T Nation

Terrible Headaches During Workout

Bodybuilding
#1

Hiya,

Recently, for the last 5 days I have been experiencing severe headaches at the back of my head when lifting, I don’t experience them during the day however when my heart rate rises, during sex or excersise I experience these blinding headaches. Got my blood pressure done and it came back as pretty much perfect. These headaches started after leg pressing 400KG for 8 reps, went very deep and didn’t take much note of breathing form.

It is on both sides at the back and the pain is a dull throbbing till I wake up the following day. I am aware of ‘exertion headaches’, but could it be anything more serious? Should I lift whilst experiencing these headaches by taking painkillers?

Any advice would be amazing and much appreciated.

#2

go see your chiropractor it seems to me like you have a subluxation.

“One of the most common causes of headaches is a condition that chiropractic adjustments help to correct. The condition is called cervical spine facet joint dysfunction or Vertebral Subluxation.”

#3

[quote]gman123 wrote:
Hiya,

Recently, for the last 5 days I have been experiencing severe headaches at the back of my head when lifting, I don’t experience them during the day however when my heart rate rises, during sex or excersise I experience these blinding headaches. Got my blood pressure done and it came back as pretty much perfect. These headaches started after leg pressing 400KG for 8 reps, went very deep and didn’t take much note of breathing form.

It is on both sides at the back and the pain is a dull throbbing till I wake up the following day. I am aware of ‘exertion headaches’, but could it be anything more serious? Should I lift whilst experiencing these headaches by taking painkillers?

Any advice would be amazing and much appreciated. [/quote]

Man these suck. I used to get these from deadlifting heavy and trying to exhale improperly. The only way I could recover was to completely not go to the gym for a week. Man they suck bad couldnt get a nut off even without splitting headaches. Work on your breathing or ditch whatever exercise does it to you. I finally just ditched heavy deads for rack pulls and havent had the problem since.

#4

[quote]Beerguy wrote:
gman123 wrote:
Hiya,

Recently, for the last 5 days I have been experiencing severe headaches at the back of my head when lifting, I don’t experience them during the day however when my heart rate rises, during sex or excersise I experience these blinding headaches. Got my blood pressure done and it came back as pretty much perfect. These headaches started after leg pressing 400KG for 8 reps, went very deep and didn’t take much note of breathing form.

It is on both sides at the back and the pain is a dull throbbing till I wake up the following day. I am aware of ‘exertion headaches’, but could it be anything more serious? Should I lift whilst experiencing these headaches by taking painkillers?

Any advice would be amazing and much appreciated.

Man these suck. I used to get these from deadlifting heavy and trying to exhale improperly. The only way I could recover was to completely not go to the gym for a week. Man they suck bad couldnt get a nut off even without splitting headaches. Work on your breathing or ditch whatever exercise does it to you. I finally just ditched heavy deads for rack pulls and havent had the problem since.

[/quote]

Thanks man, unfortunately it was the leg press that caused it, however all excercises now aggravate it after I go over around 130BPM. Think a week off would do me good, sucks because it interferes with my bulking regime, 2 - 3 days didn’t help, so maybe more rest time required.

Just hoping it isn’t an aneurism or something along those lines which potentially can raise intacranial pressure.

#5

[quote]gman123 wrote:
Beerguy wrote:
gman123 wrote:
Hiya,

Recently, for the last 5 days I have been experiencing severe headaches at the back of my head when lifting, I don’t experience them during the day however when my heart rate rises, during sex or excersise I experience these blinding headaches. Got my blood pressure done and it came back as pretty much perfect. These headaches started after leg pressing 400KG for 8 reps, went very deep and didn’t take much note of breathing form.

It is on both sides at the back and the pain is a dull throbbing till I wake up the following day. I am aware of ‘exertion headaches’, but could it be anything more serious? Should I lift whilst experiencing these headaches by taking painkillers?

Any advice would be amazing and much appreciated.

Man these suck. I used to get these from deadlifting heavy and trying to exhale improperly. The only way I could recover was to completely not go to the gym for a week. Man they suck bad couldnt get a nut off even without splitting headaches. Work on your breathing or ditch whatever exercise does it to you. I finally just ditched heavy deads for rack pulls and havent had the problem since.

Thanks man, unfortunately it was the leg press that caused it, however all excercises now aggravate it after I go over around 130BPM. Think a week off would do me good, sucks because it interferes with my bulking regime, 2 - 3 days didn’t help, so maybe more rest time required.

