Post: #1

Man, I like those deadlifts. I used to hate them, but now it's my favorite exercise. After dropping the gloves and manning up, my grip strength got much better and I can lift more. However, after a certain point, which is a few kilos above what I can comfortably lift a couple of times, I feel like I'll black out.

After finishing my set I stand up and I feel dizzy. As if being very tired.

I suppose this comes with the exercise, but perhaps I should reconsider my workout. Any of you experience the same?

Post: #2

(11-19-2012 06:50 AM)muc Wrote:  Man, I like those deadlifts. I used to hate them, but now it's my favorite exercise. After dropping the gloves and manning up, my grip strength got much better and I can lift more. However, after a certain point, which is a few kilos above what I can comfortably lift a couple of times, I feel like I'll black out.

After finishing my set I stand up and I feel dizzy. As if being very tired.

I suppose this comes with the exercise, but perhaps I should reconsider my workout. Any of you experience the same?

That is par for the course for heavy lifting, I think.

Make sure you are breathing and after the set, stay down for a while and let your blood pressure normalise. Normally when lifting heavy people hold their breath or grunt, which shunts blood out of the lungs and into the muscles where they are needed. When you stop the breathholding/grunting blood shunts back into the lungs and your blood pressure will take a few seconds to normalise. Standing up from a low setting in and of itself requires several blood pressure changes, but if your blood pressure systems are already stunned from lifting, they won't compensate fast enough to keep blood flowing to your brain, and you feel faint and dizzy as blood is 'sucked out'.

Post: #3

Doing a good set of deadlifts...
Drop the bar after the last rep...
The floor shakes...
It's white before my eyes...
And I saw that it was good...

Then jump into the sauna!

Post: #4

Not sure what to suggest. I would guess one of two things -

- Either you are not properly employing the Valsalva Maneuver or
- You are dehydrated.

While I have had the room swim a few times during heavy deadlifting sessions it's definitely not every time I throw iron.

Post: #5

Are you using a pre-workout? Full body lifts like the squat and deadlift significantly drop blood pressure during the movement (the drop in blood pressure is what makes you light headed, etc). Many stimulants / pre-workouts also drop blood pressure, so if you are doing squats/deadlifts while on a pwo you are dropping your blood pressure from an already artificially low state.

Post: #6

perfectly normal

at my gym everyone gets loopy and weird when we're all doing deadlifts. it is fun

Post: #7

I love deadlifts its my favourite exercise. I love the way they fuck me up at the end of my workout session.

Post: #8

Thanks for the answers. What you say makes sense.

Yeah I do the deadlifts fairly at the beginning. My routine is walking/running + 40 pushups (warmup), then squats, then overhead-press, then deadlift and then all the rest. Usually I start with very low weight and do 6 reps, then increase 10kg, until I reach the limit and then I try to do 3 sets at the limit (18 reps total), but I'm not sure if that is clever. Perhaps I should just increase with 1 set each and stop when I can't lift it anymore.

But yeah, it's an excellent exercise. Everyone should do it, but very few people at the gym do it. Very few.

Post: #9

You're probably not exhaling your breaths completely when you bring the bar back down to the floor. Happens to me too when I breathe improperly.

Post: #10

Everyone gets lightheaded from deadlifting because it puts such a strain on your body its normal. I would suggest right after doing your lift to lye down on your back with your legs up so that all the blood in your body can flow back to your heart and head so you dont pass out

Post: #11

Make sure at the base of your lift you release your grip from the bar. This is proper form and that two second pause allows me to pace myself a bit better in my sets. As a result, I get more work done and end up with less of that blackout feeling.

Post: #12

I usually workout around 90 minutes before bed, so I don't usually consume caffeine prior to my workout.

However opportunity has me home today so I had a double espresso at breakfast prior to a rare morning workout.

Does caffeine amplify light headedness if I'm not used to it? I was lifting heavy but I had an awfully potent bout of light headedness.

It may be blood rushing away from my brain but just querying a dietary change.

Post: #13

Post: #14

^^^HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! DAAAMN SON!... time to start paying attention when I dead lift now.. I know that feeling. didn't think it would actually happen though..

Post: #15

Isn't this from a sudden spike in blood pressure?

Post: #16

Normal. Enjoy it. Lean up against a wall and take a gigantic breath of air and exhale completely. Breath like a beached whale. Make some noise. Laugh at your purple face in the mirror and that those chords rippling out of your neck.

Post: #17

You should sit down if you're light-headed or at least support yourself somehow. Don't want to face plant into the dumbbell rack.

Post: #18

I thought it was just me. I just sit down and chill for a second between sets on leg day.

Post: #19

Yeah I did sit, it took ages for it to go away. I did a pb for a 3x9 DL, then a pb for a 4x10 OHP

My light headedness just persisted, and as I had 50km drive down the freeway I was hesitant of pushing further so I cut my session short.

It end up taking 40 mins for me to recover, to me abnormally long, so querying if my first use of caffeine had anything to do with it.

Post: #20

18 reps over 3 sets correct? Sets of 6 can be taxing. Anytime I would do over 2 or 3 reps at most I have to breathe in-between reps. For me, I was always most comfortable breathing out and taking a big breath back in while holding the weight at the top. I never liked doing it while the weight was on the floor as I felt like I was hunched over and couldn't fully expand my diaphragm. That seemed to help me post lift. Lightheadedness is kind of inevitable though. Just stand up and take it slow for 30sec to a minute afterward. I like to casually find something to lean on and look at the weight like I'm contemplating something. Don't show weakness and act dramatic, it's pathetic and for cross fitters (that's a joke if any Xfitters take that too seriously). If only people knew I was just trying not to fall over.

When I was training up to my strongest point I would progressively feel worse and worse as the workout went on just based on the fact that everything I was doing was heavy. And I mean heavy. I'd drive home feeling awful and was worthless for 1-2hours after. I just kept going. Your body will accommodate. It always does. That's how you reach places you didn't think you could get to.

Post: #21

Make sure you're eating enough food (and water). I get super light headed when I lift heavy on an empty stomach, especially if I have not had any carbs for a while. You don't need to go crazy, like an apple or a banana should be fine. Or better yet, a big bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. It makes a big difference even for an 8PM workout.

Post: #22

(11-19-2012 06:50 AM)muc Wrote:  I feel like I'll black out.

After finishing my set I stand up and I feel dizzy. As if being very tired.

Any of you experience the same?

Yes; completely normal.
Issue becomes resolved as your body becomes accustomed to frequent heavy training.

hopefully you are also doing HIT cardio.

Post: #23

this happens a lot. Just make sure you can fall and not hit your head, or train with partners. Lifting while hungover doesnt help either.

Post: #24

I've been training at a powerlifting club for years and I rarely see this except for two people with a particular heart condition (which could be solved had they looked after their own health).

I'm assuming that you have somewhat decent conditioning and not seriously overweight. If you are, then look after that first, and don't do so many reps on the deadlift.

Then the issue is usually not getting enough air. When the weights get heavy or a set gets hard, people often get super tense and forget to breathe well while pumping the reps out. Happens in squats, deadlift, bench, pullups, KB swings, you name it. Either learn to take a huge breath on the way down (in the deadlift), or take your time between reps for one. Get your training partner to yell "BIG AIR" at you between reps.

The second common cause is people psyching themselves up way too much before the lift, getting a huge rush of blood to their heads, and when they put the bar down or rack the bar, they get light-headed. Sometimes you do need a big psych up (for us powerlifters, it's in competition, but even then some lift best without such craziness) but most of the time in training, you shouldn't be so psyched up. Control your aggression.

Post: #25

Try this: as you are setting up for the deadlift, force yourself to hyperventilate. Short rapid breaths. Then, BIG AIR, do the valsalva, in position, CHEST UP, pull. At the top, BREATHE. Again, hyperventilate briefly. Let the weight down.

I would feel like fainting with deadlifts until I figured this out. I don't run a lot, just breathing normal doesn't help as much. Hyperventilating probably briefly forces more oxygen into your blood