Crippling Headache During 20-rep Squat Set

Training
1

Not sure where to put this, but I know this forum gets a lot of action, so maybe someone can chime in.

I’ve been working to up my squat, as it is lagging a bit, so I’ve been squatting 3x a week. Usually I’ll ramp up to 3 work sets of 5, then drop back for some back-off sets. I seem to respond well to the extra volume at lower weights, and my squat max has been steadily increasing. All was good.

Then, recently, I started to get some pain in the back of my neck during 15-20 rep breathing squats. It wasn’t joint pain, it was like a serious blood rush in the veins in the back of my neck, and it would give me a pretty good headache for a few seconds after I racked the bar. I squat high-bar/oly style, so I thought maybe it was just weird placement.

Yesterday, I ground out a 15-rep set on a weight I SHOULD have hit 15 with easily, and felt like I was going to black out. Took a long rest, but as this is the only (yes, ONLY) rack in the gym, I didn’t want to sit there holding my head for too long. I stripped the bar to 135 for a final 20-rep set, and walked it out. My head was still pounding a bit from the last grind, but not so bad that I couldn’t do 135 I thought. I banged out 12 reps, took a sec, did 2 more, started to get tunnel vision. Did 2 more, and now sound was slowing down. Did 2 more reps and the pain in my head was just unbearable. Threw the bar back, sat down and couldn’t decide between puking or crying.

I couldn’t even finish the rest of my work out, as even picking up the EZ bar sent this rush of blood to my head that was literally crippling. Had to take out earbuds, and rode home in silence, as any music was deafening. Was getting pretty worried.

Any idea what this is/was? I’ve still got a pretty raging headache this morning, but aspirin seems to take the edge off finally. I love my high-rep sets, and I love pushing very hard, but this is worrying me that I damaged something. Not taking any meds/supps besides fish oil (~9g/day), some creatine with my PWO shake, and some BCAAs and creatine-blend-thing during training. Sometimes will have coffee pre training, but did not have any yesterday.

2

Strange things can happen to us when we squat, but what you are describing goes beyond what I’ve ever experienced. I’d say you have two options.

  1. Go to the doctor.
  2. Do nothing, hope it goes away.

Which one sounds best to you?

3

The very same thing happened to me two years ago while doing the very same type of training… My headache lasted a few days. It’s called exercise induced migraine. Google ‘How To Train After Your Brain Explodes’ written by Sean Hyson for a full article on the issue.

4

[quote]twojarslave wrote:
Strange things can happen to us when we squat, but what you are describing goes beyond what I’ve ever experienced. I’d say you have two options.

  1. Go to the doctor.
  2. Do nothing, hope it goes away.

Which one sounds best to you?[/quote]

As you can probably guess from coming to the internet instead of a professional, I’m in favor of #2 haha.

I’ll just keep an eye on it.

5

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
The very same thing happened to me two years ago while doing the very same type of training… My headache lasted a few days. It’s called exercise induced migraine. Google ‘How To Train After Your Brain Explodes’ written by Sean Hyson for a full article on the issue.[/quote]

That sounds exactly like what it is. Sensitive to light/sound, etc. like a typical migraine. I’ll read up on the article, thanks.

6

[quote]Apothecary wrote:

[quote]twojarslave wrote:
Strange things can happen to us when we squat, but what you are describing goes beyond what I’ve ever experienced. I’d say you have two options.

  1. Go to the doctor.
  2. Do nothing, hope it goes away.

Which one sounds best to you?[/quote]

As you can probably guess from coming to the internet instead of a professional, I’m in favor of #2 haha.

I’ll just keep an eye on it.[/quote]

I have an uncle who lives in Indiana and is a physician. Oftentimes I will pick up the phone and run whatever the hell is wrong with me past him. The conversations always go the same way.

“Well, it could be A, B, C or D. You should go to your doctor in Maine, I’m not going to diagnose you over the phone.”

And then I usually end up doing nothing.

7

At first, I thought it might be breathing-related, as in from holding your breath. But this…

[quote]Apothecary wrote:
I couldn’t even finish the rest of my work out, as even picking up the EZ bar sent this rush of blood to my head that was literally crippling. Had to take out earbuds, and rode home in silence, as any music was deafening. Was getting pretty worried.[/quote]
Yeah, no, I’d guess (emphasis on guess) it might’ve been the bar compressing something around the neck/trap/upper back area. Because you were using a lighter weight, there’s a chance that the bar wasn’t in its usual groove during the set, and squished something that shouldn’t have been squished.

That blog entry is definitely a good read. Do what you can to avoid it, still consider getting checked out if possible, and maybe use the bar pad at least for high rep squats.

8

Thanks for the input, Chris. I thought it may have been a breathing thing as well (with the tunnel vision), but I definitely wasn’t holding my breath for the entire set. I had to catch my breath every time I took a rest-pause, which is how I usually do it. Definitely possible about the bar placement, I was already pretty done when walking it out. It was very crooked at first, I guess most of us don’t take 135 seriously, and I know I wasn’t there, so it may have bit me in the ass.

The article was pretty spot on, which is both good and bad, as I can’t imagine taking a month off right now. Ugh. Will take it easy and hope for the best.

And NO. BAR. PADS. EVER! I’ll just do more shrugs or something

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[quote]Apothecary wrote:
And NO. BAR. PADS. EVER! I’ll just do more shrugs or something[/quote]
Okay, your call. :wink:

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[quote]Apothecary wrote:
And NO. BAR. PADS. EVER! I’ll just do more shrugs or something[/quote]

It was advocated in the 20 Rep Squats book. Any reason you chose not to follow that part of it?

