muscle cramps

[justhell]

why does this happen?last night i did a good heavy as leg work out,

i woke up in the middle of the night with one quad fully cramped,painful as.

is this a common thing for people?

random,this has happened once before to a calf muscle in the middle of the night.very painful.

iv read that creatine can cause this,but iv been off that stuff for 9 months now.

:?

[Dontrunwithknives]

"A mineral deficiency of calcium and/or magnesium is probably the most frequent cause of night leg cramping.

Cramps are often caused by a lack of potassium, resulting in an electrytic imbalance. Strenuous exercise with sweating and diarrhea or other bowel disease may cause loss of potassium and other important minerals. It is very important to replace them with supplements. Some people get leg cramps at night for no apparent reason. This is called restless legs syndrome.

Another cause may be a deficiency in hesperidin, one of the bioflavonoids (sometimes called vitamin P), naturally occurring nutrients usually found in association with vitamin C. These bioflavonoids, including Hesperidin, Citrin, Rutin, Flavones, Flavonals, Calechin and Quercetin, were found to be essential in correcting the night leg cramps."

http://www.health911.com/cramps_%28muscle%29

[Peachy]

Oh heck these are so painful!!!

I once was training so hard for a ballet comp that I'd wake up in the middle of the night with both my inside thigh muscles cramped up. I'd scream like crazy and my guy flatmate would run in thinking I was being attacked or sumthing!! Weird how its always in the night eh... :-s

Magnesium supplements can help quite a bit. I think also not having enough carbs can do it too coz I'd always get them more often when cutting close to a show or comp.

Whats your diet like at the moment??

[Monarchking]

is this a common thing for people?

it happens to me, but only really if I flex the muscle real hard, a few hours after training. usually quads, mayb tricep.

[justhell]

thanks Dontrunwithknives,interesting link aye.

next time it happens il try pushing on my upper lip to stop the cramp ,im also going to get some zma aswell.

8)

[justhell]

Oh heck these are so painful!!!

I once was training so hard for a ballet comp that I'd wake up in the middle of the night with both my inside thigh muscles cramped up. I'd scream like crazy and my guy flatmate would run in thinking I was being attacked or sumthing!! Weird how its always in the night eh... :-s

Magnesium supplements can help quite a bit. I think also not having enough carbs can do it too coz I'd always get them more often when cutting close to a show or comp.

Whats your diet like at the moment??

ouch,inner thighs would hurt alright peachy espeacialy both at once.

i was in so much pain i kind a rolled out of bed and it went on for about 1 minute. :-s

i dont think im lacking in carbs cause im eating lots of different kinds of food,before gym i have oats with yoghurt and i drink bout 1 litre of water,so i should be hydrated too.

after gym last night i had 4 buns with chicken and colslaw,and a protian shake with 5gms glutamine and 5gms bcaas.

8)

[Peachy]

Cramps are often caused by a lack of potassium, resulting in an electrytic imbalance. Strenuous exercise with sweating and diarrhea or other bowel disease may cause loss of potassium and other important minerals. It is very important to replace them with supplements. Some people get leg cramps at night for no apparent reason. This is called restless legs syndrome.

If its an electrolyte imblanace could it also be opposite and be lack of sodium?? Like it was all sweated out during the workout maybe you should hae a sports drink afterwards might help...

ouch,inner thighs would hurt alright peachy espeacialy both at once.

Lol yup. After they stopped I kinda just lay on the floor for about an hour coz I knew if I moved they would go again.

Let us know how you get on after your next leg workout JH

[justhell]

Let us know how you get on after your next leg workout JH

I did another primo leg workout lastnight,got fully pumped 8)

and na i didnt get woken up with cramps,had an amazing sleep.

so im not sure why it happened last week,must just one of those unknown things.

i have started adding salt to food now,when i use to have as little salt as possible(without been silly about it).

[Peachy]

Gud to hear :grin:

[gareththomasnz]

Dehydration is the main culprit normally.

Caffeine which is a diuretic - makes you pee & hence dehydrated.

I don't normally drink the stuff but when I do it often causes cramps.

I actually had a cramp in my throat/neck a few weeks back caused by coffee. That was nasty.

[severe]

bananas are an easy magnesium fix. I include one in my shakes for carbs, and that good ol' magnesium. Praise be the crampless muscle. and tons of water. I wake up in the night to pee, but need that hydration.

[Peachy]

i have started adding salt to food now,when i use to have as little salt as possible

I looked it up in my old text book from uni and low sodium is definately a major cause. As is dehydration. But I think you can hydrate yourself better when you have sufficient salt coz your body needs a certain sodium concentration so the more salt you have the more water you can hold sorta (to some degree because ultimately high salt causes high blood pressure which we all know is thickening of the blood and therefore not enough water hmmm... :-s ). Anyways your body needs to maintain the potassium/sodium balance across the cell membrane and when there is not enough sodium the muscle cells swell and can cramp.

Well thats the gist i got anyways....