The Strength to Slow Down: Olympic Wisdom on What Wellness Really Means
Olympic gold medallists Rory Gibbs and Alex Gregory have both lived the punishing reality of peak performance culture. Their journeys from elite athletes to wellness advocates reveal what true wellbeing really looks like beyond medals and perfection.
Mind versus body: the burnout trap
In a culture hooked on optimisation, few understand its hidden costs like Rory Gibbs and Alex Gregory. Both have endured the relentless toll of elite sport, the physical strain, the mental pressure, the constant chase for marginal gains. Their most valuable lessons didn’t come from the podium, but from what it took to get there. Now Gibbs and Gregory each champion a different kind of success measured in longevity, balance, and a more honest approach to wellbeing.
Gibbs reflects, “There is a fine line between high performance and burnout. Optimisation culture can become obsessive – more data, more supplements, more sessions.” This echoes growing criticism of the biohacking craze, where the promise of perfect health drives constant monitoring and experimentation. While some practices are grounded in science, many teeter on pseudoscience, leading to anxiety, paranoia or social isolation. Gibbs’s warning is clear: “If the body is progressing but the mind is depleted and you stay in that cycle too long, it will not end well.” The tipping point comes when output outweighs input, when the quest for gains sacrifices health, identity or joy.
Gregory agrees: “Pressure was something I struggled with from early on in my international rowing career… I placed an enormous burden on myself year after year, with no real success and no respite.” Both athletes call out the paradox of wellness burnout and the pursuit of perfect health causing exhaustion and stress. Gregory adds, “After eight years of what felt like failure, I found myself stuck in a cycle of stress and fear so intense that it manifested physically as injury and illness.”
When perfection becomes prison
Rowing, Gibbs explains, is brutal in its demand for repetition and perfection. “You train four times a day, seven days a week. The greatest pressure comes in the build-up to the Olympics. A single five-minute final that could define the previous 10 years of your life.” There is little room for error, let alone rest. The margin between victory and defeat is often measured in fractions of a second, won through years of unrelenting discipline, sacrifice, and self-denial. Gregory puts it this way: “To win Olympic gold in rowing, you have to push beyond what’s normally considered healthy, sustainable, or even enjoyable.” These aren’t just tales of athletic endurance, but are warnings about what happens when the drive to excel overrides the need to recover. As performance culture bleeds into everyday life, the luxury wellness sector must respond not with more hacks and hyper-optimisation, but with spaces that nurture resilience, restore equilibrium, and offer sanctuary from high-pressure living.
Identity beyond achievement
For both Gibbs and Gregory, balance wasn’t just about training schedules; it was about identity. “At first, my worth was tied to training splits and medal chances,” Rory reflects. “But I had to separate who I was from what I did.” That shift marked the beginning of a more grounded understanding of performance. He began investing in creative outlets, relationships and community—areas often overlooked in the rigid world of elite sport.
Alex Gregory’s experience followed a similar trajectory. From the start of his international career, he placed enormous pressure on himself and tells us “it became unsustainable.” When he was named a reserve for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, something shifted. He gained perspective and, for the first time, a clear sense of purpose. That mindset change became the foundation for everything that followed. But even with that clarity, the emotional cost of performance remained. “When I didn’t achieve the results I hoped for, I felt like I completely lost who I was. In fact, I became no one,” says Gregory. It was the birth of his son Jasper that brought him back to himself. He began to see that his identity extended far beyond rowing as a father, a partner, a friend, and someone who deeply mattered regardless of medals.
Resilience through empathy
Gibbs now coaches executives and athletes alike, blending athletic discipline with empathy. “Resilience is not about pushing through everything. It’s about knowing when to push and when to pull back.” This contrasts sharply with the all-or-nothing ethos many wellness narratives propagate. For luxury wellness providers, this means designing flexible, personalised programs that honour individual rhythms rather than imposing cookie-cutter solutions.
For Gregory, that same belief in sustainable performance underpins Mind Body Row, his coaching platform designed to help people rediscover purpose through movement. “Rowing delivers a deep mental reset. Movement should be simple, accessible and consistent,” he says. After stepping away from elite sport, Gregory struggled to find a healthy relationship with exercise. Without the structure of competition, his motivation faded and his energy dipped. What brought him back was not intensity, but rhythm. “As an athlete, I’d learned that consistency, not short bursts of brilliance, is the key to success. It’s not the gold medal performance that makes a champion; it’s the years of showing up, day after day.”
Consistency over perfection
“Performing well used to mean winning, full stop,” Rory reflects. “Now it’s about showing up consistently at 90 to 95 percent, with control, health and self-awareness.” This shift aligns with growing consumer fatigue toward wellness culture’s unrealistic ideals. Science supports this approach: sustainable, evidence-based habits such as good sleep, stress management, enjoyable exercise and balanced nutrition offer more enduring benefits than extreme biohacking. Gregory adds, “Performance isn’t Everest. It’s a rhythm. It’s about giving the best of yourself, on that day, with what you have.
Recovery as a radical act
Often overlooked, recovery is where these two men see real potential for growth. Gibbs tells us, “it’s not just rest days or good sleep. It’s processing stress, identity and emotions.” Yet the wellness industry often neglects this, favouring action over pause and reflection. Luxury wellness is uniquely positioned to reframe recovery as sophisticated practice – a performance tool that includes mindfulness, therapy, journaling or simply disconnecting. Gregory adds, “In elite sport, we planned recovery just as meticulously as training. It wasn’t optional—it was programmed in. We need to reframe recovery not as luxury, but necessity.”
The future: less pressure, more presence
The wellness industry stands at a crossroads. As market saturation, pseudoscience and consumer fatigue grow, the era of rigid optimisation is waning. Both Gibbs’s and Gregory’s experiences suggest a path forward: embracing ‘good enough’ health, prioritising mental and emotional wellbeing, and recognising wellness as a deeply personal journey. For luxury wellness brands, this represents both challenge and opportunity. The new frontier isn’t about doing more – it’s about doing what matters, better. It means crafting experiences that invite clients to slow down, reconnect with themselves beyond achievement, and cultivate sustainable, joyful wellbeing. Gregory notes, “balance, resilience, long-term health aren’t and shouldn’t be luxuries anymore. They’re essential components of performance… when we build them into the system, we don’t just help athletes survive—we help them thrive.”
Because in the end, wellness should be a foundation for a full, rich life – not another form of exhaustion.
Alex Gregory MBE is a double Olympic gold medalist rower, performance coach, author, and motivational speaker with over 12 years of experience helping individuals and teams unlock high performance. Through his company Mind Body Row, Alex works with a select number of clients to build resilience, find purpose, and create winning cultures—drawing on powerful lessons from the world of elite sport. In addition to his coaching work, Alex runs The Mind Body Row Experience—transformative retreats in Portugal designed for individuals and corporate groups. Blending rowing (no experience necessary) with yoga, movement, breathwork, and evening talks, the retreats offer an immersive journey into balance, connection, and wellbeing. Participants also enjoy the richness of Portuguese culture, including food, wine tastings, and traditional music—making it a truly holistic experience of both mind and body.
Rory Gibbs is an Olympic Gold Medallist in rowing and a leading coach in health and fitness. He works privately with senior executives and high performers, helping them optimise health and longevity to thrive in demanding careers. To learn more about Rory’s work or to work with him, visit www.rorygibbs.com.
Image sources: 1 – Instagram, 2 –Instagram, Instagram, 3 – Instagram, 4 – Instagram
Continue Reading