Cramp

David Brown said:

Anybody have any solutions to th problem of cramp during long swims?

This often indicates an imbalance of electrolites? Eating bananas is supposed to help. If you train
a lot and sweat a lot during training, then that might be the problem, or you might just be
dehydrated.

martin

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Martin Smith email: [email hidden] Vollsveien 9 tel. : +47 6783 1188
P.O. Box 482 mob. : +47 932 48 303 1327 Lysaker, Norway

David Brown said:

Anybody have any solutions to th problem of cramp during long swims?

Once a cramp starts it won't go away completely. At the first sign of a cramp, you should stop
*immediately* do something about it:

a) stretch out the cramping muscle, e.g., for a calf cramp exit the pool and walk on the offending
foot or sit down, grasp the toe and bend it backwards, stretching the muscle out, or
b) massage the muscle or both.

(c) is a poor second, since no matter how much you massage, the cramp may continue. So I prefer (a).
AFAIK every muscle in the body can be stretched out of a cramp.

Once a muscle cramps some damage has been done. Usually it's best to cut back on the workout at that
point. Stretch the cramped muscle, do a gentle warmdown (200-400 m) and end the workout. If you must
continue swimming then consider changing strokes or cutting back on the intensity of the remainder
of the workout.

Stretch the muscles out for the next few days. Allow the muscle time to heal.

When you suffer any injury, apply the RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) principles and take
something for inflammation (aspirin, ibufprofen(advil, motrin)) ASAP. This will help to minimize the
effects of injury.

As to diet, cramping can be caused by a lack of
- potassium (bananas, potatoes, rice),
- calcium (dairy products) or
- magnesium (vegetables, particularly dark-green, leafy vegetables, soy products, legumes and seeds;
nuts, whole grains and fruits.

After years of swimming competitively and dealing unsucessfully with sporadic calf cramps, I found
that I needed a magnesium supplement; potassium and calcium alone were not enough. FWIW magnesium
has some very nice side-effects: it relaxes you and seems to increase breath-holding ability!-))

Good Luck, Michael D. Kersey

Quoted message said:

As to diet, cramping can be caused by a lack of
- potassium (bananas, potatoes, rice),
- calcium (dairy products) or
- magnesium (vegetables, particularly dark-green, leafy vegetables, soy products, legumes and
seeds; nuts, whole grains and fruits.

Good Luck, Michael D. Kersey

Not too mention water.

GL Mike

I have found cramps may be due to excess protein.

Do not eat an all-protein meal. Add fruits and vegetables.

Otherwise the vitamin and mineral content of the system can fall too low,