Getting Sick Every Workout

three years ago I placed dead last in a bodybuilding competition. The years before this I had competed as a teen, which was a much different ball game. I decided bodybuilding was useless, selfish, and full of hubris so quit. That lasted one year, until I started to remember all the great things about it: sense of purpose, drive, being competitive.

I scrapped everything I had done in the past, and studied back on all the books I had acquired from Mark Rippetoe to Ellington Darden’s new HIT, but especially T-Nation. Starting from scratch worked.

Today I have been training mostly under formula for two years, and something strange is happening. Every workout I get sick. Leg day only results in squats before I’m too lightheaded or sick to my stomach to continue. This goes on down the line for bench, shoulders, and deads. I feel I can no longer get the work in that is necessary to improve.

At worst it takes around three hours of feeling as if I have the flu to recover. This has affected my attendance in school, and quality of life. I need weights in my life, they keep a person sane. Its honorable to put yourself through pain others don’t want to endure. How do I fix this? Any theories on a cause?

When’s the last time you took a break?

Either something is messed up with your nutrition/supplementation regimen OR you have a legitimate health issue going on.

What supplements are you taking? (Especially pre workout)

Used Brain Candy caffeine version for quite awhile. Lately the best results are early in the morning on an empty stomach. Evening lifts with all the meals in are a struggle.
Diet just follows the typical staples protein powder, eggs, veggies, fruit, meats. The extent ofsupplements lately is Metabolic Drive.

imo. you should try to change your diet and see if there’s any turn to better. I would cut down on caffeine, maybe take half of the brain candy dose (since full is 300mg caffeine) and eat some more carbs from sources like potatos and rice and see if you feel better.

That’s probably good advice. Thanks. Is there any other mode of training which can maintain muscle mass, while not using heavy barbell training?

Take a week off?

I see 3 potential irritants:

  • allergy to gym(ventilation system not clean, dust, carpet, a cleaning product they migh use so train elsewhere and your results will tell if it is the culprit(avoid that particular gym for 8-10 days but train).
  • some supplement so cut them all and reintroduce 1 after about 8 days, an other 8 days later to find wich is creating the problem if any.
  • some ulcer ask being tested for the bacterie h. pilori. Do that ASAP since the treatment(antibiotics should not be postponed).

Anyhow when you find your solution please post it, i am curious.
Obviously it might be something that i did not think of, but those 3 guesses are worth testing.
Also a gym bag is not the healtiest thing so i would lock it away use a different plastic bag each day for 2 weeks(that is what i do). Well now the top of my head is empty.
All the best!
PS. any librairy is filled with books on bodyweight exercises we can do at home with a chair or whatever is available in any living area. The rest is also an option.

@BHappy that is a great post, thanks. The Bacterie h.pilori sounds a little intense…does this require blood being drawn?

I don’t feel as if I have a serious medical issue, because off days are fine; even some workouts.

Maybe it is the current training model?
I find a weight appreciable to my max say 80 - 90% and hit failure with it, after stretching, a little warming up. I’m fairly roasted after this, giving it a good effort. When the accessory work begins is when my body is shutting down. I’ve tried pushing through this, assuming I was just being a puss. This puts me out of commission for a couple days.

Last break was only six weeks ago. I’ve gone so far as to take a couple months off at a time just to clear my brain. Definitely shouldn’t be over-trained.

[quote]tnt2005 wrote:
three years ago I placed dead last in a bodybuilding competition. The years before this I had competed as a teen, which was a much different ball game. I decided bodybuilding was useless, selfish, and full of hubris so quit. That lasted one year, until I started to remember all the great things about it: sense of purpose, drive, being competitive.

I scrapped everything I had done in the past, and studied back on all the books I had acquired from Mark Rippetoe to Ellington Darden’s new HIT, but especially T-Nation. Starting from scratch worked.

Today I have been training mostly under formula for two years, and something strange is happening. Every workout I get sick. Leg day only results in squats before I’m too lightheaded or sick to my stomach to continue. This goes on down the line for bench, shoulders, and deads. I feel I can no longer get the work in that is necessary to improve.

At worst it takes around three hours of feeling as if I have the flu to recover. This has affected my attendance in school, and quality of life. I need weights in my life, they keep a person sane. Its honorable to put yourself through pain others don’t want to endure. How do I fix this? Any theories on a cause?[/quote]

Former T-mag contributor Justin Harris had the same symptoms after workouts and it turned out he had a disease. Please, see a doctor, get blood tests done, a physical, and talk to him about it.

Google ‘exercise-induced hypoglycemia’ and see if you feel the symptom spectrum fits.

BrickHead is right check that shit out!

Also I’d take some time off before getting these tests done and while waiting for the results. If nothing negative comes back then it was probably rest related and you may have over-reached or something.

I had the same problem recently I posted about it a few days ago… For me I was overreaching and losing strength and size due to cortisol and stress being too high putting me in a catabolic state… You are actually inclined to feel much more cortisol within an hour after strength training so if like me you were overreaching or training that could be why…

.

Justin Harris seems to have had a much rougher road to go than mine currently. I really don’t feel its necessary to get the check up, hoping for this can be fixed on my own, for cheap. This issue seems mental, and after reading Justin Harris’s log feel weak having even posted it. Perhaps some more mental toughness is necessary with a more technical approach to my pre-workout meals. However, if this persists into next month’s training while getting worse I’ll have no choice, but to follow the advice of this forum by going to family doctor, and will update accordingly.

I have experienced this, and sometimes still do. I’m currently being treated for H Pylori at the moment. Other symptoms of mine include chronic nasal drainage (postnasal drip) and waking up coughing every morning.

Typically I feel sick after something that has a very heavy cardiovascular demand, e.g., leg day.

H. Pylori can be tested via a breath test or a blood test. If you DO get blood drawn, you might as well go all out and get several tests CBC and metabolic panel are the bare minimum along with the h. pylori.