Nauseaus During and After Lifting

[Deepsea10]

I just got back from the gym and feel like I have to puke. I don't know why but some days I just don't feel 100%. I felt strong but had very little energy and couldn't get my breathing right. This only happens to me every now and then, it doesn't happen all the time. I ate well last night and this morning and feel like I have been getting enough fluids. Does this happen to anyone else from time to time?

[DavidYork]

I get that every so often, usually after training my legs really hard.

[Deepsea10]

I get that every so often, usually after training my legs really hard.

Sounds about right. Legs are what I did today..

[**B**]

An intense leg day will do it for sure....I would also say that the occasional weak days where you don't feel 100% is from your nervous system not having enough time to recover after intense training.

[golden_arm]

LOL, yeah I have projectile vomitted more than once after slamming a protein shake and hitting the legs hard. Luckliy I can usually feel it coming about 15-20min in advance, enough time to get out of the gym and somewhere private :D Afterward I feel fine. Now i drink nothing but water for 2hrs prior to hitting the gym on legs day, seems to help. Interestingly, this only happens to me on legs day...:confused:

[Coyote0102]

Just a thought on the side of caution. Have you ever checked your blood pressure when you felt this way?

[Deepsea10]

Just a thought on the side of caution. Have you ever checked your blood pressure when you felt this way?

No.. But I have my blood pressure checked frequently and it's always perfect.

[pigrond]

if youre not pukin you aint doin right:)

[golden_arm]

if youre not pukin you aint doin right:)

Bump!! :D:D:D

[Jays-gonna-get-huge]

It's nothing to do with blood pressure--I get the same thing on intense days....it means your putting your 200% effort in!!

[Deepsea10]

I always lift hard and I don't always get sick. Today I felt nauseaus after my first set. If you guys are puking everytime than I would say you're doing something wrong, like not breathing right. I know how to lift hard and 200% and this wasn't because of that.

[Jays-gonna-get-huge]

I don't get sick all the time...............it's hard to explain.......sometimes after a really intense workout I get the nauseous feeling----anways you got me curious why it happens so I google'd it and this is the best article I found:




Why Do I Feel Like Hurling after a Workout?
Hey guys! I've been strength training for about 4 years now and for the past year or so I've been using HIT. I will say it is THE way to go if you are serious about gaining strength and muscle. I can't fathom ever training differently for the rest of my life. I train very hard and very brief so I've felt like crap after workouts on many many occasions. So my question to you guys is this: why do I feel like I am going to throw up after I work out?

I'm not saying this is a negative thing by any means. I look at it as a way for me to gauge how hard I worked during that particular session. If my stomach doesn't feel unsettled I feel as though I haven't pushed myself hard enough. I was just wondering if there is a logical scientific explanation behind this.

Thanks for the wealth of information you guys keep providing on cyberpump! I check the site each and every day. Thanks for your time!

Travis

Answers:

Travis,

A question like the one you've submitted, sparks me toward more questions.

I'll begin though by saying this. Training in a brief, abbreviated approach, (or to use the acronym HIT), doesn't necessarily obligate one to feel ill, in order for it to equate with successful training. In fact, if you're training so hard you feel ill, and are doing this workout after workout, that's probably counter-productive. That's a level of undue stress, and chronic unhealthy stress eventually contributes to overtraining.

What's important isn't to hammer your body into absolute physical submission, but to "train" it; to encourage it to adapt to higher and heavier loads, progressively. As tough as high intensity training can be, there is a reasonable limit of intensity to hover at when pushing oneself. And I would clearly say that nausea and/or generally not feeling good are not a required part of the equation. On the other hand, I'm not saying baby yourself. You just need to not push yourself so hard that your body rebels on a physical level. Frankly, what you've said rings a bit of an addictive tone too. Meaning that you don't feel you've worked hard enough if your stomach doesn't feel "unsettled." That sort of thinking can lead you down an unhealthy psychological trap door.

Here's where your question leads me to other questions. What time of the day are you working out? For some people, this in itself can be a factor that leads to stomach woes. There would be a very individualistic response though for every person.

This is a very important one. Are you eating before you train? If you eat shortly before training, that's a definite no-no for stomach well-being. If you're not giving adequate time before eating and training for your food to digest and leave your stomach, THAT can be a cause for a problem. If you DO eat at some point before training, how long? And what kind of food are you eating? Heavy, spicy and fatty food will linger in the gut much longer than fruits or vegetables. That's a consideration. There are other questions too, but you get the idea. You need to self-assess what you're doing, and narrow things down.

