[Betsi]

Argh. I do a lot of my exercise with Yourself Fitness for Playstation 2 and I find that at least half the time I have to quit my workout before I'm done because I'm developing a cramp in my side. I've tried just powering through it and continuing til it goes away but it just gets more and more painful if I continue. I read up on the subject and tried several suggestions I read online - I've tried drinking less water before exercise, more water before exercise, getting more potassium, stretching my arms over my head as it develops, but nothing seems to help. Is this just an endurance thing and as my body gets used to regular exercise it'll happen less?

[KLK]

I think side stitches happen when you aren't breathing enough/properly during physical activity. The next time you work out, pay attention to our breathing, breathe in deeply from your nose and exhale from your mouth and make sure you don't hold your breath (which I have the tendency to do on occasion).

That should help with the side stitches.

[zinkemomx2]

I agree. Work on getting your breathing right and the stitches should go away.

[Betsi]

Hmm, part of the problem is that I've been having trouble breathing due to allergies for a few months now. But I'll see what I can do, maybe there are breathing exercises I can do to build up lung capacity?

[slimmingsi]

swimming is great for lung capacity and general breathing control

[freethetoys]

id say the breathing thing when i run i often get stitches, and i find if i breath through them i manage to controll my body more, my heart rate and they go. i do get them alot, but they get easier to control when you realise how to breath properly, if u have allergies, maybe see a doctor for advice on breathing and exercising.

[zinkemomx2]

I don't think mine are necessarily related to lung capacity. More due to either holding my breath or not breathing evenly. I've been trying to do the c25k and somewhere I read that you should breathe either in or out every time you dominant foot hits the ground. Personally I think that is fast so now I just focus on not holding my breath.

[BlueToBlue]

I also have a tendency to side cramps and something that seems to have really helped is strengthening my abs and core muscles. Try adding some ab exercise to your workout--maybe 10 to 15 min every other day. As your abs get stronger, that may help with the cramps.

Also proper form makes a difference. You want to be holding your abs in while you exercise and standing up straight.

I also agree that breathing can help and that it's about breathing in the proper rhythm, not about lung capacity.

Finally, for me, temperature seems to have a lot to do with it. I have a tendency to cramp when I'm really warm. Once temperatures get about 80, for example, I simply can't run outdoors anymore, I have to do my running in an air-conditioned gym.

When I do get a cramp, what helps to relieve it is to pinch my side where the cramp is occurring or to put pressure on the spot that is cramping. If the cramp is on my right side (almost always), I put my right hand around my waist (thumb in back, fingers in front) and squeeze as hard as I can. Then I walk it off until the cramp is gone. Not until it just starts to go away, but until it is actually gone. If the cramp is up higher in my rib cage area, I'll actually press on that spot and walk it off until the cramp is gone. Sometimes I've been able to recover and go back to my workout with this, especially if I do it as soon as I feel the first pang of a cramp.

Also, maybe just try working out a couple of times a day, for shorter periods of time. So if you can normally get 15 min into your workout before you start cramping, instead of trying to do a 30 min workout all at once, do 15 min then do something else for an hour or so and come back and do another 15 min. Or do 15 min in the AM and 15 min in the evening.

[luckymommy]

Just a wild guess...and I don't know if this has anything to do w/ it, but could it be that you're a little backed up? If you are, see if you can take some steps to aleviate that and see if that helps at all. Just a thought.

[Betsi]

Thanks for all your help everyone! I will try to keep working on breathing with a better rhythm and get some more ab control. Keeping proper form and engaging my abs is mondo hard for me, but I'll keep tryin'. Maybe I should watch and see if there are certain cardio moves that Maya (the "virtual personal trainer" in the program I'm using) throws at me that I'm better at, and focus on doing more of those and less of the ones that I lose form on, at least until I can build up some abs.

This is the sort of thing that really illustrates why I'm loving this community! There are few other boards out there (on any subject, not just fitness) that I've found really have as much of this sense of community and helping each other. Rock on!

[Apple Cheeks]

I agree that maintaining a good breathing rythym is helpful.

I don't know about the whole breathing through your nose thing, though, since I can never stick to that: I feel like I'm suffocating and end up gasping as if I'm drowning whenever I've tried it. Guess I have small airways or something.


Anyway, I posted this on another thread, but these are the techniques I have learned and found to be helpful in combating side-stitches. They are more geared for running, but I think they could be applied to other aerobic workouts, too:

*Blow out a hard breath of air when one foot hits the ground, on whatever side the pain is on. So, if the stitch is on your right side, exhale hard when your right foot hits the ground. If that doesn't work, do it on the opposite footfall. (This is what works for me the best). You don't need to do it every time that foot hits the ground, though. Maintain a good breathing rhythym and do the exhale when you can as part of that rythym. For me this means a hard exhale every few beats.

