stretch before and after workout or just after?

[casual_cyclist]

Lately I have been getting a lot of muscle cramps in my calves at night, enough to wake me up. Any idea what causes this? Some say a lack of salt?

Maybe magnesium? The best thing you can do is eat bananas. If that doesn't help then try a supplement and see what happens. I used to get severe cramping when riding but magensium a couple of days before my rides sorted it out.

[ColinOldnCranky]

Lately I have been getting a lot of muscle cramps in my calves at night, enough to wake me up. Any idea what causes this? Some say a lack of salt?

Maybe magnesium? The best thing you can do is eat bananas. If that doesn't help then try a supplement and see what happens. I used to get severe cramping when riding but magensium a couple of days before my rides sorted it out.

Dammit C_C, why did you have to go there. Now this thread will flush out FIGJAM for some more pseudoscience, personal eulogies and made up factoids on every post.

[casual_cyclist]

Lately I have been getting a lot of muscle cramps in my calves at night, enough to wake me up. Any idea what causes this? Some say a lack of salt?

Maybe magnesium? The best thing you can do is eat bananas. If that doesn't help then try a supplement and see what happens. I used to get severe cramping when riding but magensium a couple of days before my rides sorted it out.

Dammit C_C, why did you have to go there. Now this thread will flush out FIGJAM for some more pseudoscience, personal eulogies and made up factoids on every post.

Can't let terrorists dictate our behaviour or they've already won... I do raise b's because my flatmate swears by them. I swear by magnesium even though there is no evidence for that either. I actually get more night time calf cramps than on bike calf cramps. However:

The most commonly reported treatment used to prevent recurrent cramp was magnesium supplementation (used by 58% of participants). Most participants perceived the magnesium supplements as being 'useless' or only 'a little help'. This is consistent with randomised trials that found that, while magnesium supplementation might benefit women experiencing leg cramps during pregnancy [20], it is no more effective than placebo for night-time cramp [21] or chronic persistent leg cramp [17]. The effectiveness of magnesium for skeletal muscle cramps is currently being reviewed under the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Group [22].

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3361473/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Researchers looked, but could find any "randomized controlled trials evaluating magnesium for exercise-associated muscle cramps"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22972143" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

So, according to the research, magnesium doesn't work anyway. I still take it and I still don't get muscle cramps anymore

[ColinOldnCranky]

I'm kidding C_C. Though I do hope that he does not do a regular search for Ba......s or he will be along shortly.

Maybe you could go back and edit in a spelling error.

[clackers]

http://saveyourself.ca/articles/stretching.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[casual_cyclist]

http://saveyourself.ca/articles/stretching.php

That's a good article!

A warm up is essential but are you meant to transition immediately to training or should stretch first immediately after the warm up?

It's obvious to stretch after a training session.

"Mobilizations" might be more useful. Same site as clackers posted.
http://saveyourself.ca/articles/mobilizing.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Like stretching, mobilizing just feels good, and mobilizing regularly is an ideal way to maintain musculoskeletal health as well as restore it. A set of your favourite mobilizations can easily be the meat of a pleasing daily regimen — like a little yoga ritual, but more dynamic and less about stretching