Acute Interventions and Recovery Strategies for Enhancing Human Exercise Performance

Acute interventions and recovery strategies are widely used to enhance human exercise performance and manage fatigue. Acute interventions are applied before or during exercise to improve physiological readiness, maximize output, or reduce injury risk. These include strategies targeting neuromuscular activation, thermoregulation, and metabolic priming. In contrast, recovery strategies are implemented after exercise, aiming to restore homeostasis and reduce residual fatigue. Their impact may be immediate—preparing for another event within hours—or extend to facilitating readiness for subsequent sessions in the following day(s). Despite their widespread use in both athletic and general exercise contexts, the mechanisms, comparative efficacy, and contextual appropriateness of these approaches remain underexplored. This Research Topic aims to advance our understanding of how targeted pre- and post-exercise interventions influence physiological function and performance outcomes across time scales.
The goal of this Research Topic is to advance the scientific understanding and practical application of acute interventions and recovery strategies aimed at enhancing exercise performance. We aim to address several important questions: Which pre-exercise strategies are most effective for improving neuromuscular readiness or endurance output? How do different post-exercise recovery approaches influence the trajectory of fatigue and subsequent performance? What are the central and peripheral physiological mechanisms mediating these effects? How can these interventions be effectively tailored based on exercise type, environmental conditions (e.g., heat), or individual characteristics such as training status or sex? We are particularly interested in work that bridges laboratory-based physiological mechanisms with applied sport and clinical settings. By collecting diverse contributions ranging from mechanistic studies to translational trials, this Research Topic aims to provide a robust knowledge base for athletes, coaches, sports scientists, and rehabilitation specialists seeking evidence-based tools to optimize physical performance and recovery across various contexts.
This Research Topic welcomes original research articles, reviews, and perspectives focused on:
• Acute interventions to enhance exercise performance
• Recovery strategies for restoring physiological function and performance
• Mechanisms underlying fatigue and performance modulation
• Comparative effects of interventions across different exercise modalities
Submissions should emphasize both physiological mechanisms and practical implications, particularly in relation to athletic performance, training, or recovery. We encourage contributions that evaluate these strategies across a range of populations, including trained and untrained individuals, clinical patients, and recreational exercisers, as well as across competitive and real-world settings. Manuscripts that combine experimental rigor with translational impact will be prioritized.