*As BlueToBlue mentioned, a good method also is to pinch or hold some pressure against the area that is hurting. I ball up my fist and hold it against the stitch, or I'll even jam my fingertips under my ribs. Both work for me.

*There's a breathing technique called "belly breathing." Basically, this means you should try to stick your belly out as far as you can, as if you are pregnant or have a beer belly. Hold it out there and you will feel the muscles begin to stretch out a bit and the pain will subside. I personally can't hold my gut out like that for more than a few beats, so I will stick it out, rest a bit, and repeat as many times as I need.

You can use just one, or a combo of these to help ease the side stitch into something just minimally annoying.

Also, as others have mentioned, part of the problem is likely a lack of core strength. I have found that when you strengthen those muscles, side-stitches become less of a problem.

[Betsi]

Thanks Apple Cheeks! 3FC is such an amazing resource! Where have you guys been the past 5 years? (I know, right here, huh?)

So here's a question: what should I be doing to improve my core strength? Can anyone suggest somewhere with step by step photos or a video - I never know what most exercises are... I don't even really know the difference between sit-ups and crunches.

[Apple Cheeks]

A sit up is pretty much what you remember from grade school: lay on your back, knees bent, and roll all the way up, go back down, and repeat. From everything I've read, sit-ups are frowned on nowadays as being too hard on your lower back, and most experts prefer crunches to sit-ups.

There are different types of crunches, but the basics are that you start out in a sit-up position, but instead of going all the way up you only come up off the floor a little further than the point where your shoulders are off the ground. You basically only go about 1/4 of the way up. But, you keep your back straight, your belly as tight as possible (picture pulling your belly button in towards your spine), your chin off your chest (picture a tennis ball under your chin), and your elbows out to the side to where you can't see them. Lower, and repeat.

A "full" crunch is where you pull your knees up and roll your upper body up at the same time. Picture curling yourself up into a sort of fetal position, with your tummy tucked in tight. Your elbows don't have to touch your knees, but your shoulders have to come up off the floor, and your butt should too.

Here are a few "core" moves to give you an idea of what they are like:

*The "plank" manuever: Lay on the floor on your tummy with your elbows under your shoulders (you can fold your hands together or keep your arms parallel on the ground if you like). Then, keeping your back straight, your elbows on the floor, and your body in a straight line, lift your body off the ground. The only parts of your body that should be on the ground are your elbows and forearms, and your feet. Hold for 3 counts, and slowly lower to the ground. Repeat. Don't let your body sag or arch up: keep it in a straight line.

There are variations on this, such as starting in a push-up position and then just lowering your knees to the ground and back up to push-up position.


*I think it's called "Cobra" in yoga, but basically you are again laying on your tummy, but this time put both your hands under your chin with your elbows out to the side. Lift your upper body up a little bit off the floor, hold for 3 beats, and lower. Great lower back exercise, but don't do it if it hurts!



There are tons of videos out there that address core strength and different crunches you can do. Also, muscle and fitness magazines usually run articles about stuff like that and usually post articles about it online. (I've learned what I know about this stuff from work-out vids and fitness mags, so they are great resources!)

Happy hunting!

[BlueToBlue]

In terms of improving your core strength, you might want to read the article From Muffin Top to Six-Pack: A Guide to Getting the Abs Everybody Wants (it's stickied in the Exercise forum, try to ignore the annoying pictures, it's a good article).

Proper form is one of the most important things you can do to strengthen your core. When you suck in your stomach, stand up straight, and have proper form while doing your cardio, you engage your core and that will strengthen it. Core strength is also key to proper balance, so any move that you do that requires you to balance also helps improve your core strength (so long as you are using proper form). For example, standing on a Bosu and doing bicep curls may not feel like an ab exercise, but because you are using your core to balance, it is improving your core strength. So suck in that stomach and stand up straight!

For more traditional ab exercises, here are a bunch of ab exercise programs from Self.com.

[Betsi]

Thanks BlueToBlue, that's an informative read. I'm still not sure what half the exercises mentioned toward the end are, but I'll try to look them up. Looks like some of them would require a gym membership though.

What really amazes me from this article is the info about protein. I know you need to up your protein to put on muscle but I'm absolutely flabbergasted by this statement:

Shoot for at least one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and make sure you eat protein at each meal.

What the heck? This seems like a crazy amount to me. Unless you are guzzling protein shakes, how do you achieve that?