My buddy gets a cramp (see video)

[DueceFire]

Cramp while diving. - YouTube

Sorry, It's not there anymore. I can't seem to delete the thread.

 

[nrengle]

Yeap, those suck! I get them everytime, no matter what I do. I work out a fair but have worked the legs quite well, but refrain from an intense leg day before I dive, just a light set if I know a dive is coming up. Still cramp. Stretch for 5/10 minutes before hand, still cramp, load up on potassium, still cramp. But after the first one it doesn't happen the rest of the day. Just really sucks when you're doing your safety stop...

 

[261311]

"This Video is Private"

Cool.

 

[DueceFire]

Ill work on that...



Looks like he deleted it. Oh well....

 

[SDiverJim]

I will get those when I do small movements while task loading. Trying to stay stable/motionless in the water for a moment. Rather than making more fluid larger movements to progress through the water. May still go back to lack of hydration. Low potassium (eat bananas) do some stretching before gearing up. long slow stretching.

 

[DueceFire]

It appears to be back

 

[bpotkin]

One of my only concerns in diving ... is getting cramps. Nobody seems to have a good answer. I seem to do better
in my drysuit. Does anybody have a concrete idea for avoiding cramps?

 

[g1138]

One of my only concerns in diving ... is getting cramps. Nobody seems to have a good answer. I seem to do better
in my drysuit. Does anybody have a concrete idea for avoiding cramps?

First and foremost, good kicking technique.
Good kick technique includes good form, which will not put undue stress or torque on your finning muscles. Second part is good kick cycle. Long kicks with glide periods will keep you from constantly using your finning muscles. Maximize energy expenditure with thrust gained and kept efficient.

Thrust should be given from the tops of your feets, or the part of the fin that's pointing down to the ground when you're horizontal. You should not be trying or feeling water being pushed off the soles of your feet/fins. It should be the opposite side for flutter kicks. Frog kicks get their thrust from the soles of your fins.

For new fin kickers, kicking should feel foreign. If it doesn't, you're kicking as you would climb stairs or ride a bicycle; perhaps not as exagerrated, which is why you were never picked out in Basic. Think tipy toeing ballerina frolicking across stage or skipping with straight legs (knees kept fluid, not locked).
That's how kicking should be. If you need to bend your legs (say on a surface swim belly down to get your fins underwater), it should be bent and flicked from the knee down; with your thigh locked at the waist, maybe angled a bit down say 5 degrees max. The thighs are kept relatively in a small range of movement at all times.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Your buddy can really communicate underwater.

I used to get cramps quite often, so after ensuring hydration, eating bananas, taking supplements to the bananas, stretching, relaxing, improving kick, blah blah blah yada yada Wada, I got new fins. Ah ha!!! There is the secret to reducing cramping (at least for me).

On a recent dive, one of the young women in our group was having terrible cramps. Feet toes etc. As I tried to help her stretch out, I noticed that she had a pair of the heaviest split fins that I may have ever seen. (If anyone knows how to stretch out cramped toes at depth, please feel free to speak up) but I digress. Once back on the boat, she said she gets cramps on every dive. Of course, I encouraged her to make sure she was eating enough bananas but didn't say word about her fins.

 

[g1138]

Your relieve cramped feet the same way a cramped leg, except it's more on the diver with the cramp. Pull your fin or have your buddy lay their forearm on to the fin to point your toes up and stretch out your leg. When it's stretched out, the cramped diver then has to point their big toe up as high as it will go.