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starlight
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.

First of all, if you have willpower issues, you should try going to a gym. Once you're there, you feel compelled to actually workout/exercise. You also need to stretch and consider less weight if you are getting hurt that often. If you don't use weights, stretch a ton. Consider glutamine as a healthy supplement.

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starbright

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.

10 minutes is not bad, depending on your exercise. Really need some more detail about what exactly you do.

Skip vitamins. Get it straight from the source if possible (i.e. eat some oranges). Only go for vitamin pills if you can't practically get the vitamin elsewhere.

Protein will help muscle soreness. Creatine...just skip creatine entirely. If you're trying to get cut and not get bulky, and you want to retain the muscle, go with glutamine or a protein/glutamine combination.

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Will you be my star tonight?

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.

I'm not a habitual gym-user any more, but if you are going to the gym... do not use the machines. Use freeweights. Stretch frequently. Don't drink too much water while you are there (one bottle per hour is fine, if you are working hard). If you do protein shakes -- do it an hour before going and immediately when getting home. STRETCH FREQUENTLY.

If you want low body fat, diet better, jog, and go for the glutamine.

80kg for 5 11 is not bad. 75kg is quite doable, if you diet and do frequent cardio.

pls respond