nah, he used to need a Senzu bean or some other macguffin, Super is when they first came up with the brilliant idea that he needed to expend more energy to regain his energy.
I mean, nah.
He beats Piccolo with all his limbs broken, twice. Second time with a gaping hole in his chest.
He wakes up from an attack meant to knock him out for 10 days cuz Bulma tells him she has food for him, which invigorates him.
He fights Master Roshi for over six hours straight in the tournament and only loses because he was tricked into having his chin struck hard enough.
He still participates in the fight against Vegeta, again, with all his limbs crushed and every bone in his body broken. Still forms a Spirit bomb.
He becomes a Super Saiyan against Frieza while he has no energy left, and even overpowers Frieza at full strength.
It's entirely reasonable he's able to regain his stamina fighting opponents way weaker he is in a 48 minute time-frame, after he's shown to be able to participate in a tournament setting ALL DAY as a child and only get winded during the final stretch.
Goku continues to fight until he's dead. That's always been consistent with the character throughout the series. The only exception is with Cell, because he planned for Gohan to win.