Horrible calf cramp, how to stop them?

Question

Yesterday was my first day on the highschool swim team and I had the worst calf cramps ive ever had. We did instense training for 2 hours and about an hour and a half in my calfs locked up horribly and it felt like some one was ripping them out. Its been a year or so before then that ive done anything that needed that much strength and endurance so that must have contributed to the problem. Im just wondering what I could do or eat to stop this from happening. Ive heard potassium and lots of water helps but is there anything else I could do?

Answer 1

Drink Gatorade.  It has electrolytes.

Also when you get a cramp in your calf, grab ahold of it with both hands and squeeze it moving your hands up and down.

Answer 2

drink lots of milk and eat bananas because calf cramps means u dont have enough posttasium...... but to stop te pain stnd on it...it works.. because last year i kept having cramps and my mom told me to stand on it and it worked really good!!!

Answer 3

drinks lots of water and put heating pads on them for 20 minutes!!

Answer 4

Stretch before and after (when your muscles are warmed up though). I get calf pains sometimes too, i stand with my feet flat and lean forward on a wall while keeping my heels on the floor. Slide your feet back until you feel a stretch. Hopefully that helps!

Answer 5

i'll tell you like i tell my son, "suck it up whimp".

Answer 6

Be sure to stretch before you swim and after.  If you have cramps in your legs, apply some moist heat.  Use a hot, wet towel and wrap a dry one around the outside of it to keep it warm longer.