{"id":43034,"date":"2017-12-15T04:00:26","date_gmt":"2017-12-15T03:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/uncategorized\/avoiding-muscle-cramps-during-exercise\/"},"modified":"2017-12-15T04:00:26","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T03:00:26","slug":"avoiding-muscle-cramps-during-exercise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/blog\/evolve\/avoiding-muscle-cramps-during-exercise\/","title":{"rendered":"Avoiding Muscle Cramps During Exercise"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Muscle cramps during exercise<\/strong> can be painful and debilitating, often interrupting and inhibiting your workout performance. <strong>Post-exercise cramping<\/strong> can also be frustrating, and may strike without warning \u2013 usually in the middle of the night. The good news is there are <strong>several simple strategies<\/strong> that you can use <strong>to minimize your risk of cramping during and after exercise<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>What is a muscle cramp?<\/h2>\n<p>A muscle cramp is a <strong>sudden, involuntary and sustained contraction of one or more muscles<\/strong>. There is often a <strong>visible and palpable hardening of the muscles<\/strong>. Cramps may last for a few seconds to several minutes, and can recur many times before subsiding.<\/p>\n<h2>Why does cramping occur?<\/h2>\n<p>Cramping occurs when the <strong>mechanisms that control muscle contraction and relaxation become impaired<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>For efficient muscle function, there are 3 key physiological requirements that need to be met:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>optimal cellular environment<\/li>\n<li>well-conditioned muscles<\/li>\n<li>sufficient <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/post-workout-recovery\/\">recovery<\/a><\/span>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What are the best strategies to reduce the risk of cramping?<\/h2>\n<h3>1. Maintain an optimal cellular environment<\/h3>\n<p>Maintaining an <strong>optimal cellular environment is the most important strategy<\/strong>, and is dependent on <strong>balanced levels of water, glucose and electrolytes inside the cells<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>When glucose and electrolytes become too low, the cells dump water to re-balance the environment. When too much water is drunk, the cells also dump excess water, along with important electrolytes. This <strong>electrolyte and glucose imbalance can result in muscle cramps<\/strong>. The best strategy is to <strong>reduce\/avoid tea, coffee, dietary drinks<\/strong> (especially before exercise), and <strong>consume a purpose designed sports drink<\/strong>, such as Gatorade \u2013 which will provide optimal amounts of water, glucose and electrolytes.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Keep your muscles well-conditioned<\/h3>\n<p>Cramps are less likely to occur in <strong>muscles that are well-conditioned and supple<\/strong>. When you work out, ensure that you are <strong>working through a full range of motion<\/strong> where possible, and be sure to <strong>spend time on flexibility<\/strong> at the beginning and end of your workout. For best results, combine <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/tutorial-foam-roll-upper-back\/\">foam rolling<\/a><\/span> and <strong>dynamic stretching<\/strong> \u2013 to boost your circulation and reduce the risk of cramping.<\/p>\n<h3>3. Make time for a proper post-workout recovery<\/h3>\n<p>The final strategy is to ensure you <strong>make time for <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/five-simple-strategies-to-boost-recovery\/\">recovery post-exercise<\/a><\/span><\/strong>. Muscles need adequate rest between workouts, and during these times, hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol can re-balance. Proper rest and recovery will ensure that your cellular environment remains optimist for the next workout.<\/p>\n<h2>What is EVO\u2019s position on avoiding muscle cramps?<\/h2>\n<p>At EVO, our focus is on creating better understanding of the body for optimal physiological and physical health. Strategies to minimize the risk of muscle cramps should begin with a <strong>focus on attaining optimal cellular health<\/strong> through adequate consumption of a <strong>balanced sports drink before, during and after exercise<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Pre- and post-workout strategies should also include proper <strong>flexibility training<\/strong>, particularly the use of <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/tutorial-foam-roll-lats\/\">foam rollers<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/recovery-health\/\">optimal rest<\/a><\/span> between bouts of exercise will ensure longer-term avoidance of muscle cramps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Muscle cramps during exercise can be painful and debilitating, often interrupting and inhibiting your workout performance. Post-exercise cramping can also&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":43035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Avoiding Muscle Cramps During And After Exercise | EVO Fitness|Avoiding Muscle Cramps During And After Exercise | EVO Fitness","_seopress_titles_desc":"Muscle cramps during &amp; after exercise can be painful and frustrating. Luckily, there are several strategies you can use to minimize your risk of cramping.|Muscle cramps during &amp; after exercise can be painful and frustrating. Luckily, there are several strategies you can use to minimize your risk of cramping.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[300,301,117,118,293,294,295,296,297,298,299],"class_list":["post-43034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evolve","tag-recovery","tag-rest","tag-movement","tag-performance","tag-expert-advice","tag-health","tag-healthy","tag-metabolic-health","tag-metabolism","tag-performance-fitness","tag-physical"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/evofitness.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}