Nausea during a strength training workout
Many weight lifters experience nausea during exercise. In fact, it’s surprisingly common for weight lifters and other strength training devotees to vomit during a workout. There are several factors which contribute to this sort of workout nausea.
- Too much food or water in the stomach. Stomach volume is limited, and stomach emptying rates are lower during exercise than at other times. As the old saw says, “Don’t swim (or squat) until an hour after eating.”
- High or maximum heart rate and uncontrolled breathing. Sustained heavy lifting elevates the heart rate and blood pressure. This brings on a “sick to the stomach” feeling.
- Bending over during a period of maximum heart rate, especially while inhaling. The esophageal sphincter is a band of muscle that closes off the top of the stomach. It prevents stomach contents from re-entering the esophagus. Unfortunately, it’s notoriously weak and can open due to an overfull stomach, bending over while drawing a heavy breath, or a highly elevated heart rate.
To avoid exercise-induced nausea during intense strength training, remember these tips:
- Get enough rest between sets so you maintain a manageable heart rate. If your heart rate is at its maximum, exercise induced vomiting may occur. Rest periods of up to five minutes are acceptable after a heavy set of squats or other compound exercises.
- Don’t bend over to adjust the weights. Instead, adjust weights while they’re on the rack or on a table. Avoid compressing your stomach.
- Drink the bare minimum amount of water that you feel you need. Try to avoid drinking right before intense sets. If you are properly hydrated before working out, you can keep your drinking to a bare minimum. Emulate a boxer who drinks only enough between rounds to replace the water lost to perspiration and exhalation.
- Don’t rehydrate with fluids containing dissolved gas. Never use carbonated drinks during a workout. Avoid shaking your water bottle when you drink from it. Sipping from a cup is preferable to using a water bottle; anything that introduces dissolved air into your water will increase the gas in your stomach during exercise.
- Finally, get in shape for your weight lifting workout. If a single set of squats leaves you gasping for breath, you are not properly prepared.
Nausea after exercise
While weight lifters and bodybuilders can experience nausea after exercise, it more commonly affects endurance athletes.
Marathon runners, and other endurance athletes, occasionally experience exercise-induced nausea.
If, as a weight lifter, you consistently experience post-workout nausea, remember that dehydration and (ironically) over-hydration or water intoxication can manifest itself as nausea after exercise. Check out some techniques for recovering from intense exercise and be sure to get your post-exercise carbs. For weight lifters, throwing up after exercise is atypical; if you experience extreme nausea after exercise, it is time to reevaluate your workout program, diet, and recovery protocol.
Correlation between heart rate and nausea
Wear a heart-rate monitor and you find out all sorts of interesting things.
I recently was wearing my heart-rate monitor, watching my heart rate drop after a set of deadlifts.
As I waited for my heart-rate to drop back below 150 or so, I let out a slight belch. Immediately, my heart-rate dropped below 120 and I felt a bit light-headed. Then I experienced the nausea feeling that often accompanies light-headedness. After 5 seconds or so, my heart-rate caught up again, and the light-headedness went away (and so did the sick to the stomach feeling).
What this tells me is that anything which reduces your blood pressure (a belch will do it) can immediately cause a sick feeling, even though it’s only temporary. It’s the same phenomenon as suddenly getting up from a seat and feeling mild vertigo.
I was surprised that a slight burp caused a drop in intraabdominal pressure significant enough to effect my heart rate.
Some people theorize that the body’s feedback mechanisms intentionally cause vomiting as a way to reduce blood pressure. So, if you vomit during or after exercise, perhaps you’ve been working out at max heart-rate for too long.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
When I begin to feel like throwing up, it is always because I didn’t spend enough time resting between lift sets. So many places say that you should keep the rest period between lift sets to a minimum, but like the 1st tip says, always get enough rest between sets to keep the heart rate down. I wish I knew this a few years ago!
Throwing up in the weight room is more common than most people think.
One of the points made in the article is to get in better shape, letting your heart rate come down between every set will not accomplish that. Eventually the nausea will go away after a heavy set of squats or deads, then you know you are in shape.
That’s a very good point. As per the specificity principle, the best way to get in shape for squatting is (of course) by squatting.
However, when I recommend resting a fairly lengthy while between squat sets (up to 5 minutes), I’m thinking of ultra-heavy sub-six-rep squats of the sort you’d use on a bulking program. Unless you’re already in shape, it’s best to postpone the start of a serious bulking program until you can work out with maximum intensity.
So, my preference is for novices to first get in shape with less intense squats (and other squat-type movements). Then, after a certain degree of fitness is achieved, to start eating big and squatting big.
Now I have just finished a workout involving supersets which is basically a push set of 15 ie squats and then a pull set of 15 Straight back dead lifts, it was recommended to have a 30 second rest after you do both these exercises back to back, then do it again for 3 sets.
So this was my first time in a while doing weights and then i spewed like a fountain i mean it was disgusting, but i’m not going to change my workout gonna still do the same cause with out pain and sacrifice you can’t truly break your limitations. So i made it through my weight/spew session and not gonna quit, i mean i was sick half way through my workout and i’m not a quitter, so i pushed through the pain barrier and so should everyone here.
