L-sits.. cramps

[Greg Davis]

Anyone have any suggestions for working towards being able to hold l-sits for a longer time without having legs cramp up?

I'm trying to do them while on rings and can only hold it for a few seconds before a cramp shoots through the tops of my legs.. is this just from not building up to the strength required or could this be a specific flexibility issue?

[Steven Low]

That is normal.

Massage out the cramps and do it again.

Cramping is to be expected when you take muscles into shorter range of motion because blood flow is cut off and the muscles become a bit hypoxic which leads to cramping. Since there's a lot of actin-myosin overlap, cramping is exponentially more likely when a muscle is short than when it is long.

Once your body gets used to it (usually over a couple of weeks) it will go away.

[Patrick Donnelly]

Originally Posted by Steven Low

Once your body gets used to it (usually over a couple of weeks) it will go away.

And then you can start training for the V-seat and get cramping all over again.