cramping

Kim said:

On my second last lap today 28 of 30 (50mtr) and both calves cramped in
last 10mt........it hurt. tried stretching it out but too sore. Now
several hours later my calves are still killing me. Anyone got any
remedies for when i'm swimming and after or better still on how to prevent
it from happening again. I've only been doing laps for about one month and
today i was increasing by 100mt when the cramps hit. kim

I find that if I don't get to the pool enough attempting to mend my ways
almost always results in calf cramps. Dolphin kick in particular seems
bring on the cramps. A few standard things seem to help some, namely:
drink more water, ensure a satisfactory diet and patience. I do find, too,
that walking (esp > 20:00 of very brisk walking) helps a lot as well.

--Mike

my usual problem was those annoying foot cramps, and one of my coachs
sugested something like that might be due to a lack of potassium? so he
sugested eating a banana before practice...

"Kim" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

On my second last lap today 28 of 30 (50mtr) and both calves cramped
in last
10mt........it hurt. tried stretching it out but too sore. Now several
hours
later my calves are still killing me. Anyone got any remedies for when
i'm
swimming and after or better still on how to prevent it from happening
again. I've only been doing laps for about one month and today i was
increasing by 100mt when the cramps hit.
kim

As someone else has already suggested, try supplementing the potassium
in your diet somehow. Apparently research has shown no ill effects from
eating high potassium foods but some problems have occurred with taking
lots of potassium as a pill, so experiment and see what works for you.
The pills typically come in 99 or 100 mg sizes. Some folks take one
with every meal. I take 3 pills twice a day, which is roughly the
equivalent of eating one banana, and I try to eat a banana, too. I
think the RDA is 3,500 mg per day, which is a lot less than I think most
people get. I had a real problem with muscles cramps and the potassium
pills made it completely disappear for me, so I'm sold on them.

One more thing - you'll find potassium in several different forms, and
it seems it doesn't make any difference which one you take, at least
that's what I've been told.

On a more technical side, if you don't have good ankle flexibility, you
might work on that, and you might also try thinking about relaxing the
muscles on the front of your shin on either side, since the ones that
are cramping are the ones pulling in the opposite direction. I've found
this can help me when I feel a cramp starting while kicking.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com

Cramps are usually the result of lack of salt, either sodium or
potasium that is lost through sweating. People don't notice that they
sweat in the pool. You need to drink water and eat some salty food
before and during excercise. Bananas have potasium as others suggested.
You can also try drinking gatorade.

Andres

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Cramps are usually the result of lack of salt, either sodium or
potasium that is lost through sweating. People don't notice that they
sweat in the pool. You need to drink water and eat some salty food
before and during excercise.

No. Salt - the common salt (sodium chloride) is not a substance commonly
deficient. Potassium is, to the extent that lack of it may be noticable in
athletes.

"jtaylor" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Cramps are usually the result of lack of salt, either sodium or
potasium that is lost through sweating. People don't notice that they
sweat in the pool. You need to drink water and eat some salty food
before and during excercise.

No. Salt - the common salt (sodium chloride) is not a substance
commonly
deficient. Potassium is, to the extent that lack of it may be
noticable in
athletes.

Sodium deficiency isn't unheard of in endurance athletes. I agree with
you that potassium is the much more likely culprit, though.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com