Dealing with the cramp aftermath

Talk about an extreme workout for your muscles but unintentionally, after having cramp in my leg calf on Saturday, I am still dealing with the tightness.  I even took two days off exercise to try and my muscles a little break from exercise, couldn't quite do a third day.  During this time, my left calf is still tight from the muscle contractions and unfortunately to make it feel any better, is by making it feel worse.  Intense massage and rolling, I think I actually went through every swear word possible whilst trying to get the knot out of my calf.  Stretching, rolling, massage and rest would be the quickest way to recover.

Its been two days and I am still not quite there, but I am most definitely not missing another day.  My thoughts now is that a good training session will also help but also concentrating still on the rolling before and after the workout.  I do try and roll out before and after ever session anyway but there today its was more concentrated on the calf.

Tonights strength and conditioning class there was just two of us.  The warm up was a little different that what we are used to and consisted of 4 sets of the following after 90 seconds of skipping.

4 Sets:

• Walk outs
  
• Plank
  
• Banded thrusts
  
• Hanging knee raises
  

After 4 sets the warm up continued with side shuttles and crab walks..

After the warm up moved onto 4 sets:

• Squats (starting off bar, then 5kgs then 7.5kg)
  
• Step ups with 10kg kettle bell
  
• Abs Circle (similar to leg raises)
  
• Sled pull/push
  
• Push ups
  

Finishing off with some more rolling and stretching (hopefully my calf will feel better tomorrow).  Definitely felt like the ultimate workout, but would 100% rather do an actual workout then go through 5 minutes of muscle cramps.

Probably the biggest culprit for my cramp is dehydration, I really don't drink enough water and I should be making a conscious effort to ensure that I am having more than enough water.  Also not really warming up before an event, there really is no point in just doing little leg swings, I should be looking at least 30 minutes of warm ups (this is going to be especially important for Enduro).  Taking magnesium supplements should also help, if I remembered to take them everyday.  Understanding cramps and how to treat it, also helps to hopefully prevent it in the future.  Click here to visit the Livestrong website explains a little more on what causes cramps after exercise.