I don't know what time of the day you train, but personally, I feel the best time to workout is in the morning on a completely empty stomach. Because I've had stomach trouble at times in my life, I find this is the best way to have a most effective, energized, focused workout, with no distraction from food hanging out in my stomach just waiting to give me trouble.

I don't know if this response gives you any answers or direction, but I would suggest you take a close look at what you're doing, and assess on a cause and effect protocol. Break it down, and you should be able to isolate the problem to the cause, then eliminate the source.

Good luck!

John Leschinski

Travis,

Becoming nauseous or throwing up after a hard workout is a sign that you went to far on the intensity continuum. In essence you over did it. I am a firm believer you one must "train hard" and consistently in order to become stronger and muscularly larger; however, working to the point of becoming sick or crippled for days is neither prudent nor necessary. And don't get hung up with the "I have to be lying in a pool of sweat" or head in a "puke bucket" after a workout if I want to train hard. That is no better than any of the other training relater BS line out there. My advice to you is to train hard but also be smart. Training is supposed to make you feel "strong and energized" not nauseous or crippled.

Best of luck
Doug Scott

Hello Travis,
There really is no scientific explanation to why you feel sick during or after a workout. Perhaps you're training too soon after a meal. Perhaps you're not used to training hard. That would be my guess.Training hard is something that one has to get used to. It takes time for you're body to adapt to it. If you' were loafing during your workouts before you changed to a briefer, harder workout, the shock and jolt to your system may be what is making you feel quesy. Feeling sick after a workout is not a good indicator as to whether you worked hard or not. Progression is. Whether it be a little more weight or one more rep on a certain exercise. I liken your unsettled stomach to someones else's "pump", or muscle soreness, and the fact that someone assumes muscle growth has taken place because those things happen. Good luck with your training and keep us abreast of your progress.

Patrick Self

Travis,

For me, being sick to my stomach is not an indication of a good workout. I have been sick off and on but I don't like it. Plus, I don't feel it's necessary. The workout should never become something you dread. If you do, it's time for a change. Back off a bit and rest a little more. When you can, take less rest as you get more adjusted to it. Remember this, Workout in a way that is safe and keeps you coming back for more. Don't burn out and quit.

Jim Bryan


Here is a link to the actual article:http://www.strengthmentor.com/mentor/index.php?/archives/122-Why-Do-I-Feel-Like-Hurling-after-a-Workout.html

[golden_arm]

Great post Jay. Like I said earlier, I dont eat for about two hours now before legs, just water, and that seems to do the trick. No other muscle groups give me problems, so its no big deal, just double up on my post w/o meal.

[Deepsea10]

Good article Jay. Thanks bro.

[Alin]

I just got back from the gym and feel like I have to puke. I don't know why but some days I just don't feel 100%. I felt strong but had very little energy and couldn't get my breathing right. This only happens to me every now and then, it doesn't happen all the time. I ate well last night and this morning and feel like I have been getting enough fluids. Does this happen to anyone else from time to time?

Are you on any meds or supps,,,,do you take/eat anything before training?

[Deepsea10]

Are you on any meds or supps,,,,do you take/eat anything before training?

I'm on a cycle of Enythate and D-bol at the moment. I pop my D-Bol about 1 1/2 to 2 hours before my workout and usually eat at about the same time. I think some days I just have low blood sugar. I don't eat sweets at all and usually eat foods that don't contain much sugar in them. Maybe I just need a candy bar or something. I'm not really sure. I just wasn't feeling it yesterday..

[ranger235]

if youre not pukin you aint doin right:)

Bingo - I do DC training and if ya dont feel like yer gonna hurl after 20 rep widowmaker squats ya should be ashamed of yerself! :o

[Deepsea10]

Bingo - I do DC training and if ya dont feel like yer gonna hurl after 20 rep widowmaker squats ya should be ashamed of yerself! :o

All you guys talking about puking do to training obviously don't read anything but the first and last post. I felt nauseaus after my first set not after doing 20 rep squats.

[blackson]

Do you smoke cigarettes?

[Deepsea10]

Do you smoke cigarettes?

I don't smoke or drink. I'm as clean as one could possibly be.

[kickback]

I fought the same thing and found that it was the timing of my last meal. I would sometimes get sick when working out 2 hours after a meal. I would throw up twice as much if I worked out 1 hour after my meal and have never thrown up if I wait 3 hours.
Trouble with that is I hate when my stomach is growling towards the end of my workout, but, I've never missed another workout!
Hey Deepsea10, if I could do it all over-I would be a diver. You guys make me proud!

