Today was my first day of water-polo....ever. It was tons of fun, but about an hour into practice my feet cramped up REALLY bad. I have plantar facitis (sp) and forgot to do my streches and on top of that breaststroke for an hour straight really set my feet off. Does anybody have any suggestions that can help so that I don't have to sit out and rub my feet for 10 minutes? I know that potassium helps, so I'm gonna start trying to eat bananas, but does anyone know of any good supplements that I could take to get the same effect (legal of course for sports)? Thanks in advance!!
Former Member
Hi SeaGurl51
Congratulations on your initiation into W-Polo and glad you liked it.
Regarding your cramps, that’s probably due to some overexertion of your feet. Since you are new to W-Polo, it requires a lot of “egg beater” motion which can over stress the ankles and foot muscles. It might be a good idea to practice the egg beater on the day before you actually play.
On the subject of athletic-induced muscle aches, I was on a committee to design a pool and I strongly suggested they include a hot tub so we could get immediate relaxation from the cramps that swimmers are all too familiar with.
Happy Swimming
Dolphin 2
:)
Cramps come from not being in condition for the movements you are doing. Eggbeat practice is done vertically and sculling and should be practiced regularly15 mins a workout. When doing the eggbeater you also should practice getting the body out of the water as high as you can.
I would not just practice the day before the game.
I used to get my cramps playing water from my jumps off the bottom in the shallow end (illegal by the way). You should also swim a lot of heads up front crawl and some kicking with the head up and your hands behind your back.
Those cramps come because it is different movements for you.
