Leg Cramps - HELP !!!!

Dogfighting said:

Is there a webpage around that outlines a plan of action to deal with
this problem ?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=2006/letters09-11#8
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JT
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stretching and good hydration always helped me

"Richard Cheese" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Eat some bananas or add a little salt to your diet.

"Dogfighting" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have cycled for many years without leg cramps, but now I am getting
them fairly bad.

Is there a webpage around that outlines a plan of action to deal with
this problem ?

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Eat some bananas or add a little salt to your diet.

"Dogfighting" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hello,

I have cycled for many years without leg cramps, but now I am getting them
fairly bad.

Is there a webpage around that outlines a plan of action to deal with this
problem ?

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Dogfighting said:

Is there a webpage around that outlines a plan of action to deal with
this problem ?

On long rides, I've found that drinking plenty, and a couple of salt
tablets per bottle, help a lot.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

John Forrest Tomlinson said:

Dogfighting said:

Is there a webpage around that outlines a plan of action to deal with
this problem ?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/fitness/?id=2006/letters09-11#8

thanks

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Dogfighting said:

Hello,

I have cycled for many years without leg cramps, but now I am getting
them fairly bad.

Is there a webpage around that outlines a plan of action to deal with
this problem ?

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

I used to wake up at night literally screaming in pain

Go to Hammernutriton.com, click on "electrolytes" and follow the
links, including their rather scholarly articles and papers. THen
order their endurolytes. I happen to live about a mile from the
place, but started using their products when I lived 2,000 miles away.
I have no affiliation.

Bill Westphal

Leg cramps are a fairly common but poorly understood condition that
could be caused by any number of things, including electrolyte
imbalances and dehydration. I would not recommend jumping the gun and
buying all sorts of products claiming to fix them. You should first
look at your training load, your hydration status and your diet. If
the cramps are occuring during rides, try drinking some tonic water;
the quinine in it is a mild relaxant and has been successful for
nearly every client I've had who suffered from race cramps. If the
cramps are post ride, consider stretching and massage. While tight
muscles are not a cause of cramping, stretching can help relax muscles
after training.

Good Luck,
Chris Harnish, M.S.
Exercise Physiologist and Coach

Bill Westphal said:

Dogfighting said:

Hello,

Quoted message said:

I have cycled for many years without leg cramps, but now I am getting
them fairly bad.

Quoted message said:

Is there a webpage around that outlines a plan of action to deal with
this problem ?

Quoted message said:

--
Posted via a free Usenet account fromhttp://www.teranews.com

I used to wake up at night literally screaming in pain

Go to Hammernutriton.com, click on "electrolytes" and follow the
links, including their rather scholarly articles and papers. THen
order their endurolytes. I happen to live about a mile from the
place, but started using their products when I lived 2,000 miles away.
I have no affiliation.

Bill Westphal

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/104-4770701-9905511?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=STRETCHING&Go.x=5&Go.y=3

Michael Warner said:

On long rides, I've found that drinking plenty, and a couple of salt
ta blets per bottle, help a lot.

It's hard to believe that any American needs to add salt tablets to
their diet.

Try stretching on a regular basis. That typically eliminates cramping
problems.

41 said:

Michael Warner said:

On long rides, I've found that drinking plenty, and a couple of salt
ta blets per bottle, help a lot.

It's hard to believe that any American needs to add salt tablets to
their diet.

I don't think our bodies store vast quantities of salt. I started
taking a couple salt tablets before races of more than about two hours
in warm weather, and I cramp less now.

--
JT
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41 said:

Michael Warner said:

On long rides, I've found that drinking plenty, and a couple of salt
ta blets per bottle, help a lot.

It's hard to believe that any American needs to add salt tablets to
their diet.

Dumbass - do you always go with the stereotypes when discussing people. I
imagine you're surprised that there are any French bike racers what with the way
they smoke.

Quoted message said:

Try stretching on a regular basis. That typically eliminates cramping
problems.

[censored].

Ron

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.braceface.com/medical/Civil_War_Surgeons_swords_and_images/Civil%2520War%2520Images/PJ%2520leg%2520amputation%2520CDV.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.braceface.com/medical/Civil_War_Surgeons_swords_and_images/Collecting_civil_war_surgeon%27s_images.htm&h=690&w=428&sz=71&hl=en&start=8&sig2=D93uLNj-EqKOEf3YsXyfoQ&um=1&tbnid=NSot_r6utvATiM:&tbnh=139&tbnw=86&ei=B4w8RqaTOIOchgT7qZS8Aw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dleg%2Bamputation%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGLJ%26sa%3DN

John Forrest Tomlinson said:

41 said:

Michael Warner said:

On long rides, I've found that drinking plenty, and a couple of salt
ta blets per bottle, help a lot.

It's hard to believe that any American needs to add salt tablets to
their diet.

I don't think our bodies store vast quantities of salt. I started
taking a couple salt tablets before races of more than about two hours
in warm weather, and I cram p less now.

