- This topic has 12 voices and 29 replies.
-
Posts
-
So, I'm really getting tired of my calves cramping. It's stupid painful and it limits mobility for days.Over the last 3-6 months, I've several times woken in the middle of the night with a gnarly calf cramp going on.. Haven't had one of those in a couple of weeks now, but today I was doing PSR leg curls, and my upper left calf went berserk. Pissed me off, I still had calf raises and such to do. I went ahead with the seated calf raises but I had to break up into sets of careful 10s because my mid calf would start fluttering on the edge of knotting up.Anyone have any ideas/suggestions/experience with calf cramps? I already take a maximum dose of magnesium nightly (as defined by the amount I can take before I become a slave to the porcelain God), drink 3-4 liters of water a day, I really dig into my ankle mobility on squat days, and I wear some compression calf sleeves either when I do calf work/jumprope/etc or after I do those things. Thoughts?
generally cramps is not enough potassium or sodium or magnesium.. to much magnesium can actually cause you to lose even more potassium causing even more cramping.. i'd make sure you are getting a healthy dose of all 3 minerals.. if you superdose some it can issue issues with others.. generally you are best not taking any extra in supplement form and just eating foods high in those minerals.. couple pickles a day is great for sodium, banana in pwo shakes is great for potassium, nuts are great for magnesium as are dark leafy greens which also has lots of potassium as well..
generally cramps is not enough potassium or sodium or magnesium.. to much magnesium can actually cause you to lose even more potassium causing even more cramping.. i'd make sure you are getting a healthy dose of all 3 minerals.. if you superdose some it can issue issues with others.. generally you are best not taking any extra in supplement form and just eating foods high in those minerals.. couple pickles a day is great for sodium, banana in pwo shakes is great for potassium, nuts are great for magnesium as are dark leafy greens which also has lots of potassium as well..
Facepalm. I always forget about potassium.Sodium I'm already hitting around 4-6g a day I think.. But I'll have to find a better source of K. Bananas are repulsive to me, ha. Aren't potatoes and tomatoes much higher in K than bananas anyway?
generally cramps is not enough potassium or sodium or magnesium.. to much magnesium can actually cause you to lose even more potassium causing even more cramping.. i'd make sure you are getting a healthy dose of all 3 minerals.. if you superdose some it can issue issues with others.. generally you are best not taking any extra in supplement form and just eating foods high in those minerals.. couple pickles a day is great for sodium, banana in pwo shakes is great for potassium, nuts are great for magnesium as are dark leafy greens which also has lots of potassium as well..
Facepalm. I always forget about potassium.Sodium I'm already hitting around 4-6g a day I think.. But I'll have to find a better source of K. Bananas are repulsive to me, ha. Aren't potatoes and tomatoes much higher in K than bananas anyway?
yes potatoes/tomatos is a geat source I just said banana because it's a popular PWO fruit and has a lot of potassium... some good oneshttp://www.weightlossforall.com/potassium-rich-food.htm
generally cramps is not enough potassium or sodium or magnesium.. to much magnesium can actually cause you to lose even more potassium causing even more cramping.. i'd make sure you are getting a healthy dose of all 3 minerals.. if you superdose some it can issue issues with others.. generally you are best not taking any extra in supplement form and just eating foods high in those minerals.. couple pickles a day is great for sodium, banana in pwo shakes is great for potassium, nuts are great for magnesium as are dark leafy greens which also has lots of potassium as well..
Facepalm. I always forget about potassium.Sodium I'm already hitting around 4-6g a day I think.. But I'll have to find a better source of K. Bananas are repulsive to me, ha. Aren't potatoes and tomatoes much higher in K than bananas anyway?
yes potatoes is a geat source I just said banana because it's a popular PWO fruit and has a lot of potassium.. tomatoes are ok not as good as some others though.. some good oneshttp://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-potassium.php
You set me down one path of potential help. I do find it weird, however, that it's ONLY ever my calves that cramp. Nothing else. So I'm wondering if it isn't actually nutritional, but something biomechanical. But regardless, just found this from Kresser:"Chris Kresser: Good question, Steve. Well, there are some non-starchy vegetables that are pretty high in potassium, but yeah, your point is well taken. If someone’s on a ketogenic diet, probably a combination of non-starchy vegetables that are high in potassium and supplement. I like the potassium gluconate form, and the dose would depend on how much you’re getting from food, but they usually come in 99 mg tablets, and you might try doing one three times a day or two three times a day. You don’t want to go overboard with potassium supplementation because all the minerals should exist in a balance in our body. If you take too much of any one mineral for too long, that can cause some difficulties, and if you are supplementing with potassium, you probably want to make sure you’re supplementing a little bit with magnesium too, which I recommend for most people anyhow because it’s pretty hard to get from the diet."So perhaps I'll begin an experiment to see if I have any relief from doing 2-3 K-Gluconate pills a day, in addition to the spinach I eat pretty much daily. And I usually force myself to choke a banana down PWO on the weekends, ha.
