Weights induced headaches

telemachus

I'm a complete newcomer to weightlifting and i've started because someone else in the house got a bench/barbell and introduced me to it, unfortunately my progress seems to have hit a wall after about three weeks. It's an olympic bar weighing 20kilos so after just getting used to balancing it and the correct form i've gradually added weight, however i've recently reached a point where as soon as I increase weight within the first set I get a sharp throbbing headache. This fades away if I leave it, but if I press on it'll deteriorate until I have to stop and it'll stick with me for the next day or so.

I'm certain it isn't a case of pushing too much weight on as i've increased gradually and with the weight i'm trying to move from I can comfortably hit 3 sets of 12. Heavy cardio has never had this effect so i'm wondering wether this is a common weightlifting affliction, down to bad form or some other mistake i've made?

Clive

You're not putting the bar on your head are you? Sorry, had to be said.

Most headaches in my experience are caused by dehydration, but this obviously doesn't seem to be the cause in your case.

I would, in all seriousness, advise seeking medical attention as soon as possible, as this could be a symptom of some underlying issue.

davyjose

Just make sure your breathing properly. And also make sure your relaxed, and just working the muscles you are supposed to be - I'm not quite sure how to explain this, but remember as kids when you would force the blood to your head to make your face turn red? Well you could be doing that. Don't.

Otherwise, it would be best to get medical advice.

rubadub

Yes I would have said breathing too. Do you feel your neck totally taut? You should be relaxed with normal breathing.

But do check it out with a doctor, you mention heavy cardio so I presume you are not a couch potato.

Degsy

Are you gritting your teeth or clenching your jaws?A lot of headaches originate from tension in the face,jaws,eyes or neck.

telemachus

This came back recently yesterday and I finally figured it out so I thought i'd stick it up here just on the off chance anyone else has the same problem. Last year when it happened I went to the doctor just on the off chance my head was going to explode all over the walls but he seemed realtively unworried (and a little clueless ) , and the symptons for what people call an exertion headache didn't seem to fit. Eventually it disapeared over a few weeks of frustratingly light lifting.

It happened again yesterday during the deadlift, nothing at the two previous warmup sets, then as soon as I did a final warmup set at 120kg i got this incredibly throbbing headache and had to abandon the session. I'm not sure why I didn't think of it before but I often have nasty pressure headaches on planes during landing, so I bought some tablet decongestants (sudafed) from the pharmacist and gave it another go in the evening gingerly once the headache had finally died down. Result, absolutely not a twinge, and I flew through the full sets of my shoulder press which i'd been stuck at for two weeks. So clearly this indicates that I was getting some kind of pressure related headache (which is weird since i don't have a trace of a flu/cold), and also, that sudafed gives me superpowers :cool: .