[Deepsea10]

I fought the same thing and found that it was the timing of my last meal. I would sometimes get sick when working out 2 hours after a meal. I would throw up twice as much if I worked out 1 hour after my meal and have never thrown up if I wait 3 hours.
Trouble with that is I hate when my stomach is growling towards the end of my workout, but, I've never missed another workout!
Hey Deepsea10, if I could do it all over-I would be a diver. You guys make me proud!

Thanks bro.. I appreciate that. Were you military?

[kickback]

Thanks bro.. I appreciate that. Were you military?

yea Air Force, aircraft electronics. no complaints but always thought of the Navy as more of an adventure

[bigdawg2021]

i felt like that a few weeks back but i had a lung infection. lungs were full of bacteria and shit blocking my O2 supply. if i lifted the remote too fast i got dizzy. doxycycline took it out but that doesnt sound like your prob with your frequency of every so often.

[samcam]

I get that nauseous feeling everytime during and after leg day. It sucks but I just learned to live with it.

[advanracing62]

i threw up in my mouth a little today... just gulped it back down and kept chugging along- man it was nasty.

[OuchThatHurts]

i threw up in my mouth a little today... just gulped it back down and kept chugging along- man it was nasty.Caffeine before my workout makes me nauseous. Also high blood pressure occasionally. I suppose you could be hypoglycemic. What happens is that when you are putting your body under stress, your body's natural response is to shut down any process that isn't vital to your survival at that moment. That includes digestion. I can't usually eat for an hour at least after my workouts and even then the food tends to lay in my stomach.

The puking occurs because your body thinks it's in a survival situation and evacuates the contents of your gut. In really serious situations, your body will evacuate your bowels and bladder too.

Anything detrimental to survival is turned off... even pain. Think about it. If you took your shirt off and tried to walk through thorny brush, it would hurt like hell. But if you have a bear or a lion chasing your ass, you will cruise through that brush run for a mile and not feel shit. It's because pain, at that point, could prevent your survival. Soon as you calm down though, you're gonna feel it. Did you ever see those National Geographic vids where the lion is chasing the hare and the hare just barely escapes? What they don't tell you is that hare will usually get sick and die anyway because of the strain of escaping. Even your immune system is not necessary for you to survive at that moment. Which is also why you get the flu if you overtrain.

Your body is smarter than you are. It takes care of itself pretty well. All you have to do is take care of it and it will take care of you.

"He'll feel that in the morning."
"Scared me so bad I pissed myself."
"Trained so hard I puked up my lunch."
"Got into an accident and almost shit myself."

etc...

[Tyrone]

We really are lucky to have OuchThatHurts as a moderator/monitor for us. Sometimes I don't think we all realize/appreciate that. He's super busy and I'm suprised he finds the time but he IS one of the VERY BEST.

[musclemd]

An intense leg day will do it for sure....I would also say that the occasional weak days where you don't feel 100% is from your nervous system not having enough time to recover after intense training.

Bump this. A great workout will really stress out your nervous system and the feelings you describe may really be a good indication. Having said that, if these symptoms continue or happen when your not working out, take a few days off and see an MD if things do not settle down.

[High9]

Caffeine before my workout makes me nauseous. Also high blood pressure occasionally. I suppose you could be hypoglycemic. What happens is that when you are putting your body under stress, your body's natural response is to shut down any process that isn't vital to your survival at that moment. That includes digestion. I can't usually eat for an hour at least after my workouts and even then the food tends to lay in my stomach.

The puking occurs because your body thinks it's in a survival situation and evacuates the contents of your gut. In really serious situations, your body will evacuate your bowels and bladder too.

Anything detrimental to survival is turned off... even pain. Think about it. If you took your shirt off and tried to walk through thorny brush, it would hurt like hell. But if you have a bear or a lion chasing your ass, you will cruise through that brush run for a mile and not feel shit. It's because pain, at that point, could prevent your survival. Soon as you calm down though, you're gonna feel it. Did you ever see those National Geographic vids where the lion is chasing the hare and the hare just barely escapes? What they don't tell you is that hare will usually get sick and die anyway because of the strain of escaping. Even your immune system is not necessary for you to survive at that moment. Which is also why you get the flu if you overtrain.

Your body is smarter than you are. It takes care of itself pretty well. All you have to do is take care of it and it will take care of you.

"He'll feel that in the morning."
"Scared me so bad I pissed myself."
"Trained so hard I puked up my lunch."
"Got into an accident and almost shit myself."

etc...

OTH is bang on the money from a medical perspective.
Its rubbish saying that these symptoms of nausea/vomitting after lifting intensely are not understood.

