On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 00:08:17 -0600, Raptor <
[email protected]> wrote:
>Jet wrote:
>> Uh, oddly when I overextend myself the mucles that tend to act up (as in
>> cramp) are the inner thighs. Man, that -really- hurts when those things
>> cramp up. Might be the Gracilus muscle. Those are probably strongly
>> stressed as stabilizers when you're pedalling, keeping your knees in and
>> not flared out. Not sure.
>>
>> jj
>
>I suspect my gracilus is the muscle(s) I tend to have most trouble with
>in my hamstrings, pulling/tearing and DOMS. Cramping for me occurs
>mostly in my gastroc.
I get some calf cramping, and also some cramps in the outside of the lower
leg - I might have a slight leg-length discrep which causes my foot to try
to evert (turn bottom up).
I've suspected the gracilus, but now I'm thinking it's mostly the
sartorius, b/c that muscle will pull the knees together when the leg is
bent about 90 degress - similar to the position cycling. It's main function
is to cross the legs (thus sartorius=tailor), but it will also help bend
the leg. I think those inner thigh muscles strongly contract as you begin
the downward push on the pedals, keeping the knees together.
My suspicion is that since the inner thigh muscles aren't under fairly
constant tension, but -suddenly- have to apply force when you start the
downward push that the tension is higher and more sudden and may end up
fatiguing them more, and improving their condition less well than the major
quads and hams...not sure that makes sense...anyway...
Talking about DOMS, -man- I've been getting some of that, I think, because
of adding the stationary bike warmup for 15 minutes before each ride.
Pretty cool, because despite lots of riding every day, I've rarely had any
muscle soreness. Though they say that DOMS is not a sign of muscle
building, it tells me I'm working harder so having it occasionally seems
like a good thing especially when ramping up my training, like now.
jj
