How to Deal With Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps
“In some ways, cramp is worse than having a broken leg.”
- Kevin Keegan, former football player.
Nobody deserves to have their workout session interrupted due to a searing pain in their muscles. Let alone an aspiring or current pro cheerleader suffer a muscle cramp after a workout. Luckily, there are ways to prevent it. But first, let’s find out why muscle cramps happen.
What Is An Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramp?
Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps (EAMC) are painful sensations in our muscles that happen during or after a workout. The pain experienced can be immobilizing and is often experienced by athletes during or after athletic events.
The longer the duration, the higher the frequency, and the more intense the workout is, the higher the risk you are of experiencing the cramps.
Why Does It Happen?
EAMCs happen when your skeletal muscles (voluntary muscles) contract involuntarily. This is a result of abnormal motor nerve function - nerves that are responsible for muscle control. And if your nervous system is stressed to begin with, your cramps will be worse.
There is also a theory on what causes muscle cramps. Three common speculations are muscle fatigue, dehydration, and a loss of electrolytes. Cramps are also common among marathon runners, triathlon participants, and athletes like pro cheerleaders.
This is because competitive events last for 3 to 5 hours making every athlete sweat a lot. The same goes for your workouts that could last from 30 minutes to an hour and a half.
It’s also important to remember that when there’s a lot of sweating, a lot of sodium and water is lost from the body. And sodium is an electrolyte important to keep a person’s body hydrated.
How To Deal With Exercise-Associated Muscle Cramps
1. Try to reduce fatigue
You can reduce fatigue by varying your workouts to target different muscles in your body. For example, instead of doing outdoor or treadmill runs a major part of your fitness program, balance it out with bodyweight workouts or strength training.
If you’re new to working out and experiencing cramps, you should reduce the intensity and duration of your exercises. Only make them more challenging once you’re used to them.
Sleep and resting also is an effective way to overcome muscle fatigue. Take a break when you’re tired when exercising and aim to sleep for 7-9 hours every night.
2. Consume more sodium
As mentioned before, sodium is an electrolyte that helps your body retain more water by soaking it up. It is advisable to drink sports beverages as each bottle contains 300 to 500mg of electrolytes per liter.
But if you don’t like sports drinks, you can opt to cook your meals with slightly more salt or soy sauce to add more fun and flavor. Just because it’s recommended to eat salty food doesn’t mean it’s okay to eat chips. Those options still have refined carbs and unhealthy fats so stay away from them. There are more ways to get more electrolytes. Just read this article here.
3. Stay well-hydrated all the time
In addition to eating salty dishes, drink a lot of water all day especially before every meal to stay hydrated and not mistake thirst for hunger. Keep a tumbler of water close to you as you work out and take water breaks if you need to. Some foods also help in keeping you hydrated.
4. Stretch and warm up first before anything else
Poor blood circulation can sometimes cause muscle cramping. Make sure your muscles are warmed up before every workout session. Always take time to stretch your limbs and your neck. Massage the muscles that are about to be targeted by your exercises as well.
You can also massage, stretch, and apply an ice compress your muscles if a cramp is taking place.
Exercise Associated Muscle Cramps can cause injuries for athletes and those living a fit lifestyle. You might stumble during an outdoor run or drop a 2lbs dumbbell on your feet due to cramping muscle. While these may sound like light accidents, they still can cause harm. But if you follow the four tips above to prevent cramps, you’ll be at lesser risk of having your muscles contracting involuntarily. We hope this helps you!
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