excercise question

I

incognito

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Jan 8, 2004
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Not sure but it's awfully hot down here.
Need some advice or techniques on how to make my calves NOT seize up. Almost every time i play b-ball, my calves will start to seize at about the 2 hour mark. Yes, i do stretch before i play but my question is are there any exercises or stretching techniques that can prevent this from happening often.

Thanks for your time.
 
Dehydration and weak calf muscles.
Drink lots of water before and during the game and do some calf excercises at the gym.
 
Years ago I donated my stem cells over a two day period.

They hook you up, suck the blood out, put it through a centrifuge where they suck off the stem cells, add a little coagulant and pump the blood back into me.

The nurses warned me about the coagulant as it could dilute the returned blood so much that it would reduce my calcium levels and that could lead to muscle cramping of any muscle. The muscle that they were most concerned about was my heart.

In the middle of the first day my nurse ask me if my face was numb. "Yes, it feels like I have been frozen by the dentist". They immediately stopped the process as the numbness is the precursor to cramping. She gave me two TUMS and I felt the feeling coming back right away. She explained that TUMS have a lot of calcium. I said that I thought potassium (bananas) prevented cramping. WRONG...it is calcium. On the 2nd day I ate about 8 tubs of yoghurt before they hooked me up.

Carry some TUMS to pop when you exericise.

Bump up your calcium intake.
 
Face a wall. Place both hands on the wall, put one foot on the wall heel on the floor. Move your upper body towards the wall and hold this position for at least 20 seconds. Repeat this movement with other foot. Great stretching technique for the calves.
 
sailorsix is somewhat correct . Your body is in need of both calcium potassium and magnesium. Tums bananas and supplements are important to keep your body chemistry inline
 
White men can't jump..............Give it up and switch to Bocce Ball .
 
By two hours, you're also probably running low on sodium. Low sodium is a cause of cramping for runners and triathletes. You can get some electrolyte caps from Popeyes or other supplement places, some serious cycling or running shops, or I have kept in reserve some little envelopes of salt from MacD's. Nowadays, I fill empty capsules with salt, and take one every hour on long runs in the summer. No more cramps.
Yes, you need to stretch and self-massage too. After every practice, to get yourself loosened up. You'll cramp more easily if you start off with tight muscles and knots in your calves.
 
And I forgot the most obvious thing. Even when we're low on sodium, we don't cramp all over our body, we cramp at the part that is being overloaded with stress. And that over-stress cramping happens even when our electrolytes are in balance. So............build up your calves. Strength training, and plyometrics.
There's a zillion places to look on the net, but myfit.ca has a good list.
O.
 
Cramping is caused by a combination of muscle exhaustion and dehydration. In addition to Bear's stretching suggestions (which you should do on days you don't play as well) you need to hydrate. Prehydrate before games with water and some electrolytes if you can (like a banana), during the game you may need to replace your electrolytes more by drinking gatorade (better than other replacements because of higher levels of electrolytes). If that doesn't work, you may need to add some calories to the eletrolytes with some food or even gels that you can pick up at a running store (like powerbar gel); some people even take electrolyte tabs if it's severe but at 2hrs you probably won't need them if you do the other stuff.

It won't get better right away but play around with the above and stretch; you'll figure your body out soon enough.

Good luck
 
Thanks for all the info. I do stretch before the games and i know i don't hydrate enough during the day but i thought it might be something else. I'll give it a try and experiment to see the balance i need.

Once again, TERB is just more about hot women.;)
 
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