When I ran the program, I wrapped a thin towel around the bar as per the author’s suggestion.

11

[quote]Apothecary wrote:

[quote]nighthawkz wrote:
The very same thing happened to me two years ago while doing the very same type of training… My headache lasted a few days. It’s called exercise induced migraine. Google ‘How To Train After Your Brain Explodes’ written by Sean Hyson for a full article on the issue.[/quote]

That sounds exactly like what it is. Sensitive to light/sound, etc. like a typical migraine. I’ll read up on the article, thanks.[/quote]

I used to get these in track while running 400’s. When I got the worst one and went to see a doc it lasted for a whole week. They told me not to do anything during that time and then ease back into it. Also suggested 2 advil before races. The advil seemed to do the trick and after a while I quit getting them.

I think exertion is a major cause, but tension in the neck also plays a huge factor. I actually had the same thing happen about six months ago after some high-intensity jump roping. I think the biggest reason I quit getting them from running was because my form had improved and I no longer ran with as much tension in my neck.

You should probably see a doctor to be safe, but I’d suggest giving the advil a try and then really focusing on keeping a tight back but not letting that tightness carry into your neck. The towels probably not a bad suggestion.

12

Ive had exertion headaches before, mostly from overhead pressing. I dunno if that’s the same thing, but Im a big believer in “listen to your body” If it feels like your head is going to explode? Yeah, maybe you can push through it. Maybe you are gonna blow an O-ring. Not worth it imo, figure it out so you don’t go through an injury problem that’s preventable.

For squat bar padding? I just bought a SSB for the purpose. I have pretty sensitive skin in general, and straight bar squats were literally tearing my back up. Im talkin drawing blood, leaving scabs, and destroying tattoo work. Sure, it might hurt the ego to use a ‘pussy pad’ but the sooner you stop caring about ego, the better your progress would be. Note: not saying you definitely should use a bar pad of some kind, just don’t completely disregard em.

13

Haha Chris, if I was squatting anything close to Platz, Coleman or Arnold for singles (much less for reps), I’d perhaps consider a pad. Just seemed kinda superfluous for my volume sets of 185 and below.

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]Apothecary wrote:
And NO. BAR. PADS. EVER! I’ll just do more shrugs or something[/quote]

It was advocated in the 20 Rep Squats book. Any reason you chose not to follow that part of it?

When I ran the program, I wrapped a thin towel around the bar as per the author’s suggestion.[/quote]

Oh, I’ve not read any books on 20-rep programs, nor am I following a template on them. I’ve just been using higher rep work (12-20) for back-off sets after my work sets are done to help grease the groove and add more volume.

14

You ever figure this out? Is it still an issue?

15

[quote]LoRez wrote:
You ever figure this out? Is it still an issue?[/quote]

It’s still lingering a bit, but nowhere near as bad pain-wise. I get “warning tremors” when I feel it start to creep in, and know to not push through it.

I suffered a pretty bad high-ankle sprain playing ball last week, so my squatting and deads have been very limited since then, but doing some light squatting I still felt it start to creep in. Lowered the bar a bit and it did seem to help, or maybe it was a combination of factors.

I actually posted about it on Reddit as well, and found that a handful of people experienced the same issue, and all of us were taking Cellucor C4 at the time. I get mine free with my Whey, so I just use it for the creatine (not a fan of PWO uppers), but it was a common thread.

Also of note, most of us also experienced the same headache during sex. Double whammy of bad times :frowning:

16

[quote]Apothecary wrote:
Not taking any meds/supps besides fish oil (~9g/day), some creatine with my PWO shake, and some BCAAs and creatine-blend-thing during training. Sometimes will have coffee pre training, but did not have any yesterday.
…
all of us were taking Cellucor C4 at the time. I get mine free with my Whey, so I just use it for the creatine (not a fan of PWO uppers)[/quote]
Um… is the supp above what you’re taking?

If so, I’d ditch it. First, it only has 1g of creatine per serving, so taking it for the creatine is like drinking Guinness for the B vitamins. Second, and more importantly, on top of a good hit of caffeine it has beta-alanine, mucuna, arginine, and bitter orange, each of which are sometimes related to headaches.

So, it’s a bit more than “some BCAA and creatine-blend-thing” and definitely would’ve jumped to the top of the suspect list if mentioned earlier. Drop it for a few weeks and see if things continue to improve.

17

All of the weak guys at my gym swear by that stuff. I tried it once and the proprietary formula of bleeding-edge NO3 pump technology blended with explosive marketing made me jittery, unfocused and probably stripped 20 lbs off of my main lifts. But hey, whatever works for ya.

I’m glad your head is working better now. You should write that company a Letter of Complaint. Maybe they will send you a case of free C4.

18

That’s the stuff, Chris. I usually get a package deal of 12 lbs of Whey and they send a tub of that too. I had it just sitting around when I ran out of creatine Mono, so I tossed it in my intraworkout drink (was just BCAAs prior). Didn’t have any adverse effects right away so I didn’t think much of it until seeing others bring it up.

I’ve already removed it from my intake of course, hopefully that will clear up this mess.

19

I got headaches like this when I was on a zero carb kick. I was also hitting the caffeine hard but not anything named after explosives. Once I added some reasonable macros it went away.

A side note, the supplement part in Chris Bell’s movie “bigger, faster, stronger” with day-laborers filling caps in that guys kitchen has made me leary of a lot of “extreme supplements.”

20

Just an exertion headache, I ran the 20 rep squat program a couple years ago and had to quit on week 5. Had a throbbing pain in the back of my head at the base where my neck and head meet. I took about a week off and it went away. Trust me, just take a week off.