Muscle Cramps & Fatigue: What is it and how can I avoid it? (or deal with it once I’m in pain.)
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There are a couple of reasons for muscle cramping. Being dehydrated, not having enough salts, or electrolytes in your blood, over-heating, over-use and oxygen debt are a few that come to mind.
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Cramping is a result of muscle tissue inability to contract properly. Muscle contractions rely on a delicate balance of ions in and outside (in the blood and interstitial fluids that surround) your muscle cells. When the ion balance is upset, the muscle cell goes into a state of prolonged contraction: the muscle tissue locking in a contracted position, straining on other tissues, hence the pain of the cramp. Remember pain is your body telling you something is wrong, you don’t want to mask it with Ibuprofen or something.
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How can I avoid muscle cramping caused by ionic imbalance? Keep a diet high in electrolytes, drink sports drinks (Gatorade, Powerade, etc.) and stay hydrated. Remember to keep a balance in your diet. If you are eating salty meals, you probably don’t need the sports drinks. But if your meals are very low salt, you may need the supplement. Don’t just drink water. Recent studies have shown that (for ultra-marathoners, IronMan-ers and such activities), after a while, drinking only water (with no electrolytes in it) will actually be bad for you (dilutes the muscle tissue in the heart to the point of heart muscles cramping (heart attack)), and has led to the deaths of some athletes.
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Long term oxygen debt is another reason why muscles may cramp or develop fatigue. Cellular respiration is the process of converting sugars into useable energy (ATP). You need oxygen for cellular respiration to occur. This is called aerobic respiration, and it provides your cells with lots of energy (~36 ATP). When you perform exercise for long periods of time, the amount of oxygen available to your tissues (muscle cells) is reduced. This is one reason you breath harder during exercise (another is to get rid of by-products of respiration, like CO2). When you don’t provide enough oxygen to the cells another process takes over: anaerobic respiration. Anaerobic respiration is a technique that many life-forms use to get energy, but it is much less efficient that aerobic respiration (16 times less efficient!!). Fermentation is another name for anaerobic respiration; yeast (think beer), and some bacteria (think yogurt, kimchee) perform fermentation. When yeast performs fermentation, it makes alcohol. When muscle cells perform fermentation, the result is lactic acid. Lactic acid is actually poisonous to cells and must be broken down rapidly, or injury to the cells may occur. Lactic acid build-up is what causes muscle soreness after exercise, and may contribute to cramping. The kicker is, not only is anaerobic respiration much less efficient, but it actually uses up more energy than it creates in breaking down the lactic acid. So its really a big waste of energy in the long run.
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How can I avoid oxygen debt? BREATH. Slow down, enjoy the scenery. Stretching (I’ve learned through experience) will help to flush away some of the by-products of respiration from your cells, and will help to get the blood flowing and speed up gas exchange to the cells, speeding up recovery (recovery is when oxygen can get into the cells, lactic acid is broken down and washed away and the muscles are ready for aerobic respiration again). A phenomenon experienced by long distance athletes, runners, competitive swimmers (like me) is tolerance. These athletes do hypoxic training: training at low oxygen levels (basically means breathing less). Your muscle cells adapt to the low oxygen conditions and adjust performance so that they can perform like normal in a low oxygen state. Then, when you go back to normal oxygen levels, they perform even better. So over time you will ‘get used to’ having less oxygen and won’t experience as much soreness after exercise. There are formula drinks on the market (Cytomax) that contain enzymes that help break down lactic acid, leading to decreased muscle soreness. These do work, but you have to drink it regularly over a period of time (weeks), not just take a shot when your muscles are sore.

Dehydration is another reason that muscle cramping or fatigue may occur. Anytime you upset the balance of water in your body, many of the chemical reactions will suffer. Most notably, I find my muscles and brain cells are affected first. Dehydration is easy to fix, drink slowly, continuously. Don’t drink a liter of water in one gulp! The sudden influx of water may result in vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps, etc. When rehydrating, make sure to drink electrolytes.
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Overuse and overheating are two other things that may disrupt muscle performance. Easy to fix, take breaks, cool off. Take a zero day here and there, stick your head in the waterfall (Moose do much worse!) Basically listen to your body. If you are tired, don’t push it. Forcing a couple of extra miles may cost you many more later on down the road.
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Stretching before/after excercise has proven to be of little scientific help to muscle performance, save to prepare the tissue for further use (increases blood flow and gas/nutrient exchange. Long term, serious stretching/flexibility training is required to make a noticeable difference in flexibility, muscle elasticity (do yoga for six months before your hike). This will increase performance and reduce the chance of injury due to tears, pulls and stress fractures.