Its just a basic sympathetic nervous system response, "fight or flight". That coupled with a few stress hormones make up the survival response OTH explained.

However, there are factors that exacerbate this SNS response by irritating the stomach. OTH mentioned caffeine, in my experience I have encountered this as well.

I normally do not get nausea/vomitting no matter how hard I lift, yet during the med exam periods in which I drench my system with caffeine, I have always had symptoms of N/V after leg sessions.

[monkboy]

For me, to avoid the dry heaves, I eat at night, and that's my last meal. In the morning, I rise, eat nothing, and lift. If you need coffee, or anything stronger, I'd suggest Prilosec OTC. It really keeps me from literally losing all the morning coffee consumed to the gym floor.

I have done legs very hard before where I've literally rolled off the leg press, dizzy, and dry-heaving on the carpet. It creates a funny scene for the guys that know me, but the girls have a tendency to get sympathetic heaves.

Okay, it's a little funny, but I know I've really hammered my quads to death.

Remember, though, you may inhibit a full pump and engorging of the muscle tissue if most of the blood is going to your stomach to digest food, so I'd really encourage you to not eat for many hours before lifting.

What I've also found to work awesome in getting that huge pump is the use of ordinary, unbuffered aspirin. Read it years ago in some magazine that was trying to demystify creatine's pumping effect.

Unbuffered aspirin is without a coating, so when it hits your stomach, it dissolves immediately. My triceps would inflate like balloons when I'd take only ONE aspirin about 30 minutes before going to the gym. Walgreens sells unbuffered aspirin in a 500 count bottle for like $3.99. More than one asprin doesn't mean a bigger pump. Why? Because I tried it, and the red muscle tissue can only saturate so much, so stick with just one tablet. Plus, you'll avoid bruising.

If you do bruise bad, buy VITAMIN K. A neurosurgeon told me it would help me with my issue of being black and blue all the time. Hell, it really works!

If you have any type of ulcer, please avoid aspirin.

If you are having problems eating, try a mega-multi B vitamin from Sams, within reason. I used to utilize this a great deal, but later found that B6 is toxic at some level.

Vitamin B6 is stored primarily in skeletal muscle. Although this vitamin is water soluble, megadoses of vitamin B6 may be toxic. Symptoms of toxicity are mainly neurological and include weakness and numbness and tingling of peripheral nerves. These symptoms are thought to be related to excess levels of the vitamin coenzyme, pyridoxal phosphate, which inhibits neurotransmitter synthesis by negative feedback inhibition.

But then again, toxicity is present in high doses of Vitamin A. While B and A are good for your skin, A and B6 build up over time, harming the liver. It's like taking too much protein in at once. It taxes the liver. Vitamin A doesn't pass out through urine, like Vitamin C, so if you think you're A deficient, stick with Beta Carotene. Beta Carotene will convert to the necessary vitamin A your body needs in moderation, and the beta will evacuate through urine, not harming you. Vitamin C in mega doses will imitate antibiotics, bringing about diarrhea.

These are simply vitamins, and they can actually kill you.

Hell, and you thought steroids were dangerous?

Now, my gripe.....Steroids are NOTHING compared to the "over the counters" in our own cabinets right now. This is where I get furious with drug policies regarding our nation.

Acetometaphan, (tylenol) if overused or over-dosed, will cause necrosis (tissue death) of the windpipe as one vomits in convulsions into the lungs. If found before death, and no antidote administered, you have 7 days before total liver shutdown. There is no way around it. When acetometaphan went from a controlled substance only given out by doctors, to an over the counter, just like Prilosec, Great Britian immediately had the first wave of suicides via acetometaphan. Because of this, scientists had to create a counter-measure; an antidote. If administered within 24 hours of ingestion, you'd live without damage. If not, that's it. You die.

Alleve is highly liver toxic. A lady I knew almost went into complete liver shut-down because she was taking more than the recommended dose, and she really wasn't pushing the envelope here. She was really only taking a few extra a day for arthritis, but the cumulative effect over time was devastating.

Yet, Alleve still is on the shelf.

While this is an inert gas and not a drug, helium, in concentration, is, literally, one of the deadliest "friendly" gasses. Our blood likes and uptakes helium better than oxygen and carbon monoxide. Not kidding. Recently, a "right-to-die" group ( won't mention the organization ) published documents on how to ulitize helium as a "way out" for the terminally ill. Unfortunately, a depressed young girl tried it, finding instructions on how it's administered. I won't go into it here, but she's dead...by helium. With helium, it takes only 3 - 4 minutes to bring about complete brain death.

