Managed to be rudely awoken by calf cramps despite drinking 100oz of water a day and taking plenty of potassium and magnesium. Guess I pushed it too hard for leg day.
Discussion
Don’t forget sodium!
Zapped you to help you push past the pain!
Foam rolling helps
Don't forget the salt!
https://www.espn.com/nba/playoffs/2014/story/_/id/11048753/lebron-james-salty-solution
Potassium and sodium were a game changer for me with cramps.
I’m not quite convinced that we need to be drinking that much water though.
Check out the Huberman Lab episode on water intake.
2 salt tabs is all you need. My calf totally seized up on mile 15 of an ultramarathon. Guy next to me gave me 2. By mile 17, humming along just fine.
I’ve listened to him and Galpin. I find it hard to believe that we evolved to drink quite that much water and it’s important to consider how much we get from food. Beef is > 60% water, for example.
Have you tried the ‘lick your arm while sweating’ approach? I’ll take that over any study.
Add sodium and Calcium to your intake. When I first ran triathlons I would cramp badly each race. There are 2 levels of hydration, plasma (blood), and muscles. A person cramps because that specific muscle was not hydrated. Once I started supplimenting those 4 minerals the cramping stopped completely. The key is upping the intake a few weeks before a race. Muscles will only hydrate when there is enough water mixed with the 4 minerals in a persons system.