a habit than a fiddly or uncomfortable routine, no matter how scientific it sounded.
Three barriers
So what gets in the way? Three barriers came up again and again. The first was lack of early education. Many athletes said that when they first entered high performance programmes, they were given training plans but not much clear, practical guidance on how, when and why to recover.
Recovery knowledge was often picked up informally. Coaches also wanted clearer guidance on which strategies mattered most.
The second barrier was competing priorities. High performance athletes rarely just train. They study, work, travel and try to maintain some form of social life. When time is tight, recovery is often the first thing dropped. Several athletes spoke about feeling guilty about not doing more recovery, which ironically added another layer of mental fatigue.
The third was sleep. Early-morning and late-evening training sessions, long travel times and competition schedules all made it harder to get consistent, high-quality sleep. Athletes and coaches recognised its importance. Some reported performance improvements when training loads or session times were adjusted to allow athletes to sleep more. But programmes often drifted back towards doing more, with sleep suffering again.
One of the strongest motivators for taking recovery seriously was also the most costly - experiencing setbacks. Athletes who had already experienced significant injuries, frequent niggles, or periods of burnout were much more likely to talk about recovery as non negotiable. Pain, forced time off, or a scare about their future in sport acted as a wake up call.
Coaches noticed the same pattern. When athletes were clearly on the edge, constantly tired, struggling to hit times or lifts, they became more open to changing their routines and prioritising rest, recovery, nutrition and sleep. The problem is obvious: by the time recovery becomes urgent, the damage has often already been done.
Lessons for everyone
Although this research focused on elite sport, here's how to make the lessons apply to anyone trying to look after their body better:
• Make recovery automatic. Attach one simple recovery habit to something you already do. For example, always spend five minutes stretching or foam rolling straight after you finish your workout, before you check your phone or leave the gym.
• Protect sleep on purpose. Treat your sleep window as part of your training plan rather than leftover time. That might mean being realistic about how many very early sessions you can sustain alongside work and family life.
• Don't wait for a crisis. The athletes in this study often only changed their behaviour after injury or burnout. You do not need to wait for a scare. Small, convenient habits built now are far cheaper than rehab later.
For many people, the problem is that routines and environments are not designed for recovery. Even in elite sport, habits default to whatever is easiest. The real challenge, for athletes and the rest of us, is to make the right thing the easy thing.
Iwan Rowlands received funding from Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarships (KESS).
