Some advice please?

Shiminay

Hello all.

The Sport Category is a strange and unusual place to me given that I have the physique of a BGRH brother (except lovely long flowing locks ), so I appologise if I'm in the wrong place...

I went to my first Muay Thai training class the other night and given that I'm so unfit, I'm still really feeling the effects (as expected). However, I'm feeling it badly in my calf muscles in particular (skipping and all training work is bouncing around on the balls of the feet) - so much so that when I get up from me seat here in the office, I'm barely able to walk. Now after a couple of minutes of moving around, I'm usually ok, but I'm curious if anyone can recommend any sort of stretches I can do to help alievate this problem? Something in the morning + evenings or even something I could do sitting at the desk to keep them limber for these first couple of weeks till I build the muscles up etc.

All thoughts and comments appreciated, thanks for your time.

g'em

Even just walking around should help with the muscle soreness - the better the blood flow, the quicker the recuperation. If you're sitting at your desk elevating your feet onto your tippy-toes (and thereby stretching out the calves) should help too, and for more inspiration see this page for calf stretching techniques and photos.

Kudos on starting MT btw

Shiminay

Thank you m'lady - shall give that a go and see how I get on. Next class is tomorrow evening and I wanna at least be able to walk in

g'em

Kharn wrote: »

Next class is tomorrow evening and I wanna at least be able to walk in

Bah, walking is over-rated

One thing to bear in mind as well is that (generally) leg DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) kick in around 48 hours after training and last for anything up to 5 or 6 days. this is primarily due to your leg muscles being so flipping huge but I tend to find it applies to calves too. Another trick (if you don't mind getting stares from co-workers) is to simply massage the area with a firm hand to get blood-flow going.

dave80

g'em wrote: »

If you're sitting at your desk elevating your feet onto your tippy-toes (and thereby stretching out the calves) should help too

this will only contract the calf muscle and prob lead to cramping, i find the best way to stretch the calf muslce in work is grab your chair and stand on the edge of one of the legs of the wheels and put your heal to the ground one leg at a time, nice little stretch

g'em

dave80 wrote: »

this will only contract the calf muscle and prob lead to cramping,

Really? I always found it to help

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Kharn wrote: »

Next class is tomorrow evening and I wanna at least be able to walk in

Congrats on starting M.T. as for the quote - Tiger Balm is your friend!

Also I agree with Dave, anything where you're pulling you're toes towards you will give a nice stretch on the calves!

dave80

g'em wrote: »

Really? I always found it to help

itll help getting the blood flowing in the calves alright, tiger blam is good but not in the office as itll stink the place

make sure you warm up before class and fully stretch the calves aslo before starting any training

ice after training also works wonders for the calves

Hail 2 Da Chimp

Actually sorry to hijack the thread but is there anything like Tiger Balm you can use that doesn't stink?

BossArky

g'em wrote: »

If you're sitting at your desk elevating your feet onto your tippy-toes (and thereby stretching out the calves

I just did this and got a nice cramp in my left calf :mad: :pac:

dave80 wrote: »

this will only contract the calf muscle and prob lead to cramping

+1

g'em

BossArky wrote: »

I just did this and got a nice cramp in my left calf :mad: :pac:

Sorry

I don't hold the stretch at the top though, if I do, I cramp too. I mean going up on your toes and then back down again repeatedly.

Further apologies for any inadvertant cramps that have been caused from reading this thread....

Shiminay

Well folks, just back from class number 2 and whilst I'm shagged, I'm feeling infinitely better than I did this time last Tuesday (but in truth had the onset of migrane too at the time but anyway). Was careful to take it easier and stretch in between the rounds of skipping at the start and kept going with it till it felt all limber. Had mentioned it to my instructor and he gave me a few stretches to do with it. Took extra care to do a bit more before I headed home and again as soon as I got in the door (and will defo do once or twice more before I head to bed tonight).

Thanks to you all for the help (nice little stretch that one Dave - just gave it a go on my office chair in the flat) and good wishes

Dave Joyce

Not unusual to have tight calves after training Muaythai, I still sometimes get really tight calves after hard sessions and thats after 25years of it. Make sure you get a proper warm up in before you start to skip, stretch out properly after training and tiger balm is not much good for Muaythai, get some Thai oil and rub it in well before you train and you'll notice the difference:). When your calves get tight another good stretch is to step onto a stairs, make sure you can support yourself with the handrails and gently lower your heel down over the edge of the step to get deep into the stretch. Good luck with your training and keep it up!!