I was working out on bench (my first set of my first exercise of the workout) when all of a sudden, it felt like someone had stabbed me in the back of the head. Within about a minute, I was able to get off the bench and walk around a bit. After that, I was able to finish my workout without another excruciating headache.
The next day, I attempted a back workout. I was doing 5 sets of dead lifts with a 12 rep max. When I was going for the 7th rep of my very first set of dead lifts (which was the first exercise of my workout also), a headache 3 times worse hit me and I could literally not get off the ground for about 5 minutes. I took some ibuprofen and tried dead lifting again. I saw that the headaches would return, so I decided against continuing the workout.
I have two ideas. One is that I am starting to get exertional headaches. My second is that I pinched a nerve or did something that makes pain shoot up into the top of my spine which is located on the back of my head. Why would these headaches start now if they are exertional headaches? This is my 6th month of my bulk session and I have gained 62 lbs (180 - 242). Don’t exertional headaches come from an elevated blood pressure? My blood pressure may have risen due to this massive overhaul of my body composition.
I will be bulking until the first or second week of May, and I would really like to make a lot of progress until then. I can’t lift heavy without getting these headaches. I also get a stiff neck after I get these headaches, and while I was taking time off from lifting to see if these headaches would go away, the stiff neck would continue for days.
Any help or input would be greatly appreciated. I need to overpower these headaches at any cost. Thanks.
Have you tried warming up and stretching your neck before workout? If you flex your neck too much (while holding your breath) the muscles can constrict some blood vessel to your head.
Could explain the stiff neck.
I had this problem in the beginning with leg presses. I would get a sharp pain on the back of my head (behind my right ear) and couldn’t continue. After I eased up on the neck and started to breath normally the problem went away.
But the best thing you can really do is take this up with your physician.
Exertional headaches tend to set in a while after exercise. I started having them after cardio all of a sudden and I had them after every workout for weeks. They seems to be gone now though… anyway, doesn’t sound like you have exertional headaches to me.
I agree about going to see a physician, if the pain is as bad as you describe.
over 60 lbs in under 6 months? Are you serious?
Talk about cram-bulk. I think you’re overdoing this.
I believe, even Prof.X would discourage you from such a behaviour.
My recommendation: Stop the force feeding (restrict calories a bit) and either increase the volume while reducing the weight or do 3-4 times some light cardio.
Happened to me a bunch of times. Thought I was gonna die. I realized that it only happened when I held my breath through the rep. Once I started breathing in when lowering the weight and out when raising the weight, I never had that problem.
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
You have described a ‘thunderclap headache’. These are not good.
Differential diagnoses:
unruptured aneurysms, carotid or vertebral artery dissections, pituitary apoplexy, cerebral vasospasm, occipital neuralgia, and Erve virus.
SEE A DOCTOR!
Bushy[/quote]
A thunderclap headache? Even the name sounds bad. Can these be dealt with fully? And yeah, this is my first bulk session, and I vary greatly in caloric needs daily. I often walk a 5 mile difference depending on the day, so I just eat a lot. Anyhow, yeah it sounds best that I see a doctor.
Yeesh, I google thunderclap headache and this is what I see:
“Thunderclap headaches are uncommon, but they can be a warning sign of potentially life-threatening conditions �?? usually having to do with bleeding in and around the brain. That’s why it’s so important to seek emergency medical attention if you experience a thunderclap headache.”
I hope to God this is not the case.
PS: I do breathe normally and properly while lifting. I do not hold my breath or anything like that.
Well I figured I would try some leg work today (paired with shoulders as well), so I loaded up on 4 ibuprofen and went at it. I was able to finish my full workout without the slightest bit of head trauma. I pushed my legs so far that I couldn’t get out of the gym in time for it to close. I said I needed another minute or two before I could stand. Best leg workout ever.
This, however, does not mean that I am out of the fire yet. I will see how my head holds up tomorrow when I work out my chest and traps and then work out back and calves the day after. If I make it fine through those two days, I will consider myself good to go. I will still see a doctor regardless just to be on the safe side, but for now, the heavy lifting will continue.
There’s the update. I will post as soon as I’m back from my chest workout.
[quote]eigieinhamr wrote:
So you think you have a potentially life threatening problem that is set off when you go to the gym… so you go back to the gym…[/quote]
For real. WTF?
To the OP these headaches sound very serious. Your life and your health are much more important than your training. Make sure that your health is in order before you go back to the gym.
I had the same thing. Also often woke up with a bad headache in the early AM. Took about a week and they went away and now I’m back to normal. Some things that may have contributed to the recovery was stretching, taking it a little lighter at the gym for the week, hot water bottle on the back of the neck/head… and sometimes went to bed with ice on the back of my neck.
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote: Laughs, shrugs and shakes head. Uh OK dude, lets hope you live through it.
Bushy[/quote]
Yeah, I’ve always been stubborn. All I know is that when doing squats, I did not even remotely feel headache coming on at any point in the workout. It could have been the ibuprofen, or maybe not. Though I will tell you that if I can feel one coming on today, I will most definitely stop the workout. Like I said, I’m still definitely going to the doctor’s to get this checked out.
I have recently learned that this is due to the overactivation or tightening of the traps. Try focusing on relaxing your shoulders when you exercise. You probably will begin to get tension headaches during other lifts because you will be tightening the traps. Loosen the traps and you will lose the pain.
He joined just this month, he has 8 posts, and half of those are in this thread. He complains about a potentially life threatening condition, and upon receiving advice decides to keep lifting, because apparently he’s that “hardcore”…I smell a troll.
[quote]hungry4more wrote:
He joined just this month, he has 8 posts, and half of those are in this thread. He complains about a potentially life threatening condition, and upon receiving advice decides to keep lifting, because apparently he’s that “hardcore”…I smell a troll. [/quote]
Haha, nah man. Rest assured, I’m not a troll. I’m a real life dude presenting myself as me. Time will prove this. I know it’s dangerous to keep on lifting, but I go nuts if I don’t.
I felt fine yesterday when I did squats, and I felt fine today when I did all chest work. I had originally received my first headache from benching. Now that I have tried benching again today and received absolutely no headache, I feel a little bit more assured that I’m getting better. The Ibuprofen could have had some affect on me, but I feel that the Ibuprofen can’t be powerful enough to completely block out a “thunderclap headache” like I had before.
So anyhow, I am 2 for 2 on not having headaches during an all-out (heavy) workout and I’m going to attempt a back workout tomorrow. Again, if any pain comes on, I will stop. I set up a doctor’s visit for next week to see what he says. I haven’t been to a doctor’s visit in over 6 months, so I suppose I’m about due anyway.