The human body is very roughly 2/3 water, in a concentration to hold
very roughly 100g of sodium. If I understand the metric system
correctly, that is about 100,000mg of sodium. . A high salt diet over
a period of 1 week can result in the st orage of several g of sodium.

It used to be thought that significant amounts of this excess sodium
were stored by increasing the volume of the extracellular fluid,
resulting in edema, puffy skin and the like. This is now disputed, and
it is known that pl asma volume increases with increased sodium
intake. A third and perhaps most important storage location may be the
interstitial reservoir. However, all of this is under study.

The point is that American (and British, and Japanese, and French,
and...) mal es typically consume >4g sodium/day. This was meant to be
opposed to say, Yanomamo tribesmen, who, according to the famous
Intersalt study, consume less than 300mg/day, perhaps as low as 15mg/
day.

The normally accepted daily requirement, apart from spe cial losses
like excercise-induced sweat loss, is about 180-500mg, and the current
RDA, according to various agencies, is about 1-2+g/day. Gatorade, one
of the saltier replacement drinks, contains about 500mg sodium/litre,
and sweat, about 1g sodium/litre. Sweat rate during exercise in hot
weather is roughly 1 litre/hour. Taken all together, even for races of
duration >2hrs, this seems therefore to be very well within limits.

Don't forget that salt balance is influenced not just by sodium
intake, but als o by water intake. The author to whom I responded
described "drinking plenty". That may cause problems as much as
inadequate sodium intake. The relevant parameter is concentration, not
total amount.

For a start:
http://tinyurl.com/2ecaou
http://tinyurl.com/2bem74
and related articles linked

and a good popular article by Friel:
http://www.coolrunning.co.nz/articles/2000a006.html

So, to repeat: try stretching on a regular basis. That typically
eliminates cramping problems.{

41 said:

So, to repeat: try stretching on a regular basis. That typically
eliminates cramping problems.{

Thanks for the info on salt. But how is it that when I started taking
salt tablets I began getting less cramps? Is it a placebo effect? The
cramping would be late in races when I can barely remember my own
name, let alone whether or not I took salt.
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JT
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Salt keeps me from getting the post ride cramps (4-6 hours later)
intense upper quad and hamstring cramps

I take salt pills during and after all my rides because I sweat a lot

I sure stretching would also help

"John Forrest Tomlinson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

41 said:

So, to repeat: try stretching on a regular basis. That typically
eliminates cramping problems.{

Thanks for the info on salt. But how is it that when I started taking
salt tablets I began getting less cramps? Is it a placebo effect? The
cramping would be late in races when I can barely remember my own
name, let alone whether or not I took salt.
--
JT
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Ok
I didn't want to comment because mostly I am not a doctor nor am I a pro.
But as I recall in high school, the coach was giving the football team
calcium pills.
And some years back I got into eating healthier and supplements. I heard as
many of
you might have heard, about, "BOB BAREFOOTS CORAL CALCIUM."
Well I have tested it myself. On a hot day when temps are over 85 F, and
into the 95 F,
I like to supplement with the coral calcium. Your heart is your most
important muscle,
if your getting leg cramps your heart must be straining too.
As I recall or remember hearing, that calcium in the body carries the
electrical signal
so that the heart can keep beating.
I can say that with the calcium that I sweat less. At first I started with
calcium citrate, but then I
switched to bearfoots. It seems to work better.
I can ride harder and stronger with calcium supplementation.
I know some of the forum regulars are going to say I am a QUACK.
But all these physiological systems that run in the blood and regulated by
the body, are so completely
balanced, but due to extreme exercise of cycling, calcium is scavenged by
the body from the bones.
You go out on a 3 hour ride, and by that time the cramps set in, could it be
that the systems that scavenge
calcium from bones are stressed as well as over stressed. The heart is your
most valuable muscle, and it
is calcium in the form of blood electrolyte that keeps it beating. Leg
cramps is a first sign that your about to
die, or heat exhaustion. On a hot day, after 3 hours, and sun, some of you
are out there and have stopped
sweating, and your face is no longer wet, or sweaty. Your getting to the
point of heat exhaustion, the face gets hot to the touch, dry, your achy,
and sometimes want to vomit. It's electrolytes, including calcium, and other
blood electrolytes.
If I take barefoots coral calcium, and ride a certain percentage faster, and
stronger, with no adverse affects,
I'm just saying. I didn't see anyone say anything about calcium, only
sodium, so just saying -not giving any doctor advise here, some people can't
take calcium or they get deposits in their joints. But for the most part
cyclists, being healthy sort we are, can take a calcium supplement with no
harm.
Interesting link:
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/minerals/calcium/capth.html
Another Link:
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/minerals/calcium/index.html
Gregory 🙂

"John Forrest Tomlinson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

41 said:

Michael Warner said:

On long rides, I've found that drinking plenty, and a couple of salt
ta blets per bottle, help a lot.

It's hard to believe that any American needs to add salt tablets to
their diet.

I don't think our bodies store vast quantities of salt. I started
taking a couple salt tablets before races of more than about two hours
in warm weather, and I cramp less now.

