Gym Pains

[Sean]

Alright I know a good deal of you PCers are gym buffs or have an interest in your physical fitness so I have a question for you.

This has become a reoccuring pain I'm having whenever I resume working out and start running again. I'll be going along fine and my calf or hamstring keeps tightening up to the point where it locks up and causes a lot of pain. If it had happened once or twice in a short period of time I'd assume it was just a lack of stretching but I've taken special care to stretch better but it happened last year this time and has been happening again this year. It usually starts up when I'm running but after it starts i'll usually feel it for awhile afterwards sometimes it gets really bad to the point where I've just had to stop and fall over in pain. Once it loosens up it'll usually still tense up when I'm walking for a couple hours until it subsides.

So basically does anyone have any suggestions on a better way to approach either stretching out the calf or stop this from happening?

PS. Ignore the knee brace its for a knock I took playing ball with some friends after the calf thing came back. They are unrelated.

it's called a muscle cramp, and it hurts like shit.

Try swimming without warming up for true muscle cramp pain.

[Sean]

I realize its a cramp type thing but it happens everytime I run in the gym which is why I'm more concerned that if it was just a cramp. Basically its becoming a chronic thing.

could be an atrophed muscle that is subject to a cramp if it's constantly in the same spot every time you run, try lighter target trained warm-ups to build muscle if that's the case.

[Ravenstorm]

Eat more potassium. Have a banana a day.

Raven

[HarmNone]

You might have some Achilles tendonitis, Sean. If that's what it is, stretching it won't help, but will cause more harm. Take a few days off from running, and get a lift for the heel of your shoe to put your heel closer to your calf. That will reduce the strain on the tendon.

When you start running again, ice your calf for 10 or 15 minutes after running, and don't forget your stretching exercises (just be careful not to over-stretch that calf muscle).

There are other things it could be, but that's a common problem. :)

[Tsa`ah]

And water.

Try to be a bit more aggressive with the stretching, and extend your warm up period.

Is this just when you're running or is it when you're weight training?

If you're not weight training, you may want to consider some light weight training for your legs, abs, and back. Poor ab and lower back development can be hell on your legs simply because you're legs become the prime stabilizer where as your abs and back should be prime for stabilization. This also leads to lower back complications down the road.

So, Increase your water and potassium intake ... and not with Gatorade ... extend your stretching and warm up routine, and incarcerate some leg, back and ab weight training.

It would also help to have an unwinding routine. Walk a good distance after you run. Stretch after the work out. Hot tub, occasional massage.

[HarmNone]

Question, Sean....do you have flat feet, by chance? If so, that increases the possibility of tendonitis in the Achilles tendon.

[Sean]

No I don't have flat feet.

Yes I have been weight training but I've never felt the pain in my calf while lifting only when I'm on the track or walking about after it happened on the track.

[HarmNone]

Try the lift in the heel of your shoe and see if it helps. :)

[AnticorRifling]

Sounds like acid build up to me. Pound water and potassium, both of which were stated before. Cramps happen and they suck. I always get them on distance bike rides if I haven't worked up to it or if I don't eat enough bananas before hand.

A favorite saying of one of my drill instructors:

"The water you drink today is the water you sweat tomorrow. Don't think that drinking a canteen right before a run is going to save your ass, if you don't prepare the night before I will do nothing but laugh at your weakness when you start cramping up and acting like you're gonna die."

[Parkbandit]

I play basketball at least once a week at the Y.. and prior to playing I will spend a good 15 minutes on the bike and drink a good liter of water.

I don't hurt until the next morning. ;)

[Back]

Heres an idea. Don’t work out. Your leg wont hurt.

[Jorddyn]

Originally posted by Ravenstorm
Eat more potassium. Have a banana a day.

Raven

I used to get charley horses in my calves when I played volleyball. That, and drink milk, was the same advice I got from our trainer.

Jorddyn

[Carl Spackler]

That sucks man, cramps are brutal. These guys pretty much hit it on the head. Drink lots of water, eat lots of bananas. If that doesn't help, then I'd go see a sports physician.

[Straight-up]

Cramps in muscles can often be caused be lack of development in their opposite muscle.

Ie biceps - triceps
quadriceps - hamstring
calves - tibialis anterior

In this case I would suggest the following.:

Ensure that you are getting enough of the right nutrients. If you are not taking a multivitamin, start. Make sure as posted to get some extra potassium.

Then find a way to work your tibialis muscle. That's the one that runs down the front of your leg beside your shinbone (your tibia). This muscle is the one that does just the opposite of your calf muscles (soleus and gastrocnemius)...raise your toes up The best ways to work it are with workout bands or a special tibialis machine.

This website shows some exercises you can do with more common gym equipment. (Therabands work very well though)

http://www.dolfzine.com/page367.htm

If your muscles are not balanced it causes them to stress both sets and you are more prone to injury and inflammation.



Straight

[Drinin]

Sounds like some bad tendonitis that I had in my right knee last year. I just stopped working my legs for about two weeks. I went to the doctor and had me wrap it in a warm compress every morning and put ice on it at night (basically after I was home for the evening). That cleared it up. The doctor gave me a shitload of vioxx to chew down too, but after I read the side effects I threw that shit in the trash.

[Dnothome]

Dude, try explaining why you are looking at pictures of a dudes calves on a public computer with like 30 soldiers around you, then know why I hate Tijay

[Sean]

learn to lie better! you should have just said you were looking at a fitness board for some workout tips!

[Dnothome]

Have you looked at that picture?

[Weedmage Princess]

Yeah I'd get them a lot when I ran too. Odd thing is I wouldn't get them while I was running or afterwards, I found I got them while I slept. I'd wake up like in the middle of the night with that pain and like you, it'd take a while to leave. Advice I got was water and bananas as well.