Cramping up

Have you changed your bike setup? Have you changed your shoes? Have you moved your cleats? Are you pedalling differently?

Maybe you are not as fit as you were in the summer.

What muscle(s) do you get cramp in ?

I too suffer from cramp in the inner thighs (sartorious muscles) and was wondering for years what it could be. After much trial and error, trying advice on diet, elctrolytes, not fit enough I now know my muscles start cramping when my legs are fatigued,not from the current ride but after an accumulation of hard training/racing over a period of months . So basically I have an easy 7-10 days and then I'm fine again.

Well some thoughts but don't take this as gospel, just throw it in the pot and apply common sense, there's enough cr*p going around on forums and I don't want to be a contributor that that particular endemic. So take this as ideas that you can google on and research more. Its possible that you've developed some adhesions in your quadriceps and those dont really go away any time soon unless treated or given a lot of rest (latter is not gonna happen with 200 miles per week or even 100 miles per week). If that is correct you could go and get them freed up with a physio or soft tissue therapist. But you have to address the underlying problem otherwise they will just come back. The problem could be deactivated hip flexors, glutes not firing, poor bike position, poor core strength - these all tend to interrelate. Poor bike position could mean saddle too far forward and stem too short, that means you're not engaging your core and hip flexors in your pedalling action.

None of this might be the case for you, its just ideas.. but you might like to think on that and google it a bit more. the only way to get your position right and to diagnose whether there's any basis for whether the above applies to you is to go for a bike fit and try to go for one where the fitter also has good physio skills.

But there are some quick sanity checks you can do. For example when you're sat on your road bike and on the hoods, you should not be able to see the front hub as it will be eclipsed by the handlebars. Obviously just a rule of thumb and humans don't really fit rules of thumb too well, this rule might not be right for everyone and if your frame is too small or very short wheelbase then your front hub might appear just behind the bars.

Also note that a big change in your position could take a long time to adapt to so if you go that route you really want to make sure its right otherwise you might waste an entire racing season and find out later your position is still wrong.

If you google for youtube and bikescience they have about 10 or so videos on how to develop core strength and active hip flexors etc etc which are cycling specific. These combined with a road bike position which engages the core etc (nice and stretched out) would help to address any underlying issues if you undertake it all as a long term adaptation strategy.

Like I said, just use this as a basis for ideas that you can google on. Its not advice, just pointers to help build your own ideas.

the mechanisms that underpin why cramp happen aren't well understood (yet). however, it's believed that it isn't related to e.g. (de)hydration, but is more likely bought on by exercising whichever muscles that get cramp at an intensity that is too great. In other words it's fitness related.

ric

Ric/RSTSport wrote:

the mechanisms that underpin why cramp happen aren't well understood (yet). however, it's believed that it isn't related to e.g. (de)hydration, but is more likely bought on by exercising whichever muscles that get cramp at an intensity that is too great. In other words it's fitness related.

ric

meanie

If nothing else has changed other than the weather...
Hot weather cramp can be dehydration, lack of salt etc and cold weather cramp can be restricted blood flow and lack of fluid to the muscle, cos you drink less.

I found that I get some cramps (especially in calves) during the winter and my pharmacist told me that this could be due to the cold and that it takes longer for muscles to warm up. She gave me a cream that is meant to warm muscles up (costs about 3 quid) to put on the legs before each ride. It seemed to work Maybe your problem is also cold related?

Ric/RSTSport wrote:

the mechanisms that underpin why cramp happen aren't well understood (yet). however, it's believed that it isn't related to e.g. (de)hydration, but is more likely bought on by exercising whichever muscles that get cramp at an intensity that is too great. In other words it's fitness related.

ric

Ric, I tried 6 months of strengthening my weaker muscles but still got the same problems. I do think it is accumaltive fatigue rather than one offs (still fitness??) I used to get the cramps regularly but last season it stopped me only in 3 races towards the end of the season.

Liverpool1965 wrote:

kamil1891 wrote:

I found that I get some cramps (especially in calves) during the winter and my pharmacist told me that this could be due to the cold and that it takes longer for muscles to warm up. She gave me a cream that is meant to warm muscles up (costs about 3 quid) to put on the legs before each ride. It seemed to work Maybe your problem is also cold related?

What was the name of the cream?

I would tell you that in the first place but I've binned it when I've used it and I can't remember. It was an old school looking glass bottle with white cream inside, about 100ml, that smells pretty badly I'm sure that if you go to your pharmacy they will can give you something similar or even the same.