Mao's guide to preventing muscle cramps *wink*

okay.. lately.. i've been hearing of and seeing people around me complain about/ get cramps
(people like joannamoo, lam (and his crazy 4th toe hahahah), my brother and a few others..)
now i'm gonna give all of you lucky people a simplified explanation as to why you get cramps, and hopefulyy u'll learn enough of this post to help prevent you from getting cramps... =D

okie dokie.. here we go basics..
our muscles are made up of millions of fibers.. think of it as 'Big Pipes'
and in those 'Big Pipes' (BP for ease of reference), there are millions of 'Medium Pipes' (MP), and in those 'MP's there are millions of 'Small Pipes' (let's call em Petite Pipes or PP hurr cause i love french =P) ...
so yes our muscles basically consists of fibres or 'PP's that is wrapped in a connective sheath of tissue that holds the muscle together as a whole... c'est simple non?

also know that muscles are connected to our bones with the help of our tendons..

now how do muscles contract....
muscles contract simply because your mind sends a command down ur nervous system to your muscles telling them to 'stiffen up' or contract.. and by doing so, as them muscle shortens, it pulls on the tendon which then pulls the muscle in whichever direction yaya...

now why do u get muscle cramps..
1. Insufficient Salt (will explain..)
2. Physical Fitness

why isit you get muscle cramps when u have insufficent salt content in your body you get cramps?
now "How do muscles relax" *most important section* =P

before a muscle can return to it's original length when it's relaxed, this funny things called the "Myosin Heads" must (in a way) "let go" of the muscles..
these myosin heads require salts such as Calcium and wat not to "relax" and let of the muscle fibre... it is almost like how it's difficult to move a rusted metal hinge and oil is required to smooth it out.. the salts we consume play the "oil" role with our muscles...

other reasons for muscles cramps would be a lack of physical fitness...
u more often then not find yourself having cramps after an extremely straneous day and u feel completely dead.. u put your feet up and after awhile u get those nasty cramps...
this happens especially if you haven't exercised that much prior to that tiring day yaya... your muscles wouldn't have in a way gotten that used to being worked and here you are, overworking it all of a sudden..

also before u go and do a heavy work out, remember to have a wee bit of salt intake such as drinking a Isotonic drink like gatorade or h-two-o... (works for me.. =P)
and do your warm-up stretches... this helps prepare the muscles for exercise by increasing their flexibility slightly and helps prevent muscle injuries...
and after exercising do a wee bit of cool down stretches.. this is very important as it helps to increase the speed of recovery for muscles (so that you won't ache all over for too long), it helps with the removal of lactic acid build up in our muscles ( a waste product created in muscle contraction), helps return the body to a resting state and, a plus point for doing stretches to after exercise to cool down is because it is the point where u can increase you flexibility range with greater ease... yaya.. and another bottle of h-two-o wouldn't do any harm.. (hurhur.. no they didn't hire me to do a commercial tsk... [though they should seriously consider giving me something in return hurhur =X])
but don't expect a couple of isotonic drinks to do the job.. u gotta have a pretty decent diet too.. u know all that fruits and veggies and watever.. (u can skip veggies like me if u want hurhur =X.. bad influence)

okie dokie! .. that's pretty much all i can remember at least =/.. if u feel like u wanna know more,
check this site out http://getbodysmart.com/ap/muscletissue/menu/animation.html...
(warning.. it's really cheemology..)

okie getting late.. gotta go turn in or i won't be able to wake up for tomorrow's production at valhall.. Bonne nuit tout le monde! =D