Why do we get muscle cramps?

It’s very common for people who start Pilates to get muscle cramps. Foot cramps are especially common. You’ll hear and see people in classes, especially reformer classes while doing footwork or when their feet are in the straps, stop and grab their feet. They’ve probably got a cramp. There are so many little muscles in our feet it’s not that surprising that the muscles grip and tense up initially when learning exercises – those little muscles have probably never worked that hard before! 

Why Do We Get Muscle Cramps? 

Muscle cramping can be pointed to several things:

• Dehydration 
• Lack of sodium 
• Lack of magnesium 
• Lack of potassium 

How can you alleviate cramps? 

Hydrate! Drink water. Drink a couple of glasses of water in the morning even before your tea or coffee. However, keep in mind that coffee dehydrates your body so it will need replenishing of fluids after your coffee. Drink water before your session, not right before, but before and have some water on hand during your workout. Keep hydrated, it will help minimize the cramping. Hydration alone may not alleviate the cramping. You may be lacking in sodium, potassium or magnesium. Rather than running out to buy a pill to supplement these, start by looking at your diet and trying to add in foods that have these things in them. 

Eat Foods High in Magnesium 

• Banana 
• Dried Figs 
• Black Beans 
• Cashews 
• Pumpkin Seeds 
• Almonds 
• Whole Wheat Flour 

A banana, about thirty minutes before a workout, does the trick to help tight/stiff muscles which are prone to cramping. A banana is also high in potassium, so you get two benefits in one. The best thing is that a banana is very low maintenance. 

Eat Foods High in Potassium 

• Banana 
• Orange Juice 
• Tomato Juice 
• Dates 
• Raisins 
• Dried Apricots

Eat Healthy Foods Containing Sodium 

Sources of sodium would be tomato juice or other lightly salted things like bean chips or blue corn chips.

Sports Drink 

Another idea is a sports drink which contains water for hydration and other electrolytes to balance out your body to prevent muscle cramping.

Researchers admit that it’s highly challenging to recreate a full exercise-induced cramp in a lab and that their results are “speculative” considering they were not dealing with more painful large muscle groups in this study. However, they do recommend that people who are active try to avoid cramps by training properly and slowly so muscles are less likely to get so fatigued. They also say that, when a cramp does strike, stretching the muscles seems to make a difference.