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Muscle Cramps Working Out (WHAT REALLY CAUSES THEM)

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Rating: 4.0; Vote: 1

t been drinking enough water leading up to your workout. If you are properly hydrated however, the cause could be quite the opposite of what you might think it is. Often times, when people cramp during their workouts they obviously get tight and stiff. The immediate reaction is to want to stretch the tight or cramped muscle in an effort to relieve the cramp. While that may be a fine short term solution to the problem, the bigger problem lies much deeper. The muscle most often actually cramps not because it is too tight but because it is too weak to handle the loads placed upon it in the exercise that you are experiencing the cramping. Most of the time, muscle cramps occur in exercises that place peak tension on a muscle in it-s maximally contracted or shortened position. This is a very common theme of exercises such as a spider curl for biceps, cable crossover for pecs and glute/hamstring bridges for the posterior chain. When the cramps occur they are actually reflexively occurring as a way to provide stability and support to a weakened muscle to ensure that there is enough stability to prevent damage to the joint in question. In the example of the biceps, you may experience cramping in the biceps as you near contraction because you lack the strength in the biceps to handle the load that you are lifting. By creating a cramp or spasm mid-set, you are able to lend additional stability and support to the elbow joint to prevent injury from occurring at the joint as well as to the biceps itself. The problem with this is that this form of stability is actually quite uncomfortable, as you know! If you want to provide the appropriate stability to the joint and the muscle, you want to have sufficient muscle strength to do this. Spasm, when substituted for inferior strength can cause big problems for that muscle and it-s development. In order to try and correct this, you should back off the exercises that place peak tension on the muscle in its peak contraction state. For the biceps, you-d want to stick to exercises like the barbell curl where the strength curve maxes out in the middle of the rep. Cable curls and spider curls would likely cause a problem for you. That said, you don-t forgo these latter exercises forever. You instead work with the barbell curl and increase your strength with it before coming back to the exercises that are more likely to cause the cramping. Likely, you-d find that after improving your strength you will have far fewer muscle cramps, if not none at all. If you are looking for a complete workout and nutrition program that helps to fuel your body with the right nutrients to minimize muscle cramps when training, head to and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System
Date: 2022-04-22

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Comments and reviews: 10

Rotooki
-athlean-x Hey Jeff, just a quick question, not sure if you've ever covered this and i know this is an older video but I'm starting to get cramping in my forearms with my underhand lat pull-downs it really hinders my workout as my forearms want to give out way quicker than my lats do, I started to use straps and they have worked for me a little as i notice a few more reps but the issue still ultimately remains. its more prominent in my left arm and that causes me to think that maybe it has something to do with the position of my hands and being i had a labrum repair in January i can't help but think that may have something to do with it. any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated!
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athleanx
Can anyone give exercises for abs that don't give maximum resistance at peak contraction? All I can think of is planks. For years now I've had problems directly working my abs because after one or two sets they cramp and knot up. I tried building up my endurance on planks but even after two sets of planks my abs cramp up when I bend or for instance sit down in my car to leave the gym lol I have to be very cautious that I'm sitting as tall as I can and lengthening my abs or they'll cramp. Any advise would be helpful.
P. S I'm only 18, very in shape, I just have a problem with training abs, yet naturally, I have and always have had amazing abs
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Johnnypaddan
Hey Jeff i am a guy in age 31 with some problem with biceps and have winged scapula on my both shoulders. Weight i try lift small amount kg with my arms and pull them up, the muscle start shacking. it doesn't shake until i get over half the way up and also it shakes on the way down. It don't shaking in the muscles when i lift up with the hands with the Wight down like when u holding a paddle, it doesn't shake a bit. If u or someone else read this i am sry for my bad English. Thanks in advance and keep up the good work, i gonna follow up some of the tip when my body is back on track.
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irockbmw6s
i dnt know man. I have had bicep cramps at peak contraction for over 2 yrs now. i ve always assumed it was maybe micro tears. I can imagine its my biceps being weak. i ve been training for yrs and i d say i m fairly strong. maybe weakness somewhere else making bicep over work. its depressing because i think i ve lost a gd half inch on biceps due to this and there is really very little talk about this chronic cramping anywhere on internet. i eat 4 to 8 bananas a wk so its not potassium, maybe other electrolytes are unbalanced, maybe dehydration. get some foot cramps as well.
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Jason
my biceps cramp up every time i flex as if i -flex too hard- its like a 2 stage flex best way to explain it, i weigh only 102 but i surprise people when they ask me to make a muscle but ill flex my arm normally and once i -peak- i get a slight pain in the muscle and about a tangerine sized muscle but i can take it a bit more and push really making the bicep pop out giving me a decent baseball sized muscle but then ill cramp up soon as i let out. am i just -over flexing- or straining it?
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TinyMaths
Damn! The very first thing you said, was exactly what I did, start stretching the bicep in all sorts of ways hoping to get relief. I've been training 3 months now and didn't have any cramp until today, both biceps. And funnily enough, I've just changed things up a bit and 2 days running did 'spider curls' as part of my sets (I didn't know what they were called but noticed the effect was different. It has got to be that, it's the only change I made. Thank you!
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Lars
My mother is a doctor and when I was a kid I used get a lot of cramping in my foot (the under side of it idk what it's called) and she told me that happened because of lack of salt in the blood. What salt essentially does is it increases ones blood pressure and if you don't have good blood flow then you might experience cramps.
Also, I think that might be why pwo's taste salty, so they provide a better blood flow aka pump. But Jeff made a good point as well.
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Mike
Hey Jeff. Great videos! Instead of discussing 1 muscle cramp, do you know why I would be cramping in almost every muscle after playing a couple tennis matches? I drink a ton of fluids, maintain electrolytes. The cramps start, and last a guelling hour. Every muscle pulls over and over, I fall to the ground in pain and have to find a position to not set them off. Meanwhile I can feel liquid pulsing through my body (lactic acid. Thanks!
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Jonas
i work out 6-7 days a week and i have done that for the past 3 months. i have seen major changes on my body, so my work outs cant be wrong, in fact, i have never in my life had an injury and i have never had a muscle cramp. can someone tell me why i have not had a muscle cramp. (btw, i am a 16 year old boy, who have played a lot of football before i started fitness)
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HotaruZoku
So, anything that cramps, work it out in a half rep position?
Also, what's the small muscle that feels lile it's inside the top of the leg l and used to lift the leg straight out sideways from the hip? Mine seems dangerously short, and cramps and locks up all the time when climbing through attics, as per my job as HVAC service tech
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