Again, and you just want to lift, be healthy, eat right, and be proud of your body. Why is that wrong? If steroids were legal, it wouldn't mean everyone would use them. Not everyone is interested in exercise, or body transformation, so the whole issue of potential abuse is completely imagined.

God, I get pissed.

And Advil. Yeah, we've all taken it. Simply, over-the-counter, Advil can increase your risk of life-threatening heart or circulation problems, including heart attack or stroke. This risk will increase the longer you use Advil. Isn't that amazing? And, yet, we have it in quantities of 10,000 per bottle, and we chug them like Pez. We are all worried...us old folks....about PAD, Peripheral Artery Disease, where a clot forms and kills us either by aneurysm ( exploding vein in brain, and that's instant death ), or heart blocking, causing arrest. Or even in the lungs. An aunt of mine had an aneurysm, and she was skinny and healthy. She was taking laundry from the clothesline in her yard. She, literally, just fell over into the grass, dead, instantly. All three ( heart, lung, brain ), once the clot breaks free to move, will either harm you horribly, or kill you.

Advil will expedite ( quicken ) the process of my death, yet Advil is still out there because, while the risks are great, the drug company lines the pockets to keep the poison in the public arena.

I am pre-disposed to high blood pressure, and take meds for it. With Advil, it interferes with my blood pressure medicine. I needn't a doctor to tell me. While the bottle of Advil reads, "ask you doctor about this if you have high blood pressure," nowhere does it read, "please don't take this if you have high blood pressure as hypertension will only increase with use."

Ain't that a bitch.

My friend from college overdosed on dypenhydramine. Dypenhydramine is a first generation anti-histamine; benedryl. It's what makes you loopy and sleepy. Dypenhydramine is in NyQuil, Ny-Tol, Tylenol PM, Unisom, and Sominex sleep aids. She took a few too many ( not too much as she was small in stature ), had a drink on top of it, and was found dead the next day. Again, you can still get it anywhere.

Nicotine is deadly, too. Were one to make a tricol, a complete reduction of one cigarette, you'd swallow it that night and not wake up in the morning, ever again. Yet, it's there for us and our children to smoke.

The Lilly of the Valley is deadlier in poison than cyanide. Everything about the plant is deadly; leaf, flower, and even if you cut the flower, putting it in a small glass of water for your window sill, the next day, don't drink it's water. You'll die before you go to bed that night. I have them growing everywhere in the garden. Surprisingly, my dogs know not to eat them. Isn't that odd? My dogs have more sense than most! I also have Castor Bean Plants. They are annuals, meaning, in fall, they get torn out and thrown away ( NEVER BURNED ), and I replant new ones the next year. My castor bean plants are loaded with the deadly toxin, Ricin.

It would take a deliberate act to make ricin and use it to poison people. Accidental exposure to ricin is highly unlikely. People can breathe in ricin mist or powder and be poisoned. Ricin can also get into water or food and then be swallowed. Pellets of ricin, or ricin dissolved in a liquid, can be injected into people’s bodies. Depending on the route of exposure (such as injection or inhalation), as little as 500 micrograms of ricin could be enough to kill an adult. A 500-microgram dose of ricin would be about the size of the head of a pin. A greater amount would likely be needed to kill people if the ricin were swallowed. Some reports have indicated that ricin may have been used in the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s and that quantities of ricin were found in Al Qaeda caves in Afghanistan. Ricin poisoning is not contagious. It cannot be spread from person to person through casual contact.

And, last, but not least, apples! While the government needn't cut down all the trees, the seeds of apples contain cyanide, as do many other seed bearing fruits. While it's not enough to harm in one apple, you'd need a small measure ( I won't say the exact measurement ) of seeds to do yourself in. That's a lot of apples. Also, I won't say how one extracts the cyanide, as that's not the point here, nor will I ever explain how with any of these things, but what I am outlining is that there are so many DEADLY things around us now, that steroids are laughable in comparison.

So, we love and support AlinShop. We are independent, and we are more educated than thought to be. Fifteen years ago, I blindly muddled though a steroid subculture at the gym. All the ugly side effects were present because of ignorance and lack of information, as it was taboo. Now, with the advent of all this virtual, plethora of facts, not one of us should ever suffer ONE side effect. All the points are laid out clearly by Alin, and a myriad of others, and every hyperlink leads to more clarity of choice. Your volition has come full circle.

I encourage everyone to read, read more, and then read on further.

M

[advanracing62]

The puking occurs because your body thinks it's in a survival situation and evacuates the contents of your gut. In really serious situations, your body will evacuate your bowels and bladder too.

that explains my pwo poop then! :p