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Lately, I have been annoyed by my left calf cramping up really badly, sometimes only 25-30 minutes into a surf session. I started stretching my calves before going out, take magnesium supplements, drink lots of water and the cramping continues. It’s a real pain in the calf.
Been using stiff bladed vipers so I am switching to fins that are more flexible….
Any other suggestions?
Thanks

Hydrate well in the 24 hrs before going out. The Vipers Orange Dot are good (at least the old formulation was good, the black and orange), I used them regularly before moving to DaFin. Are you using the 7" or 5" Viper Yellow Dot?

It really isn't a simple story. There is a large literature on this:

https://journals.lww.com/acsm-csmr/full ... _or.9.aspx

"And as empirical evidence grows, it is becoming increasingly clear that there are two distinct and dissimilar general categories of exercise-associated muscle cramps. Skeletal muscle overload and fatigue can prompt muscle cramping locally in the overworked muscle fibers, and these cramps can be treated effectively with passive stretching and massage or by modifying the exercise intensity and load. In contrast, extensive sweating and a consequent significant whole-body exchangeable sodium deficit caused by insufficient dietary sodium intake to offset sweat sodium losses can lead to a contracted interstitial fluid compartment and more widespread skeletal muscle cramping, even when there is minimal or no muscle overload and fatigue. "

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/1 ... 1162-1.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ni ... ations.pdf

Why early fatigue, in short, no simple answer and likely multiple causes. If you search google scholar there are lots of articles.

Hi Rod, not sure how to measure the viper fin blade, but it looks like it’s the 5 inch model.

They are older yellow dots

From the juncture of the foot pocket to the blade (which will be below the drain circle on the bottom side). The 7" Yellow Dots look like "long fins" and the 5" a more normal length, in general.

In addition to dehydration causes, I usually experience cramps when my fins are on real tight (3 to 5 ml for cool/cold water) and wearing a wetsuit, both conditions out-of-the ordinary and more demanding and cramping than my more customary warm water surfriding. The other situation is when I find myself trying to catch a wave that I simply am not going to catch and the body stretches out in a weird way (not very accurate description but isn't it annoying on a wave you can't catch?!).

If you are paipo riding regularly the Viper V5 Yellow Dot should not cause regular cramps UNLESS the fin pockets is too tight (Vipers are not good for wide feet). In which case see if you can try out some DaFins which have wider pockets. It kicks/strokes a little differently than a Viper, so just give your body 10 to 15 minutes to acclimate to the slightly different stroke and voila! they're great.

Thanks Rod-I was thinking about my booties too-they are really thick and the front of my feet feel compressed when I put fins on them. I received some new, thinner booties yesterday and am going to try them out tomorrow.
I will let you know how it goes-thanks again

Looks like the booties were a major contributor to the calf cramping….went out today With thinner booties and fins with a wider pocket and had no discomfort. Thanks for the input.

Fins are very personal because of the shape of our feet. For example:

where did you get open toe “da fins”.?

The open toe fin was an old fin belonging to a friend and that his model foot. The foot chart up above are not genetically specific to those nations but the different toes arrangements apparently took on different names... maybe medical research where they gathered around a number of orthopedic medical students from different countries and went from there. But here is the thing about swim fins, how do you find a good fit. Some otherwise good fins have a 45 degree angle toe shape which might be fine for an Egyptian foot but not a Celtic foot.

I have had gnarly cramps while surfing and while playing pickleball. Strangely enough, drinking pickle juice works to relieve cramps almost instantly. Legitimate medical studies suggest that some sort of neural sensing of the taste of picklejuice interupts the cramping signal without correcting electrolytes.

Sounds weird, but drinking (tasting) picklejuice actually works.

You buy pickle juice in mini bottles or just save juice from your pickle jar.

Pickle juice? What is the Rx for pre-session effectiveness?

Definitely post-season. Haven't been in the water for years - probably 6 years. Not sure I can still swim.

Pickle juice really works. Take a swig if you feel a cramp coming on (much easier while playing pickleball than surfing.)

Ted wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 4:45 pm Definitely post-season. Haven't been in the water for years - probably 6 years. Not sure I can still swim.

Pickle juice really works. Take a swig if you feel a cramp coming on (much easier while playing pickleball than surfing.)

So...Ted, do you have a surf trip in the year coming?

I think I'd rather just eat the pickle.

kage wrote: ↑Wed Jan 25, 2023 2:23 pm I think I'd rather just eat the pickle.

Good answer