Biceps cramp after kiting, any solutions?

[waynepjh]

Get some sport legs!! This is the best product I’ve found to get rid of muscle cramps.

[FLandOBX]

After most intense and reasonably long kite sessions like those currently in Cape Town, I get cramps in my biceps later in the day, for example, when showering and trying to wash my hair, or brush my teeth. I imagine it has to do with some dehydration while kiting. Thoughts?

Lots of good advice from others. I'll add this.

You need more than just water to stave off cramps from dehydration. Magnesium is important, but you need other electrolytes, too (e.g., potasium, sodium, etc.). Use a sport drink designed for ultamarathoners or similar endurance athletes (my favorite is lemon flavor Vitalyte: https://www.rei.com/product/109746/vita ... olor=LEMON). If you plan to ride for more than 2-3 hours and don't want to use a Camelback, you can probably find some low profile waist belts that will sit below your harness and hold a few small bottles. If you can carry a Go-Pro (not sure if you do or not), then you can carry some fluids.

It might also help to vary your arm position periodically. If you're riding for multiple hours, try pulling or releasing your depower line occasionally so that your biceps are not always engaged in the same position. You could also consider using the stopper ball on your bar (or adding a stopper if your bar has none) to share some of the load and reduce pressure on your biceps.

The good news is that, if you're riding for 2-3 hours (or more), you must be having a grand time on the water.

[Hugh2]

Thanks again all. I am indeed kiting 2-3 hours each day in Cape Town, and that's enough for me at age 65/66 to get to that exhaustion/satisfied state. I've tried sport drinks in Cape Hatteras where I also do long downwinders with several hours without a drink, and they helped a little. I agree that changing bar throw can help, and I swap around my arms from over- to under-hand grips, sort of like a windsurfer, but the opposite, the back hand is under-grip much of the time. I'm not keen on stopper balls here, the wind can be a little gusty and a lot of throw on the bar is useful. I don't think I can really improve my arm fitness much more than already. I've been doing low-intensity arm exercises every day for 14 months to help rehabilitate my shoulder from rotator cuff surgery (I also lost the minor tendon on my right biceps), and here I'm kiting almost every day, so it's more a case of sustaining what strength I have. I'll see how it goes with the magnesium supplement and might add more salts.

[Havre]

Cramps as far as I know is still a bit of a mystery. I got friends who are probably close to training 1000 hours a year - and two of them will occasionally have fairly severe issues with cramping. Good for me of course as I will therefore sometimes beat them in races even if they are far better riders than me

They have tried it all, but can’t seem to figure out why it is happening.

Don’t mind the advice given in this thread though. Seems to be the “standard” advice people give. Hopefully that means it works for some.

[downunder]

Forget it.

It is not magnesium. It is a neck and upper body imbalance and blood flow. Im also in the office 8 hrs a day, sitting.

Get the min 30 mins massage every day. Put it this way, a tennis elbow is painfull, correct?

So I should get a physio or something? Nope.

5 times massage by 30 mins, and its almost gone in 2 weeks.

It was so bad I could not brush my hair. Or bend me elbow fully...

Might work for u too.

[MattyM]

Bit more salt in your diet?

[waynepjh]

I have been doing endurance sports since high school and have been plagued by cramps my whole life. Had all kinds of blood testing done to figure it out. All they ever found was I have a sodium deficiency. Tried everything over and over again. Sport legs are truly amazing. I promise this will work. SPORTLEGS

[iriejohn]

it can easily be four hours between drinks (not sure I am up for a camelback though).

Four hours is much too long, you must rehydrate much more often. Figure out how to do it, but DO IT.

[ieism]

I'm going to try that sport legs stuff. Like others say, pro atlethes still get cramps, so it's not just muscle strength. I'm pretty fit, I run long distance trail. But even a short training run can sometimes give me cramps.just stopping and drinking a lot and walking it out usually allows me to continue the run. But it's painfull.

[Hugh2]

5 days of kiting, taking 90mg of potassium before each session, no cramps. Thanks guys, problem solved. 4 hour session today, kind of thirsty at the end, but no problems.