--
JT
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Visit http://www.jt10000.com
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John Forrest Tomlinson said:

41 said:

So, to repeat: try stretching on a regular basis. That typically
eliminates cramping problems.{

Thanks for the info on salt. But how is it that when I started taking
salt tablets I began getting less cramps? Is it a placebo effect? The
cramping would be late in races when I can barely remember my own
name, let alone whether or not I took salt.

For riders who passed through a certain era, a wonderful and very
influential book was Karen and Gary Hawkins' Bicycle Touring in
Europe. Besides telling of over-the-top bicycles made of "Renolds
531", costing as much as $250 fully Campagnolo equipped, they also
informed us of the need to ingest huge quantities of salt during hot
weather riding, I think something like a salt pill every hour or two,
to avoid cramps. What the? Well, it was a different era, and maybe
ordinary salt consumption for on the cheap campers in Europe was much
less too. The Roman soldiers used to get paid in salt, from whence our
term "salary".

As for your experiences: there are only about a billion variables.
"Typically" means neither universally, nor exclusively. You don't say
what you drink or eat during the races, nor how long they are: under 4
hours? If so, it's really hard to believe that the cause is salt loss.
Note again though that electrolyte imbalance is a matter of
concentration, not total amount. It is possible to get hyponatremia by
drinking too much water. The matter then is not loss of salt, but gain
of water. So, what is needed is not the addition of salt tablets, but
the reduction of water intake. Or instead of plain water, a less
hypotonic solution. Medicine distinguishes about a half a dozen
specific types of hyponatremia, depending on whether it is fluid or
sodium going this way or thataway, and which one more or less.

Besides fluid intake, among the billion variables are medication, beer
intake, drug intake, and diarrhoea. Some people have naturally very
salty sweat. Consider one study: two groups under heavy cramp-
stimulating excercise, one getting sodium replacement drinks, the
other no fluid or sodium replacement at all. In fact more people in
the replacement group got cramps. However, their average time to first
cramp onset was greater.

If the cramps are very localized, say always in the calves or even
just one calf, or to the arch, etc., then one suspects all the more
that electrolyte imbalance is not the problem, and salt tablets not
the solution. One poster described night leg cramps; regular
stretching essentially always solves those. If the cramps are more
spread out, happening to many muscle groups, and especially if
associated with other symptoms of hyponatremia- a life-threatening
condition- then something is likely to be going wrong with the fluid/
sodium balance. Mental disturbance, like not being able to remember
one's own name, would be one of those other symptoms. In any case
though, regular stretching typically eliminates cramping problems. It
certainly gets rid of the cramp once you have it.
o

41 said:

It's hard to believe that any American needs to add salt tablets to
their diet.

No doubt, but I'm not American, I rarely eat processed food, I never
use it when I cook and I never add it to anything I eat.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

Michael Warner said:

41 said:

It's hard to believe that any American needs to add salt tablets to
their diet.

No doubt, but I'm not American, I rarely eat processed food, I never
use it when I cook and I never add it to anything I eat.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

It looks like we bad Americans have had better luck poisoning you
Australians than the apparantly smarter British, although we have even
greater luck elsewhere. Citing from:

http://tinyurl.com/3d8rpg

* Kelloggs Coco Pops in Australia have 1.41g salt per 100g while the
similar product in the UK contains 25% less salt (1.13g per 100g)

* Burger King Onion rings contain 150% more salt (1.26g per 100g salt)
in Australia than the same product in the UK (0.5g per 100g)

* A McDonald Cheeseburger in Australia contains 21% more salt than one
in the UK and accounts for more than half (53%) of a six year-old
recommended daily limit (UK 1.31g per 100g) (5)

It looks like we get away with whatever we can (from the same source),
in the interest of profits:

Professor Caryl Nowson, Deakin University, WASH member from Australia
said "Why should people in Brazil have to eat cereal packed full of
salt if we in Australia can have the same product with a fraction of
the salt content (79% less in Kelloggs Frosties)? Why is it OK for
Mexicans to have 2.5 times more salt in their McDonalds Chicken
Nuggets than Australians? Why do Cheeseburgers, Onion Rings and Coco
Pops in Australia contain significantly more salt than the same
products in the UK.

What they don't compare is us to the Brazilians. I suspect we're far
worse. They're probably afraid of lawsuits from those smart American
lawyers.

But you guys are playing catchup with the Brits and Finns:

"The UK is currently leading the way in reducing salt," said Professor
Graham MacGregor, Chairman of WASH. "The experience of Finland, which
has had a salt reduction programme running since the late 1970s, shows
that population-wide reduction of dietary salt leads to
population-wide reductions in blood pressure and parallel reductions
in deaths from stroke and heart disease. The American Medical
Association has recently voted to work to reduce the amount of salt
added to food by industry in the US by at least 50% in the next ten
years.

It looks like the AMA put it's best researchers to task, and figured
out they can make more by lessening the heart disease damage
sufficiently that people don't experience spontaneous death, but
rather are left semi-vegetative, and much better surgery candidates.
Hurray for the American way!