The Guardian Weekly

How to stay hydrated, lubricated and limber

- Jeff Vrabel

Cramps are terrible. Even the word is displeasin­g so it’s a perfect descriptor for when your muscles tighten but don’t have enough fuel or spirit to relax back to their original happy state. The good news is that most of us who aren’t training for endurance runs or Olympic rowing competitio­ns can generally keep our systems in working order with a consistent supply of water and electrolyt­es.

Cramps fall into two camps, says Mark Lavallee, chair of the Sports Medicine Society for USA Weightlift­ing. The first is metabolic: you’re cramping up because of dehydratio­n or an electrolyt­e deficiency, where your muscles are happy to contract but don’t have enough fluid to relax. The second is more mechanical, such as if you’ve never run in your life but decide to go for a nice long morning jog. Both are awful. Here’s how to avoid – or at least minimise – the awful.

Before you cramp

Audit your water levels. If the mucus in your nose or mouth is tacky and thick, if your saliva is sticky, or if you’re urinating a dark shade of yellow, your tank is low. Drink up.

Check your electrolyt­es. This is easy and hard. “Every day, some new voodoo guru supplement comes out,” says Keenan Robinson, most well known for being Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps’s strength coach and sports medicine provider. “We need vitamin B, sodium, potassium and calcium. That’s been proven since Galileo was opening up medical books,” he says. But every person’s system is different, so you may need a few weeks of trial and error to establish how much (or whether) you’ll need to pre-load with a sports drink, gels or salt tablets.s. Lavallee also suggests something “really oldfashion­ed called food”. OJ and bananas, peoplele – you know the drill.

Massage yourself. Robinson’s also big on such h simple self-care tools as foam rollers and stretchch bands. “We think of muscles as one huge group,p, but there are little micro-spindles that make up fibres,” he says. “Some might be already cramping, but you don’t feel it because it’s on a microscopi­c level.” A little attention will helpp loosen them up. He’s also a fan of compressio­nn garments, which enclose the muscle and limit the opportunit­y for it to react and spasm quickly.kly. During workouts, hydrate every 15 minutes. Henrik Rummel of the US Olympic rowing teamm makes a habit of swigging from his water bottlele and popping occasional electrolyt­e tablets durring his team’s brutal two-a-days. “We sweat a lot, but we put a lot of liquid back,” he says. Connoror

Jaeger, who will swim in the Olympic trials this summer, mixes a cocktail of water, electrolyt­e powder and a salt tablet to keep him going during his four hours of daily practice.

Use your brain. “It’s like any preparatio­n or any kind of work - if you get behind it, you have to do a lot more to catch up,” Rummel says. “If you stay on top, it’s not that bad.”

After you cramp

Ugh, sorry. Been there.

Hydrate again. Get some water, a sports drink or a high-sodium drink mix in there; it takes about seven minutes for your stomach to absorb it. If you’re not into sports drinks, which can be high in sugar and calories, drop some electrolyt­e tablets or powder into your water bottle, or sample coconut water. Years ago, trainers got into pickle juice, which is high in sodium and vinegar. Lavallee says it’s not nutritiona­lly any more beneficial than water or Gatorade, but it is a conversati­on starter.

Breathe. Cramping is tension, so you need to relax. Emiliano Tramontozz­i, fitness manager of a Crunch gym in New York City, starts by breathing it out. “Not the fight-or-flight breathing through the chest,” he says. “Concentrat­e on diaphragma­tic breathing, in through the nose, out through the nose.” Yes, this means you may have to take a break, but Tramontozz­i says that’ll help “let the muscle ease out of whatever flexion it’s in”.

Do some light stretching. Don’t automatica­lly stretch the cramping muscle. Take the load off it. For calves and hamstrings, Lavallee says, sit on the ground and stretch your legs out in front of you. Grab your toes and pull back, which will force the leg to straighten out. Robinson suggests trying ice first, but soaking your feet in a hot tub would also help. If it’s happening all the time, maybe pull back on the workouts.

 ??  ??
 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom