Feeling dizzy during workouts

[jmz34]

Hey Rip,

I've been doing SS for the past 5 weeks without any injuries or problems. However, for the last 2 workouts I've been feeling really dizzy. It starts when I do shoulder presses, when I clean the bar up to my chest everything goes blurry and trying to press it almost makes me feel like I'm about to black out. I don't seem to get it when I squat (I do feel slightly dizzy but thats probably from shoulder pressing before).

I havn't changed anything so its not to do with doing something different. All my workouts are right in the morning, where I only take some whey before the workout- so I think it may have something to do with dehydration or lack of sugar, although like I said this hasn't affected me before.

Thanks.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Describe for us your diet, in detail.

[jmz34]

training days:

whey with 200ml water (6:30am)
pint of whole milk with oats and banana (8:00am)
pint of whole milk (11am)
decent sized meal, around 600 calories (1:30pm)
pint of whole milk (4:00pm)
another meal of similar size (6:00pm)
pint of whole milk (8:00pm)
pint of whole milk with oats +fish oil(11:00pm)

I don't drink much water in addition to this, just during the main meals.

non-training days:

Its pretty much the same, but times are a bit different.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Can everybody see why I asked?

[stronger]

I calculated this at about 3250 calories/day, if 1 pint US whole milk is 2 cups, 320 calories. Doing a good job on intake, but you probably need to up your calories significantly if you're training hard.

[jmz34]

I've gotta admit, when I typed that out it didn't look right. Looks like I need more food, and not only that- probably an isotonic drink right in the morning before workouts, and more water throughout the day.

Should I do this?

[coreJack]

I don't know how much you weigh or how much you lift, but I weigh 140lbs (I know, I'm working on it) and my skinny ass eats more than that. I'm pretty sure I'd pass out trying to lift heavy on your diet.

[JmastaUSMC]

Here's my humble recommendations. First, up your intake of whole milk to a gallon a day which is eight pints or four quarts (according to your schedule, you are taking in only 5 pints a day.) Divide the milk througout the day however you see fit. Second, you need to eat a lot more food. A lot more. 600 calorie meals are not "decent sized meals" and they're keeping you from your full recovery from your workouts. Get your focus off of eating "clean" and focus more on eating "big." I myself (i weigh 177 currently, my goal is 200) aim for approx. 1500-2000 cals each meal. Depending on your weight and your goals, you will need more or less + the 2400 cals from the gomad. Eating fewer meals during the day will also whet your appetite better, causing you to eat more calories, which is what we want here. You cannot approach SS with a Bodybuilder's diet mentality or you will not get the full effect of the linear progression. Also, on days before workouts, and every other day you can, make sure to get plenty of sleep (more than 8 hrs) so go to bed before ten. Sleep is the most important ally for recovery (along w/ lots of food) so get more of it. Get serious about eating and sleeping, and your results in the gym (along w/ your lightheadedness) will improve.

[paulr]

I think I eat 600 calories of chow while I'm preparing my meal.

[Sgsolberg]

You want to be big and strong. Then stop eating like a little girl and start eating like a man. If you train hard, then you need to eat as seriously as you train. This means meals are a religious event, and you must sacrifice dead animals to your stomach. You should get yourself psyched up in order to eat what you need every meal. Easy solutions: Mcdoubles are around 400 calories a peice. They are one dollar. Large triple thick shakes from McDonalds are 1160 calories. Make your own milkshakes (nesquik or ovaltine, 10 oz of icecream, 9 oz whole milk). Do you like dead animals? I love to eat 16-32 oz of roast beef. Eat, it's good for you. If you don't you are wasting everyone's time.

[Sami]

I don't seem to get it when I squat (I do feel slightly dizzy but thats probably from shoulder pressing before).

Why are you pressing before you squat anyway?

[jmz34]

Thanks for the advice guys. I initially thought I was getting enough calories because I was packing on a noticeable amount of fat (not that I care too much about this, hanging around on this forum and 70s big has ousted that fear) so I thought I must be having a caloric excess because of that. But I guess I'll up the intake and see if that helps.

[dan302]

any chance you are cutting off blood to your brain when you hold the bar in the rack position?

[knkavo]

If you are drinking 1 gallon of milk you won't need to worry about hydration, or electrolyte balances, or whatever it is isotonic drinks are supposed to do better than water.

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1057236

[Patrick L.]

I've gotta admit, when I typed that out it didn't look right. Looks like I need more food, and not only that- probably an isotonic drink right in the morning before workouts, and more water throughout the day.

Should I do this?

Before I began the SS program I used to drink a lot of water throughout the day in order to keep hydrated...obviously a good thing. When I went on the SS program, I soon realized if I was to get my gallon of milk down daily, I needed to cut back on the water. Soon if I was drinking something...it was milk. Since I switched to milk for most of my liquid in my diet, I have not noticed any dehydration. It would appear that the H20 in milk is enough to keep one properly hydrated. (Although I leave it to the experts on this forum to correct this) If you switched all your water drinking to milk drinking, you would see a large gain in daily caloric intake.

Good luck

[nisora33]

It starts when I do shoulder presses, when I clean the bar up to my chest everything goes blurry and trying to press it almost makes me feel like I'm about to black out. I don't seem to get it when I squat (I do feel slightly dizzy but thats probably from shoulder pressing before).



Maybe when you're cleaning the weight up, you're compressing your airway and blood supply?

S.

[sushi362]

A stated earlier, you need to eat more. I dont care if you follow Rip's advised 4 giant meals a day or you take the BBers way of 6 meals a day, you need to eat more. I was getting 5 meals a day and getting enough protein but i was getting nowhere near enough calories. What i did was i started eating with my family. a 1000 calorie dinner and a 600 calorie lunch can take you pretty far. I was feeling tried during workouts and its all because i wasn't eating enough.

On to your dizzy issue:

Why dont you just set the pins higher on the power rack/squat rack and place the bar up there? It works pretty well. This may have already been mentioned.

[gordonrumble]

I had a similar experience. My diet wasn't really the issue, since I was eating 4000-4500 a day, but after my third squat set I'd get dizzy, like no blood was going to my head. While I'm still not sure about what caused it, I got an exertion headache (caused by a combination of dehydration, stimulants, craning my neck while lifting), and when I went back being careful to drink more water and keep my neck in a sane posture the issue went away. SS helped a lot with this, I've read that book a few times through now.

Maybe you aren't eating enough, but you could be doing the same thing as me too. Trust me, you do not want an exertion headache.