Muscle cramps in handstand

Hello,

 

 

I've been training handstand against the wall for 4, sometimes 5 days a week. I've been steadily milimiter by milimiter getting my hands closer to the wall. Right now the heel of my palm is usually 3 centimeters from the wall.

 

I usually train this by end of the day and I don't do much volume per session, typically in 10-15 minutes I'm done (including rest). In these sessions I also do a quick sucession of hollow hold, arch hold, plank (with protraction) and reverse plank.

 

Now to my problem. In the last 6 or 7 sessions I've been getting cramps in my right foot, sometimes calf, usually in the last set. I do typically holds of 30 seconds but this cramp comes up quick in much before I fatigue, but it's enough to screw up my form and then the hold is only 10 seconds, which is frustrating me a bit.

 

Does anyone ever experience cramps in the foot or legs doing a handstand. Could it be a form issue ? 

It is hard to say if it is a form issue, without having seen your handstand. But it could be because you are tightening to much. I assume that it comes from pointing your feet. At first the best way to get people to be tight enough in the handstand usually is to tell them to tighten as much as possible, but as you get more proficient, try loosening just a tiny bit. You should still be tight, still point your feet but try to see if a slight loosening of effort might keep you from cramping.

cramps are not unfamiliar in people who have to squeeze muscles to maintain the alignment. btw building up some volume week by week you can solve the problem. 

when your hs is very good you can feel a form of relaxation in your position where cramps are zero. But as coach said is better develop a tight handstand before pass to relaxed form

Try flexing you foot while in the handstand to alleviate the cramp.  It helps to practice this before the cramp hits, as cramps can be distracting. 

 

You might want to evaluate if you're drinking enough water during the day, and you might want to do some ankle circles/ toe point wiggles to warm-up.

Look at the possibility of a nutrient deficiency, more greens and bananas are a good idea since low sodium, low potassium & low magnesium may be the cause.  Personally, cramps from dehydration vs nutrient deficiency are usually easy to differentiate.

really? how do you tell the difference?  (I only get calf cramps after drinking coke, and often wonder if it's dehydration from the diuretic effect or nutrient deficiency from the acidity)

cramps are normal

Klaudius is right, cramps are normal.  I stand on my lacrosse ball and massage my foot and then calf when I get foot cramps.  I mis-typed when I wrote cramps from dehydration vs. nutrient deficiency are easy to differentiate.  Personally, if I do 2 workouts in the same day and don't stay hydrated I'm at risk for very painful cramps in the second workout which will go away if I drink more water.  If I start cramping up for seemingly no reason early in a workout I usually assume poor diet is the cause.