Calfs tense up during exercise? Help!

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Sauleeh
Sauleeh Posts: 83 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Heya! Whenever I do my insanity and do all of those jumps, jogs and whatever else, my calves tense up really bad. What is the cause and how can I fix it? They feel hard and just weird. Also I have experienced on the outside of my calves some sort of muscle pain and pulling. Today I didn't feel it, but I did feel it bad a few days ago.

Replies

  • GetSoda
    GetSoda Posts: 1,267 Member
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    Foam roll before and after. But with a 5" pvc pipe or barbell. No sissy squishy rollers.
  • KimLovesDon
    KimLovesDon Posts: 152 Member
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    Are you keeping hydrated? If it's a crampy type of feeling, could be your potassium is low as well. An exercise you can try is to stretch your leg out straight, then point your toes towards your knee as far as you can. That stretches out the calf and relieves the cramp.
  • LillyWillow
    LillyWillow Posts: 59
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    I just asked my crossfit trainer about this. She said that I've been running (trying to, I don't really run) too much with combining box jumps and jump rope. She said foam rolling isn't enough if my calves were too tense and cramping. She suggested to lay off jumping for a while until my muscles healed a little bit.
  • maundrelle
    maundrelle Posts: 39 Member
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    do you warm up well enough?

    you want to make sure you warm up properly for at least 5 minutes, then you can do some dynamic stretching.

    Here's a good tutorial video:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGNPlcAkDa4

    after your workout, you should stretch your whole body, including your calves while your body is still warm.

    Here's another good tutorial video for stretching:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEynAYfG2-A

    Hope this helped! Try to find some other stretching videos and do the ones that you feel are good for you. :)
  • clamb176
    clamb176 Posts: 15 Member
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    This may be a stupid question, but how much protein are you getting each meal? Some trainers suggest you take in 25 per meal, some say divide your body weight in half and that is the amount of grams of protein you should be taking in. I followed the half your body weight route.

    I also agree with the potassium levels and stretching 5-10 minutes before and after your work outs.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
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    Actually, muscle cramps are not caused by low potassium. That's a myth based on a misinterpretation of early work on causes of cramps.

    I am not entirely clear on whether OP's problem is actual muscle cramps or just poor range of motion, though. Can you elaborate? If flexibility is a problem, you can stretch your calves after the workout; that should make things feel better the next time. If it's cramps, have a look (and listen) here:

    http://impruvism.com/cramps/
  • Peachy1962
    Peachy1962 Posts: 269 Member
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    Is a MUST to stretch out good before ya start any exercise and make sure you're well hydrated and have enough potassium in your diet!!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,618 Member
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    The muscles in your calves are unconditioned. Probably not the workout you should be doing till you get some base strength in them.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,618 Member
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    Is a MUST to stretch out good before ya start any exercise and make sure you're well hydrated and have enough potassium in your diet!!
    Actually it's not a must to stretch. But it is a must to ensure the body is WARMED UP before any intense exercise.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Joannesmith2818
    Joannesmith2818 Posts: 438 Member
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    I had this problem really bad when I started 30 days shred, but i persisted and eventually it got better.
  • bumblebums
    bumblebums Posts: 2,181 Member
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    Is a MUST to stretch out good before ya start any exercise

    No, stretching before exercise is not required.
    and make sure you're well hydrated and have enough potassium in your diet!!

    Yes, but it won't necessarily help with cramps (see my post above).
  • Sauleeh
    Sauleeh Posts: 83 Member
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    With the insanity, it does the warm up and stretch before and after workout. During the warm up it starts to tense up for some reason! Am I overworking the muscles or what? :S
  • maundrelle
    maundrelle Posts: 39 Member
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    might just be that your calves are not used to being worked out that hard. it might go away with time. :)
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,618 Member
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    With the insanity, it does the warm up and stretch before and after workout. During the warm up it starts to tense up for some reason! Am I overworking the muscles or what? :S
    As mentioned, your calves are unconditioned.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

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