Hi
we were in Utthita Trikonasana and I got terrible cramp in the calf muscle of the front leg. I could literally see my muscle contracted. I stretched it a bit but it cramped again. It was very painful and the leg hurt the next day. I take a magnesium and potassium drink about an hour before yoga.
I don’t drink much coffee, though I drink 4 - 5 mugs of English tea per day.
I am on a high fat, low carbohydrate diet, which has been great for my weight.
I am 53 years old and have been doing hatha yoga for one year.
I get some small cramps in my feet from time to time, but not tto intense and they usually pass.
Any suggestions would be gratefully received!
Thanks.
Bag the Mag-Pot drink and start taking magnesium in larger doses in a chewable (125MG per) throughout your day. Take them until your stool becomes soft then back off the dose (requires paying attention to what you are doing).
English tea are typically black tea. If it were me I’d move over to a green version of camellia sinensis instead.
Make sure you’re consuming half your body weight in ounce of water each day (assuming a normal climate and activity level) and add organic lemon or lime juice to every other cup.
After two weeks of diligent doing you should be able to report back in cramp-free.
Gordon
I am not a medical practitioner and nothing I share should be misinterpreted as medical advice in any way, shape, or form.
[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;86180]Bag the Mag-Pot drink and start taking magnesium in larger doses in a chewable (125MG per) throughout your day. Take them until your stool becomes soft then back off the dose (requires paying attention to what you are doing).
English tea are typically black tea. If it were me I’d move over to a green version of camellia sinensis instead.
Make sure you’re consuming half your body weight in ounce of water each day (assuming a normal climate and activity level) and add organic lemon or lime juice to every other cup.
After two weeks of diligent doing you should be able to report back in cramp-free.
Gordon
I am not a medical practitioner and nothing I share should be misinterpreted as medical advice in any way, shape, or form.[/QUOTE]
Hey thanks Gordon. This is good actionable advice. Moving away from black English tea would be difficult though!!!
Yes I am a bit constipated, partly due to my diet.
The water: I weigh 160lbs, so half is 80lb. 80 fluid ounces = approx 5 pints. Is that what you’re recommending?
Tony
You’re welcome Tony.
All good things are challenging. And it is completely up to you whether you want to move forward in this way. While I care deeply about my students I don’t care as much about the specifics of their choices. I assume when well instructed they choose relative to their dharma:-)
I’m curious about your protein source and consumption of deep green leafy veggies.
Yes at #160 we are talking about 80oz of water per day with half of that containing lemon/lime juice or the like. The water itself is flushing not hydrating but with the addition it’s more nourishing to the cells.
Hi
yesterday I bought some camomile to reduce the amount of English black tea I drink. I will buy some lemon juice today.
Protein is mainly from saturated fats - meat, butter, eggs and cheese. I eat high fat yoghurt most days.
Leafy greens: not so much. I eat valeriana most days - I live in Italy, I don’t know what this is called elsewhere. Sometimes broccoli and spinach.
I was pretty constipated when I started the HF/LC diet, but now I eat a couple of prunes per day, except on yoga days (I learned that the hard way).
I will take the magnesium and potassium drink twice per day until I can find something like the chewable form you mentioned.
Tony
Camomile is nice, pleasant, relaxing, however it’s not tea (camellia sinensis) and doesn’t have trace caffeine. It is, technically a tissane. If the intention is as a carmative for the stomach then I’d suggest peppermint but it’s six of one, half dozen of the other - whatever works. The reason I suggested a green tea was to assist in weening you off the caffeine addiction associated with the black tea.
As for the diet, of course you are welcome to maintain that as-is and you’ve not really asked for more but it sounds a bit heavy in meat and dairy.
Dehydration is a common contributor to constipation.
While the magnesium helps release muscle contraction the potassium aids contraction, thus the reasoning behind my suggestion. I’d guess your electrolytes are out of balance but that should be determined by your health care provider.
gk
Having doubled-up on the magnesium drinks (1 in the morning, 1 at night), last night’s session was 100% cramp free. We didn’t do Trikonasana though!
So, thanks for this suggestion.
I am following-up with the other things.
I did not like the camomile tea at all ! I will try again.
Cramps came back, with a vengence when I did ‘Virabhadrasana half bent right’ yesterday. And in the middle of the night