Light-headedness

Fatloss08

hey does anybody else get light headed when doing weights ???????? mostly bench pressing ??? i think it might be my breathing patern ie not controlling my inhale and exhale ???????

also can somebody recommend and good vitamins to take ???

as my diet isnt perfect

Lothaar

This used to happen to me when doing big compound lifts. I had been avoiding carbs, apart from brekkie, and I'd get light-headed when I was squatting or deadlifting. One of the genial posters on here - might have been Dragan - suggested I get some good carbs in about an hour before lifting.

So I always make sure to get a slice of wholewheat bread/pita or maybe some pasta into me beforehand. Hasn't happened since.

Hanley

Stop holding your breath too.

celestial

Also take vitamins off your radar until your diet is sorted.

Hanley

celestial wrote: »

Also take vitamins off your radar until your diet is sorted.

It makes no sense to continue to deprive himself of vitamins as punishment for not having a good diet. Take the vitamins, sort your diet, stop taking the vitamins.

Racing Flat

Could be the carbohydrates thing as above. If so, eat plenty a few hours before your session and it should be better.

If this does not work it may be that you are straining too much, ie your muscles are contracting so much doing the lifts that they are compressing on blood vessels and so blood flow to the brain is temporarily reduced. This could be just poor technique e,g, breath holding, or it could be because you are lifting more than you should, so your normal lifting muscles cannot cope with the weight so you have to compensate by using other muscles such as the respiratory (breathing) muslces (and therefore they don't work for breathing, so you hold your breath...), kind of like what they call a Valsalva manoeuvre I think.

Degsy

A friend of mine was having horrible dizzy spells after the gym,accompanied by headaches and nausea.I thought it was a lack of carbs but it turned out to be a very serious vitamin B12 deficiency.Apparantly it can cause paralysis,dementia and organ failure.Just something to be aware of.

BossArky

Fatloss08 wrote: »

hey does anybody else get light headed when doing weights ???????? mostly bench pressing ???

You probably think you only get it after bench pressing because you only bench press. Do you squat or deadlift at all / properly?

Try to eat lots of fresh veg. A good multi vitamin will help support a decent diet, but don't start relying on just the multi vit. I'm sure a chemist i.e. Boots can recommend a decent one.

Maybe some oats and a banana 45 mins before the gym will help. If none of this works, just take it a bit easier and build up slowly.

TiM_rEAPeR

Hi, I think I might no exactly what is happening. Im gonna go out on a whim and guess that you generally like to mix up your training a lot. Maybe leg workouts with a bit of upper body.. some cardio. Maybe im wrong.

Here's the deal. A friend of mine who is now a successful instructor told me that if weightlifting you should never mix upper body and lower body exercises in the same day... or same few hours. This will mean that your bloodflow becomes conflicted and blood paths are crossed. By having both your arms and legs pumped, it can cause you to be seriously leight headed and it almost puts me continuing with my workout. It can also prevent optimum blood-flow to a certain regions which in turn will compromise your improvement and muscle development (btw, this is also a great way to build up cardio and test fitness by putting yourself under strain, eg. Sprints with pull ups).

All in all, listen to everyones comments. Try and look at your diet if thats an issue. Also, being fatigued or oversleeping before a workout can usually cause me to be light headed or drowsy.

Racing Flat

TiM_rEAPeR wrote: »

Here's the deal. A friend of mine who is now a successful instructor told me that if weightlifting you should never mix upper body and lower body exercises in the same day... or same few hours. This will mean that your bloodflow becomes conflicted and blood paths are crossed. By having both your arms and legs pumped, it can cause you to be seriously leight headed and it almost puts me continuing with my workout. It can also prevent optimum blood-flow to a certain regions which in turn will compromise your improvement and muscle development

This doesn't sound right to me.

sunnyjim

I got the same a while ago, maybe 3 weeks ago in Westwood. Was doing deadlifts, but I didn't realise the oly bars were 20kg themselves. I had been lifting 20kg more than usual. Got fairly light headed, cut short on the amount I wanted to do.

