Please help me with my cramps

So I'm finally back to training and again I'm getting muscle cramps. This has been a problem for me intermittently and I haven't found a reason or any fix, so now I'm willing to do more experimentation.

I get regular muscle cramps - mostly when sparring. They occur most commonly in the calf when I'm really trying to flex it. e.g. trying to set up a triangle choke or clamp down a lockdown when I've got someone in half guard. But I'm also getting them in my back muscles when I really work them such as when going for a very powerful bridge when on my back.

My hydration is always good. I've also tried supplementing with magnesium and if anything it made things worse.

From the research I've done people don't actually know what causes cramps. From what people know about muscle physiology they've inferred it may be caused by magnesium deficiency but there isn't actually a lot of experimental data to back it up.

So at this point I'd like to open the door to any pointers. Hell, I'll take anecdotal evidence to give things a try as sometimes the cramps are so bad they will strain the muscle so I'll have to take it easy for a few days when I want to be training.

 

If you're taking anecdotal evidence, then I would recommend eating more sodium and not drinking too much water - I drink 1.5L a day + 150mL/10min exercise and have found this to help. Also, I find that if I am doing turning kicks and I tense the foot to keep the toes pointed then I get cramps in my foot, but this doesn't happen to anyone else at my club. It could just be that you are more susceptible to cramps in certain positions, for example like you said in a triangle choke.

But most likely it's the result of 'really trying to flex it', flexing a muscle very hard once or twice is okay, but if you're doing it often during a sparring bout then I find it slowly gets closer and closer to the cramp spot and will cramp up, so try to limit how often you flex it.

 

You might well be operating at the limit of your endurance/strength, so either get better cardiovascular fitness, raise your anaerobic threshold, or roll lighter.

If found B vitamins and potassium help me too.

 

Hmmm interesting. I'm far from the fittest person in the world, particularly at the moment but the last couple of times it has happened I would have been sweating but far from exhaustion or really out of breath. I would say I was rolling about medium to medium-light.

It also happened today after a weight session (mostly squats) as I was stretching and cooling down. I was just sitting down having a chat and I tried flexing my calf just because I felt like flexing my calf and there it went again.

 

I get cramps in three different ways: lifting heavy, really sweated a lot (less since I added salt crystals into my workout drink); first thing in the morning getting up or just before getting up (entirely gone by wearing bed socks, yep not the sexiest thing but I think it prevents my feet getting caught on the sheets or duvet when rolling around in sleep); stress like return to training, new class, new workout or someone bothering me in the gym, even when far from sweaty light workout my nervous system goes into overdrive. I notice this last one if going for a PR so try to alleviate it by not overworking my neurological strength in a workout as getting to psyched up is what is kicking it off, usually in my feet and sometimes calves.

 

Have you thought about addressing these concerns to a doctor? They sound pretty severe - wouldn't hurt to get a professional opinion.

 

I'm going to throw out some advice on electrolytes here. There are three involved with contraction of the muscles: Potassium, Calcium, and Sodium. If you have a deficiency in one of those, you'll likely have a bad day.

I have (had) problems with muscle cramps with Boxing until I started paying attention to getting ample amounts of those electrolytes in my diet, and from food or juices (not things like a sports drink). Sodium was probably the biggest one I needed and in the US, MD's like to tell people they get plenty in their diet for some reason. Not everybody goes to McDonalds 7 times a week.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7854827

Just a quick summary of a lot of information in the link there. Making sure you have the right balance is key, because having too much can cause the effect of having too little. It probably won't help to say, "Oh, I'm not getting enough calcium, time to start eating bones!"

 

i used to get pretty bad overcontraction cramps on my biceps and hamstrings from flexing the elbows and knees too hard. went away with chin-ups and romanian deadlifts, so some full-ROM calf raises might help in the long run.

 

Yes This ^ Plus Check your Magnesium and Boron intake.

Magnesium particularly will help tamp down your cramping.

Also Thomas's and Fish's advice (and other) were sensible too.

 

If your squatting etc on the same day as training that will help increase your need for electrolytes and tire your nervous system out.

If youve recently put on muscle, then it may not of adjusted itself to the vascular demands training places on it, plus more it will also increase your need for electrlolyetes.