Strained Calf

[L. Cipher]

Anyone on here have any experience dealing with a strained calf? I've been training like crazy for my first amateur fight which is in 3 weeks and yesterday after a particularly tough leg focused S&C day then working on my feet straight afterwards that night then sparring the next morning my left calf cramped up and has now swollen up like 3 times it's normal size and I'm limping around. I'm icing and heating it rubbing it with ben gay and cbd muscle rub. It's frustrating that as my training is peaking this would happen and I'm hoping it doesn't keep me from training for too long with the fight just around the corner.

[EDD1]

Damn, sorry to hear that man, you're going to need to give it a rest, if you try to train hard on that you risk compensating and hurting something else like a knee or a achiles tendon, if it just happened and you can't walk right tomorrow you should put a hold on things, if you worked this hard I bet you can do it again when you're healthy

[CodeBreaker]

Rest before it gets serious

[tcbender]

Take 2 days off. Ice it, elevate it, and compress it if possible. I utilize calf sleeves from time to time when my training would be at a very high frequency and intensity.

One of the best things I found was to stop jump roping completely, even for warm ups as it really would take it out of my calves.

After your 2 days off take the next 5 days, train as hard as you can and then I'd take the whole last week off before your fight. If your weight is on point then eat a fair amount of healthy carbs (rice, brown rice, sweet potatoes, etc) to recoup your glycogen levels.

[L. Cipher]

Thanks for responses. Will be resting the next few days for sure keeping the leg iced and elevated. Woke up this morning and swelling had come down a bit, the muscle still hurts and I can't put much weight on it but am hoping it will keep improving. Just ordered some calf compression sleeves that will be here tomorrow.

[a.rihn]

Good luck!

[L. Cipher]

Quick update after taking 3 days off to rest I got back in the gym today, I sat out skipping rope and running sprints and stretched and foam rolled the calf instead, but did some foot work drills and a lot of bag work and while it was still a bit tight I felt pretty good over all. Wanted to go back this evening for S&C workouts but coach told me to rest so I'm icing and compressing it now and hoping it feels even better tomorrow for mitt work and sparring.

[tcbender]

Quick update after taking 3 days off to rest I got back in the gym today, I sat out skipping rope and running sprints and stretched and foam rolled the calf instead, but did some foot work drills and a lot of bag work and while it was still a bit tight I felt pretty good over all. Wanted to go back this evening for S&C workouts but coach told me to rest so I'm icing and compressing it now and hoping it feels even better tomorrow for mitt work and sparring.

Sounds like you're doing the right things. Hope it continues to improve!

[abracada]

Calf cramping is my worst nightmare, the pain is excruciating.

Hadn’t had one for about 2 years, the solution that I use is a deep tissue massage every 6 weeks, seems to keep the calf very loose

[L. Cipher]

Thanks everybody! I worked out today with compression sleeves on and got 10 rounds of mitts in and 6 rounds of sparring in, leg feels good, hope it keeps up.