Hasn't happened since. My breathing was fine during the lifts too, so I figured I did too much cardio as a warm up!

Hanley

TiM_rEAPeR wrote: »

Here's the deal. A friend of mine who is now a successful instructor told me that if weightlifting you should never mix upper body and lower body exercises in the same day... or same few hours. This will mean that your bloodflow becomes conflicted and blood paths are crossed. By having both your arms and legs pumped, it can cause you to be seriously leight headed and it almost puts me continuing with my workout. It can also prevent optimum blood-flow to a certain regions which in turn will compromise your improvement and muscle development (btw, this is also a great way to build up cardio and test fitness by putting yourself under strain, eg. Sprints with pull ups).

That's a pretty sweeping statement for your friend to make.....

Clink

If it's a serious level of dizziness that you're talking about (with dots in front of your eyes and you think you're going to pass out) get yourself checked out by a doctor, just in case.

I was in the same situation myself and was given lots of crazy advice by people who thought they knew what they were talking about (that I was holding my breathe during weights, or not drinking enough water, or not eating enough). Turns out that I'm severely anaemic and that during exercise my blood vessels were constricting and this in turn was sending my blood pressure dangerously high. So if you're in any doubt at all please go to your doctor and have yourself checked out.

celestial

TiM_rEAPeR wrote: »

Hi, I think I might no exactly what is happening. Im gonna go out on a whim and guess that you generally like to mix up your training a lot. Maybe leg workouts with a bit of upper body.. some cardio. Maybe im wrong.

Here's the deal. A friend of mine who is now a successful instructor told me that if weightlifting you should never mix upper body and lower body exercises in the same day... or same few hours. This will mean that your bloodflow becomes conflicted and blood paths are crossed. By having both your arms and legs pumped, it can cause you to be seriously leight headed and it almost puts me continuing with my workout. It can also prevent optimum blood-flow to a certain regions which in turn will compromise your improvement and muscle development (btw, this is also a great way to build up cardio and test fitness by putting yourself under strain, eg. Sprints with pull ups).

All in all, listen to everyones comments. Try and look at your diet if thats an issue. Also, being fatigued or oversleeping before a workout can usually cause me to be light headed or drowsy.

Hold on, and your instructor mate actually advises people on exercise?? Should we never row cos it uses both the upper and lower body? What about American football/rugby? 'Blood paths crossing'? What, does the blood get confused and not know where to go?:rolleyes:

I'm guessing that the dizziness could be down to a million and one factors, as you mentioned Tim Reaper - tiredness, lack of food, or simply just not being very fit and trying to do too much! The OP hasn't given us enough detail for us to be even remotely certain what the cause could be. OP, take it easy and build up gradually work-load wise. If the problem persists see your GP.

Leonadis

Have gone through a period of getting light headed while training recently myself, have had to leave the gym to puke once or twice, not nice!... diet and training has remained linear in progress but basically unchanged. Lasted for 2 weeks than passed.. so who knows. All Ill say is there are, as mentioned above, a million reasons why it could happen, keep training :cool:

rubadub

I got it a few times benching. I do think it was mainly down to breathing, but I think it could also be due to position a bit, i.e. lying down. I tried hand stand pushups before and found it weird due to blood being in my head.

sunnyjim

I did a bungee jump yesterday, my head was so sore from it afterwards - my head went all purple, and I was a bit dizzy... Pretty much the same whenever I do handstand push-ups.

Is there any tips on how I can change my breathing to lessen this when I'm doing them?

De Deraco

happens to me whenever I am on a Low carb diet and lifting any heavy compounds, eating carbs before workout or taking longer rest periods worked for me.

davyjose

Plus 1 with Hanley. Make sure you're breathing properly. Otherwise, see a doc.