How do i Deal with Cramping?

Rowe1

Rowe1

New member
I have been on a 1500 calorie diet now for 2 weeks, and have been eating all the right things. The Past 4 days i have been hitting the treadmill at golds gym for about 25 minutes per sessions.

day 1: 10 minutes 2.8mph. 5 minutes 3.8 (this is a fast jog for me) then 5 minutes back at 2.5 and then a cool down.
Day 4 (today): 26 minutes on the tread mill about 8 were at jogging speed.

And my legs cramped up before i could even get off the treadmill.

My fear is calf cramps. Back in highschool when i was playing football and weightlifting every day i was drinking gallons of water a day and eating right, and i would still get cramps in the middle of the night that would make me limp the next day. I want to avoid these as much as possible.

Any advice? Other then drinking tons of water and eating bananas what else can i do
 
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You're kidding right?

Stretches. Stretching is primarily what prevents cramping of the muscles. Stretch before and after each work out, for every work out, and do each muscle group for a good 10 seconds +

Google lower body stretches for some diagrams on how to do them.


Also - your calorie intake looks too low, what's your height, weight and age?
 
I'm sorry i didn't know if there was anything more specific other then stretching and drinking lots of water.

Age:25
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 395 .lbs
 
Last thing I want to do is go against anyone else's advice but my understanding is that stretching a cold muscle is not a good idea. I stretch after workouts only- by stretch I mean the good solid 10sec per variety.

You need to make sure your nutrition is in check also though. It isn't just water and stretching.
BTW- i know you aren't asking for this but you cals are way to low for someone your size. That may be huge factor into why you are cramping now.

Read some of the stickied threads for some real sound advice regarding BMR and the like.
 
THe other thing you need to look out for is your potassium intake. Try eating a banana before you workout and take a good multivitamin every day. And I agree with Bigguy... you need more food. I weigh a little more than half of what you do and I eat about 2000 on days I workout... If you want your results to be long term and not crash and burn after a month I'd try eating 2500 cals at least.
 
Ok, so you are eating bananas and I missed that in your first post. How many are you eating and how much water are you drinking? Water is great but it can also flush out vitamins.
 
Rowe, here is a weird and wonderful remedy, at least for the nightime cramping. Don't ask me why it works but it does for the majority of people who try it. Mind you, this only works while you sleep, as far as I know.

My husband would wake up with awful cramps that I would have to masage out for him.... and I occasionally get them myself when I try to stretch in the night. A good friends suggested this, we tried it and have NEVER had another leg cramp in the night since. It has been months since we started it.

Take an ordinary bar of soap (unwrapped), any type of soap works (I use a Mia Bella bar but I hear Dove or any kind of bar like that works too) and place it in a sock. Simply put that "soap in a sock" in bed with you or under the bottom sheet if you want to. Ours just floats around the bed between us.

I know it sounds freaky but it works. Try it and let me know if it brings relief at all.
 
You need 8 glasses of water everyday. But if you already did it all and still have a cold muscle, time to see your doctor
 
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