Trouble with legs cramping during workouts

How hard are your workouts and how is your recovery?

Shane

With few exceptions, the only time I've cramped has been when I've exceeded my physical capabilities.

I have been swimming 4-5 days a week m-f (swim focus), I do 2 a days or double up workouts 2-3 days a week and I have been taking weekends off to recover. I workout pretty hard when I'm only doing 1 event per day but the days I do 2 a days my workouts are easier to accommodate for the extra training.

Edited by fubar44 2013-05-23 8:07 PM

To the best of my knowledge, most cramps will come from either overuse, dehydration, or electrolyte loss.

Personally I will get cramps sometimes after a hard effort/race which is probably a combination of the above. However, through process of elimination, you can probably figure out what your issue is.

Cramps are almost always because of overwork or low electrolytes. Even if your diet hasn't changed, check to see if you're getting enough sodium and potassium. Try chugging some gatorade before and/or during and see if that improves anything.

Edited by b2run 2013-05-23 8:28 PM

I always have chomps with sodium and when I start to cramp, I eat about 6 chomps and drink water. That does it for me but our bodies are different. It cannot to try!

Very likely you are exceeding your fitness and your body is protesting. The approach of work hard all week and recover on the weekend is probably stacking too much training stress into the week and you'd likely be better off with some workouts moved to the weekend. Basically you should always follow a hard day with an easy day in order to manage fatigue.

Shane

My guess is it is heat related? So we are likely talking about electrolyte loss. Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium and Sodium are what you should be looking to increase in your diet. A strong stretching regimen can also improve your disposition to cramping. Myself, I take daily calcium chews plus a K/Mg supplement in addition to my diet. These three electrolytes tend to require consistent uptake to accumulate in the bloodstream, however, sodium can be processed quickly so I just sodium-load with 64oz V8 a day before a race. I used to get not just calf cramps but full calf siezures everytime over 13/14 miles... the sodium loading did the trick for me. Then again, I have little to no sodium in my diet. Now, I very rarely get cramps of any kind.

I would recommend increasing Ca/Mg/K and see how that helps. I would be hesitant to ramp up sodium on any consistent basis, like during training (it has been linked to heart disease in excess, ect)... unless you have a severe sodium deficiency. If you do have abnormally low blood sodium, you might want to get some blood work done

Have you noticed any pattern like always cramping in the second workout of the day? That would be a pretty clear indication that it could be related to fatigue. If you tend to cramp in a workout that follows a swim workout, maybe you're not hydrating on the swim? Many people don't seem to think you need to but actually you do sweat when swimming, esp. if the pool is warm and/or you're swimming hard.

I often have no choice but to do a hard/long run and my longest swim workout of the week on the same day, the run early AM and swim in early PM. I struggled with cramping at first but found it really helps to keep hydrating between the workouts, drink water or sports drink every 10-15 minutes when swimming (just as I would when running or biking), warm up slowly, skip kick sets for that workout, and if my legs are really tired, mix up the swimming with some pull sets to give my legs a break for a while.

There are a lot of good ideas being thrown out. I am going to try all of them. Hydrating more, adding supplements into my diet, taking a day off during the week and moving one to the weekend. I may even try not pushing my body so hard. That may be hard because I want to push my body hard because I really want to be ready for my A race at the end of the season and I'm just not there yet.

Suggestion - don't try "All of them" at once, otherwise you won't know what really is causing your cramping. Next time, bring some electrolytes, or salt tabs, GU Chomps, or Shot Block on your ride/run. If you find yourself cramping up. Pop in any one of what I just said (not all of them of course!!), and wait. Cramp went away? Electrolyte issue. Cramping still there? Overuse.