Why am I getting bad cramps?

Hello Phillip,

Given that you have dieted down to a body fat of 5%, your reason for getting cramps is almost certainly dietary.

Calcium is usually the solution for muscle spasms or muscle cramps in many night times cramps. If you consume a lot of protein, have high phosphate levels (poor diet or kidney disease), hormonal problems, high magnesium/calcium ration, low vitamin B5, coeliac disease, intestinal problems (affecting calcium absorption), medications that promote calcium loss and other perhaps poor methods of supplementation.

You could try supplementing with vitamin C. If this improves your muscle cramps, then it could be that your calcium levels are high. If your cramps get worse, you could try calcium supplementation as it may be your calcium levels are low.

If vitamin works, try some co-factors to improve calcium bioavailability such as vitamin C, Lecithin (phosphorus source), magnesium or you could perhaps increase your protein levels. You could try and make your stomach more acidic by supplementing with some lemon juice or lime juice - I personally wouldn’t fancy that!

You could try supplementing with a little bit of creatine to help reduce lactic acid build up in muscles. Interestingly, lactic acid supplementation is a good way to acidify your stomach which can help with cramps. Weird though isn’t it, because a build up of lactic acid in muscle causes cramps. Any how, some sports drinks and soft drinks contain lactic acid, so could be something to try.

Things like poor circulation can cause cramps, so becareful of tight fitting shoes, long car journeys etc. Exercise would be the cure here. You could also try vitamin E (improves circulation due to increasing the diameter of blood vessels).

After exercise, sodium and potassium imbalance can be the cause, so just make sure you keep yourself well hydrated before and after exercise and this should help.

This would be the initial approach I would take, and a lot of the time, this advice will work.