“Pushing through the pain” is probally the most stupid thing you can do while training. Muscle pain is one thing but for a novice and even uneducated regulars, if you induce tendon/ligament tearing and push on confusing it for normal muscle tearing, you will end up having surgery and MONTHS of pain, sometimes perminant damage. As for vomiting and pushing through, also stupid…you remove ALL the bacteria in your stomach and totally cock up your electrolight levels and in the end, you will put your body into a state of shock and recovery becomes an issue and this indirectly kills ALL your gains…it is like having gastro/food poisening…..the author is right, rest because strength and stamina is not build through pushing the “pain barrier” UNLESS you know what you talking about and that means getting educated before you get hurt, perminantly..oh and lets not forget, ignore the signs and you’ll have a stroke very easily…the heart is but a pump..and it to can say ENOUGH…no matter how old you are.
I used to get the feeling of nausea after lifting weights, but it was because I would drink water between virtually every set. After I began to do what you said and cut down on drinking water, the nausea went away. I never thought of having a full stomach during weight lifting, but you are right it is a cause of feeling sick during the workout. Now that I don’t feel nauseated after heavy squats, I look forward to leg days.
I’ve experienced this more then a few times in my life. From the personal experience and clients experience this feeling trigers aggressive recovery and adaptation. With myself if I duplicate the exact same workout, same weights, same rest periods, same hydration, same time period from last meal, 48 hours later and no nausea. Most of my clients experience the same results although I avoid pushing them to that point.
I recently had a re-kindling of my passion for MMA, especially BJJ. Seeing that a new place opened by me I decided to get myself into some semblance of shape. I didn’t realize how much I lost from not exercising for about two years.
To get back to the topic, I too am having the issue with bad nausea during workouts. I believe it to be caused, for myself at least, by high bp and perhaps not breathing correctly during exercise which just compounds the problem.
I made a point to pay attention to what I was doing before I experienced the nausea and it seemed like I had it for exercises like pull ups or the last rep or two of bicep curls, exercises that I unfortunately have the bad habit of holding my breath sometimes (bad bad I know, I’m working on proper breathing). I also tend to tighten my abdominal muscles, perhaps this is contributing to bad breathing as well as raising bp from the extra strain?
I find taking the longer rest periods and just breathing helps. The nausea can be pretty intense (start to gag..etc) but taking a small break when you feel it start and just breathing, it goes away quick. The problem is that most workout sites/books/articles.. whatever almost always say like 30 secs or less between sets, maybe 1 minute max and that is not nearly long enough for many people starting out.
On the bright side though, the better my cardio and general fitness gets the less I seem to experience the nausea. So perhaps people who are out of shape or new to having a workout routine should do a few weeks of cardio and general exercise before getting into their new exercise regiment.
yeah, about an hour before i left for the gym i took a half of a shake, and some supplements. with a bottle of water to go. bad idea. i knew that if i drank too much of any shake, or ate too much or drank too much i would get sick, so i limited it. still got sick as a dog. heart rate was way up, breathing was way down? and yes i was only waiting 30 secs. between sets, on a bulking program. weird. and i was doing leg workouts too, ironic. i guess it was a perfect storm. next time…water only. this site was helpful. gonna change that workout program tomorrow.
I feel nausea and dizzines, this is totally affectin my workout’s. Especiacily cardio, I really don’t know what to do Dr. said everything is fine with me but when I’m running or doing squat’s OMG! I need to make like 10 to 15 min rest. Please any advice around?
I guess the main point I took from this article is to not overdo it, especially if you’ve had a period off, and to progressively increase your weights over time. I just had my first session after a 3 week holiday and I planned to start where I left off. My pre workout nutrition this morning was good, consisting of oatmeal, an apple and a small protein shake. Hit the gym an hour later with squats, overhead presses and deadlifts being the main focus. I was fine until I hit the deadlifts and started feeling nauseous. I didnt end up finishing my program and packed it home feeling pretty sick all the way haha. Gym sessions for me are never usually a problem unless I’ve had a break and my bodies not ready for the sudden onslaught. I guess the big take home message is to bring yourself up to speed before you start doing your personal best sessions, listen to your body, eat well and be patient. I know that after one or two more sessions I’ll be feeling good and training without the nauseous!
Just came home from the gym and puked on my front porch! Rinsed my mouth out, googled “exercise induced nausea,” and this site popped up. It explains a lot—thanks! I used to work out a lot a few years ago and am trying to get back into it now, but I gather I’m jumping in a little too intensely. The brain remembers what it’s like to train but I guess the body doesn’t. I’ll start taking it easier.
Felicia, please read comment by Kenneth above. If your heart is healthy, don’t start taking it easier just because of nausea! Stick with your program; your body will get used to it and the nausea will subside over time.
I am by no means a weight lifter……and I have been throwing up after my workouts…..weightloss yoga and cardio max intense workout with 2lbs wieghts? would this also be caused from bending and tooo much water in the stomach?
Heartrate plays a part in it too. Try wearing a heart-rate monitor and keeping your workouts in a fat-burning target zone, rather than letting your heartrate get up to its max. Hopefully, you’ll get in shape eventually and the nausea will be a thing of the past. Good luck!
One thing I do to help nausea is have a roll of antacids handy. If I begin to feel a little stomach upset I immediately take an antacid, which settles it down. At most I would need one per workout. That and making sure to get the heart rate down sufficiently between sets has eliminated the nausea.
I too have just started back at the gym after too many years off, my symptoms, sweaty, hot, heart rate up, sick in stomach, light headed, beginning of headache, burping, tried to push through it but it got the better of me, ran to the ladies, kept it down, but couldn’t get up from the bench in the ladies, felt like I would pass out after vomit, lol so stayed down, finally had to go home, managed to drive home fell into bed and didn’t appear till the next day, still feel slightly sick and headache, welcome back to the gym! Not a great incentive to go back next week.