I wonder how dried figs would taste in a PWO shake.. Nutritiondata.com has them at about 51% glucose and like 48% fructose. Not ideal, but paired with leucine could work for insulin spiking. Though nutritiondata only has them about 280mg potassium per 100calories, whereas your link has them at 900mg potassium per 100 calories.
I wonder how dried figs would taste in a PWO shake.. Nutritiondata.com has them at about 51% glucose and like 48% fructose. Not ideal, but paired with leucine could work for insulin spiking. Though nutritiondata only has them about 280mg potassium per 100calories, whereas your link has them at 900mg potassium per 100 calories.
yea not sure how they get their data.. if you search around the web you will find all sorts of values for the same exact foods
“Had” the same problem my friend, Keep water to +1gallon and take magnesium supplements. With the water intake and ULC diet make sure to get some sodium in there too. Thats how i got rid of mine.
I wonder how dried figs would taste in a PWO shake.. Nutritiondata.com has them at about 51% glucose and like 48% fructose. Not ideal, but paired with leucine could work for insulin spiking. Though nutritiondata only has them about 280mg potassium per 100calories, whereas your link has them at 900mg potassium per 100 calories.
Figs blended are awesome. I like crunching the seeds. They're like little chunks of sweetness.
"Had" the same problem my friend, Keep water to +1gallon and take magnesium supplements. With the water intake and ULC diet make sure to get some sodium in there too. Thats how i got rid of mine.
Was your issue with calves specifically also?I'm thinking I might start adding some iodized sea salt to my AM accelerator and to my pre-workout. Maybe I'm not getting as much as I thought. Possibly try the Potassium Gluconate supplementation as well, and maybe throw some calf smashing, a la Kelly Starrett, in a couple times a week. See if I can kick this shit to the curb.
Only calves man, really, really, bad lol. I started taking a magnesium pill everyday, drink lots of water, I dont add salt to anything but yellow mustard and hot sauce are my friends. But the only time i get them now is when I dont drink enough water during CN, then I wake up that night screaming bloody murder.
Only calves man, really, really, bad lol. I started taking a magnesium pill everyday, drink lots of water, I dont add salt to anything but yellow mustard and hot sauce are my friends. But the only time i get them now is when I dont drink enough water during CN, then I wake up that night screaming bloody murder.
Had that twice when I was on CNS. The night of my CN. And you aren't kidding. I literally woke up in a scream.
Only calves man, really, really, bad lol. I started taking a magnesium pill everyday, drink lots of water, I dont add salt to anything but yellow mustard and hot sauce are my friends. But the only time i get them now is when I dont drink enough water during CN, then I wake up that night screaming bloody murder.
Had that twice when I was on CNS. The night of my CN. And you aren't kidding. I literally woke up in a scream.
Yup, mine would be so bad that days after there wouldn't be pain, but id be in a rest period on an upper body day, sitting on the bench and look down at my calves having spasms and twitching. Looked like there was something in them!! haha . I would try a magnesium tablet. Thats the only significant change I made when i noticed they went away. +I drink 16oz water every time i eat, and make sure to get +1gallon a day.
I wonder how dried figs would taste in a PWO shake.. Nutritiondata.com has them at about 51% glucose and like 48% fructose. Not ideal, but paired with leucine could work for insulin spiking. Though nutritiondata only has them about 280mg potassium per 100calories, whereas your link has them at 900mg potassium per 100 calories.
Figs blended are awesome. I like crunching the seeds. They're like little chunks of sweetness.
Do you need to soak them like with dates? To be honest, I don't even know how to eat a damn fig ha. You peel it? Just chomp in like an apple? I always see the dried figs at my natural market butt never have gotten them..
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.