Pulled calf muscle - stay away from spinning, tips?

hooplah

Hi folks,

I pulled a muscle in my right calf about 6 weeks or so back while skipping. I did the whole Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation thing and took some time off training (Muay Thai, Starting Strength weights programme, spinning class) since I figured I'd probably just been over using it (or using it a lot more compared to what was 'normal' for me - I'm really only training since last November).

Since then I've gone back to Muay Thai and the weights. The calf muscle occasionally feels tight so I do a bit of stretching before and during training - leg swings, standing calf stretches, and quadriceps mostly.

I'd like to shift a bit of fat and reckon the spinning class was good for hiit fat loss. I'm wary about going back though as I don't want to pull the muscle again and miss more training. Would spinning be risky or am I worrying about nothing? Is the occasional tightness just something that will go away or is it a warning I should heed? Would taking neurofen as an anti-inflamatory before spinning make any sense? Is there anything else I should or defo shouldn't do?

Cheers in advance.

mushykeogh

Hi
Tightness anywhere should always be heeded! Work on flexibility on your calfs daily and also stretch your quads,hamstrings glutes. adductors, hip flexors the LOT!
Try and do a bit of eccentric strengthening on the calves as well, they are under alot of pressure in muay thai cos you on the balls of your feet so much and pivoting and landing etc. Had an achilles problem before and at the time spinning did tighten up my calf just a bit so i used the rower instead and found it a hell of a lot better. Any certainly dont take any neurofen or anti immflamatory before you exercise.

Khannie

Taking anti-inflammatories on an ongoing basis isn't a great idea. They're not very nice to your stomach and thin the blood. I'd take some immediately after injuring myself but I'd say it's too late for that.

What's involved in a spinning class? (You'll have to excuse the ignorance )

hooplah

mushykeogh wrote: »

Hi
Tightness anywhere should always be heeded! Work on flexibility on your calfs daily and also stretch your quads,hamstrings glutes. adductors, hip flexors the LOT!
Try and do a bit of eccentric strengthening on the calves as well, they are under alot of pressure in muay thai cos you on the balls of your feet so much and pivoting and landing etc. Had an achilles problem before and at the time spinning did tighten up my calf just a bit so i used the rower instead and found it a hell of a lot better. Any certainly dont take any neurofen or anti immflamatory before you exercise.

Ok, thanks for that. I had to look up eccentric strengthening - theres a decent explanation of it here for anyone else who doesn't know what it is.

You're right about the pressure coming from being on the balls of my feet - when skipping I've tried to land with my foot 'flatter' or to skip with slightly bent knees ('jogging on the spot' while skipping if you know what I mean) and this helps.

Khannie wrote:

Taking anti-inflammatories on an ongoing basis isn't a great idea. They're not very nice to your stomach and thin the blood. I'd take some immediately after injuring myself but I'd say it's too late for that.

What's involved in a spinning class? (You'll have to excuse the ignorance )

Spinning is basically a class taken on an exercise bike - you sit or stand and have your hands placed in different positions on the handlebars. The instructor tells you when to change position, when to sprint, when to stand etc. AFAIK the bike is different to a 'normal' exercise bike - its more like a fixed wheel or fixie, i.e you can't suddenly stop pedalling. Here, my explanation is rubbish, Wikipedia does it better here. Anyhow its based on short bursts of high intensity followed by short rest periods and the markevitz does pay as you go classes so i was using it as a bit of hiit.

Ok, cheers for the advice folks!

hooplah

mushykeogh wrote: »

Hi
Work on flexibility on your calfs daily and also stretch your quads,hamstrings glutes. adductors, hip flexors the LOT!
Try and do a bit of eccentric strengthening on the calves as well, they are under alot of pressure in muay thai cos you on the balls of your feet so much and pivoting and landing etc.

Hi Mushykeogh,

I've been doing a bit of searching to look up your reccomendations. Do you think single and double leg calf raises would be suitable as eccentric strengthening? I found a programme here, what do you make of it: http://www.physioroom.com/injuries/calf_and_shin/achilles_paratendinopathy_exer3.php

Any tips on what stretches or exercises I should do for basic flexibility?

mushykeogh

hooplah wrote: »

Do you think single and double leg calf raises would be suitable as eccentric strengthening? I found a programme here, what do you make of it: http://www.physioroom.com/injuries/calf_and_shin/achilles_paratendinopathy_exer3.php

Any tips on what stretches or exercises I should do for basic flexibility?

Some of the reps on that program look a little high for my likeing as it progresses, i always kept to 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps, then add sum resistance if required. I never got to use extra resistance cos just using my bodyweight and keeping the flexibility going resolved my problem. I started using just single leg calf raises, start on a step in a calve raised position and lower to parallel (heel off the back of the step), i would reset my position after each rep so i wasnt doing a normal calf raise to bring me back to the start position, id shift my weight on to other leg,put my self in the start position and lower down again. That probably sounds a little confusing but at the time i was told to avoid any concentric strengthening on my calf becuase it was so tight.
Anyway, i did single straight leg, and single bent knee to cover both the gastrocneumius and soleus (the two main muscles in the calf), later on i added the double leg drops off the step with greater speed, same start position, drop down quickly and stop when ur heels reach parallell.

Regards to the stretching, if you google 'Ger hartmans perfect ten stretches' you should find a little article with diagrams fro ten great stretches that cover all the legs, hips, glutes calves etc that i have found excellent. Il try and fin d the link later, hope that was of some help!

(Found that article)! http://www.duhac.tcdlife.ie/Training/stretching_local_copy.php A great little article in my opinion.

hooplah

Thats brilliant, thanks a lot!