Just hoping it isn’t an aneurism or something along those lines which potentially can raise intacranial pressure.

[/quote]

Yeah I couldn’t do anything in the gym at all. Just rest and let it heal. You don’t have any choice anyway. I have read it actualy causes a minor cuncussion from the pressure. Do less weight for a while on leg press and really watch your breathing when your straining.

#6

I’m not saying this is what it is, but I broke a blood vessel in my head in college while doing bench. The major difference between what you’re describing is that I had a headache 24/7 and it got worse when I would lift. It lasted for a few weeks, and then I went and got it looked at. Basically they told me to stop lifting for a while.

Likewise to what beerguy is saying, they talked to me about focusing on your breathing during a lift. Holding your breath at all really makes your more susceptible to “redoing” it.

#7

[quote]BigAlSwede wrote:
I’m not saying this is what it is, but I broke a blood vessel in my head in college while doing bench. The major difference between what you’re describing is that I had a headache 24/7 and it got worse when I would lift. It lasted for a few weeks, and then I went and got it looked at. Basically they told me to stop lifting for a while. [/quote]

My head was fine as long as my heart rate was normal. Soon as I got to going with the wife or lifted at all. BOOM! Throbbing headach.

#8

ok, I’m just giving some general advice here, you should go see your primary care practitioner if the pain continues or you are genuinely worried about it (more so than simply enough to solicit advice on an anonymous internet message board).

anyhow, if your headeaches are started by an increase in your heart rate, by all means go see your doctor, and stop lifting etc in the meantime.

otherwise, a few things, do you eat before you workout? do you keep you neck/head in line with your spine while lifting? when leg pressing etc do you hold your breath? (you must let air escape, holding your breath builds up a huge amount of pressure internally, indeed even within your spinal cord and doing this puts you at risk for slipping a disk, hernias, killer headaches (pun intended).

#9

I’ve dealt with something similar in the past, back in the day when I really punished my upper back and trapezius with heavy behind-the-neck pressing, weighted behind-the-neck pull-ups and db rows to the chest.

Usually, the cause are trigger points in the trapezius muscle.

A few simple short but quite painful massage sessions helped me. You might want to read up on trigger points, they’re no hocuspocus, but scientific fact. If you have nobody to apply the massage, use a slightly curved and oblong implement or a tennis or lacrosse ball against the wall/floor.

#10

Hey man. Something like this happened to me about five years ago when I was doing incline dumbbells. I was trying a new weight, and on my fourth rep I felt as though something popped in my neck. I think I was holding my breath too much. I got a headache instantly. I went to the doctor and he told me it was a sprained trap but the pain lasted a very long time during anything where my heart rate increased. I even got headaches in the mornings for the first month but I got a contour pillow (recommended by the doc) which helped a bit.

Now, five years later, I haven’t had a headache during lifting since but sometimes if I don’t sleep with a contour pillow (and especially if I sleep in the car), I’ll wake up with the same type of headache.

#11

Those headaches suck, and if it’s the first time you ever got it, you should definitely have it checked out by a doc.

The first time I got something similar (about 12 years ago), I had to stop working out for 2-3 weeks, cut out coffee as much as possible (none 4-6 hours prior to going to the gym), stay well-hydrated and learn to breathe properly during the heavy sets. I should have done an MRI as well at that point, but I had one done sometime later and everything was Ok.

About a month ago, I experienced them again on a heavier-than-usual leg day. I applied the same principles as before–staying well-hydrated, no stimulants pre-workout, proper breathing, and as soon as it would start flaring up even a little bit, I would back off the exercise right away.

Luckily, it went away within a couple of days. I am on mission for the next few weeks and having to deal with this would totally suck!

#12

I got this during a very hard set of presses. Anything that raised my heart rate made it hurt for about 1-2 weeks.

I was holding my breath during the lift but I always do that, I am pretty sure having my neck hyper extended while exerting hard was the problem. Have not had it since.

#13

[quote]The sofa king wrote:
go see your chiropractor it seems to me like you have a subluxation.

“One of the most common causes of headaches is a condition that chiropractic adjustments help to correct. The condition is called cervical spine facet joint dysfunction or Vertebral Subluxation.”[/quote]

He should go see a doctor, not anybody else