I'm exercising every day - alternate cardio/resistance type workouts. My biggest problem with sticking to an exercise regime is my tendency to suffer muscle pains which put me out of commission for a few days, after which I sometimes fail to gain the willpower to start again. I believe this is the greatest threat to me in physical exercise/sports.
I'm wondering what I should do to prevent muscle aches and to cure them - I've come up with several options:
1. Warmup and cooldown extensively before and after exercise - I currently do only brief warmups (10 minutes or so).
2. Eat vitamin supplements to ensure sufficient calcium, vitamin C, etc - I take a single all-purpose multivitamin.
3. Take protein supplements - I already do this, for resistance training.
4. Take creatine supplements - I am not currently taking creatine.
I'm wondering if any of you sportsmen or habitual gym-users out there might have any tips for me. I've always felt crippled by my body's lack of resilience to abuse - strength is good and all, but without the ability to recover quickly and fully from exercise, I fear I may never reach my goal (of having a low body-fat percentage and good functional speed/strength).
I am 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) tall and 80 kgs - Hoping to reduce it to 75 kg. I can currently manage 9 pull-ups - hoping to increase this to 12. Going from 4 pullups to 7 was easy, and subsequent improvements were slower in coming. I've never gone below 79 kg after reaching my full adult height.