motd Friday Aug 26, 2011

[Guest guest]

ALL CRAMPED

UP!

Friday, 26 August 2011

O-W-W-W! Oh,

my...that's the sound you make when you get a muscle

cramp. And when you get one, you may very well end up

"owwing" for a while. Muscle cramps can happen at any

time. You may be working out. You may be doing some

yard work. You could be sitting on the couch watching

TV or...even sound asleep in bed. But when you try to

get up...it hits. Oh, the pain! Muscle

cramps are often called charlie horses and if

you've ever had one, you know what I'm talking about

when I say...O-W-W-W!

Muscle

cramps usually target your legs. When I do one of my

workout DVDs, I'm on my feet all day for hours at a

time. And I'm doing many of the same movements,

over-and-over again. (Hey, that's the way it is when

you're working in front of the camera.) After a full

day of taping, by the time I get home, some nights I

have to literally drag myself upstairs to my bedroom.

Once I crawl into bed, I'm hoping for a good night's

sleep. But in the middle of the night...it

strikes! My leg decides to cramp up on me. And

to help relieve the pain, I struggle out of bed, stand

up straight and wait for that charlie horse's pain to

run its course.

And for me, I have to tell you, it's the weirdest

thing. It's as if my muscle has taken on a life of its

own. I can actually see the cramped area of my leg

twitching as my muscle stiffens up on me.

And

yet, common as muscle cramps are, most experts can't say

for sure what causes them. But here's what they do

know. Muscle cramps are more likely to occur during the

hot summer months. That's because when you exert

yourself in hot weather, all of that sweat drains a lot

of water from your body. And it's water that helps your

muscles contract and relax. That's why I always stress

how important it is to drink plenty of water when you're

working out.

There's another possible cause for muscle cramps. And

it's simply not stretching your muscles before you do a

more strenuous activity with your legs. As you know, I

warm up the muscles in your body before each of my

workouts and I get you to cool those muscles down at the

end of my classes.

So

have you ever experienced a charlie horse? Well, when

you do, another thing that'll offer you some relief is

to massage that muscle in your leg. I like to dab some

moisturizer onto my hands and gently rub it into the

muscle until the pain goes away. I also point and flex

my feet when the pain strikes and within a few minutes,

the pain is gone.

Now if your muscle cramps are more frequent and severe

and the pain doesn't go away right away, you need to

share this information with your doctor. You want to be

sure your muscle cramps aren't caused by some underlying

problem.

Well now, aren't you glad you stopped by to read today's

message? You're now more knowledgeable about muscle

cramps, what to do when you get one and how to prevent

them from occurring in the first place.

Love,