I just finished the first swim practice of this season. I am exhausted. I could feel my legs ready to cramp up at any second; my right leg did cramp up just as I was getting out of the pool at the end of practice. If you have never had a leg cramp let me tell you, it is a very painful experience.
The other swimmers tell me that the best thing to do to prevent leg cramps is to eat foods with lots of potassium, like bananas. The best thing to do when you already have a cramp is to fully extend your leg – although at the time that may seem like the last thing you want to do.
The cramp I had this morning was such a painful big cramp that I could actually see the muscles bulging out where the cramp was. Tonight I will consume a whole tree’s worth of bananas.
My coach says the whole banana as a cure for muscle cramps is a placebo.