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.
{ 6 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.