Dizzy after Squats and Deadlifts

[Coelho]

Hello,

I am expriencing dizziness after each and every set of Squats and Deadlifts. Is this normal?

thx

[Ironman]

no.

My guess is you haven't been eating much before your workout.

[TimD]

I don't know about the eating thing, it may be a factor, however I never go in to a workout without waiting at least 2 hours after I've eaten, otherwise it bothers me. I've never had a problem doing this. Now, squats and deadlifts, you're going very intensely I would imagine. If this is the case, it isn't all that out of the ordinary, simply due to the fat that both all basically total body moves, and they require a lot, especially from the CNS, and especially when going intensly. I used to use an offseason DL routine where after warm ups, you took about 90% 1RM did a rep, backed off, 10 seconds later another rep, back off, 10 seconds later a 3rd rep, took 5 mins break, and I needed it because there was dizziness. Then the second set was take off about 10% weight, and repeated the process with 3 reps, pause, 3 reps, pause 3reps, and another 5 mins. Some dizziness again, and the final set was back off a little more weight and get 9 reps. So you can see, with total body, going intensly, don't be too surprized if there is some dizziness. Just make sure you have spotters. I can remember reading Dr. Ken Leistner talking about the 20 rep breathing squats, where you jus keep on going rest pause with deep breaths, until you hit the "white buffalo", and that meant the old "seeing stars" thing.
Tim

[Stephen Johnson]

Are you holding your breath while lifting a max weight? Also, have you had your blood pressure checked recently?

[Hoister]

I am with Tim on this for the most obvious reason - intensity. I've found two distinct scenarios when deads or squats cause me to get dizzy - doing heavy sets with weights 1.5-2 X bwt or heavier and/or high rep sets a la super squat sets.

I absolutely can not rep out with heavy deads. I have to perform the rep, stand up, take a couple breaths / shake it off, repeat. Squats don't bother me as much, but have a similar affect on me as well.

Stephen mentioned another possibility - your breathing. Holding your breath start to finish of the lift might do it to you as well. I find exhaling violently during the hardest part of the lift/sticking point helps with reducing the risk of dizziness. Watch your breathing in general, i find that when i do high rep stuff, especially with lighter weight, i have this weird habit of holding my breath for even a couple reps or more! That'll knock you on yer butt, never mind make you dizzy.

[Ironman]

Everyday there seems to be more and more mounting evidence of just how atypical I am. I guess I should have said it hardly ever happens to me.

[Matt Z]

I've gotten dizzy durring leg workouts before, but only momentarily. It seems to happen more when I do intense super-sets and giant-sets with little or no rest. This would also explain why I haven't gotten dizzy in a while, since I don't train legs that way anymore.

[quadfrog]

Back in the 60's, when I was in high school, we used to lift weights in my basement. Between sets, we'd all smoke cigarettes. This made for some lightheadedness when we benched and squatted. Of course, the word fitness hadn't been invented, yet.

[TimD]

Hey Quadfrog. I graduated HS in 67. I think most everybody smoked back then. I can remember after football and wrestling practice, you'd see half the team behind the gym lighting up.
Tim

[Matt Z]

Back in high school I often used to do 4-5 sets of Smith Squats, followed by 4 sets/10-12 reps of Straight-leg Deadlifts. After that, I would do 4 Giant-sets consisting of Machine Hack Squats (8-12 reps), Sissy Squats (10-12 reps), Prone Leg Curls (10-12 reps) and Leg Extensions (10-12 reps). These (the giant-sets) were performed with no rest at all between exercises and only about 30 seconds between circuits. Meanwhile, I was going to failure every step of the way, so I was litterally gasping for air the whole time and my legs were on fire. Somehow, I never actually threw up or passed out, but I came close to both many times.

[Matt Z]

PS.) That wasn't even my whole workout. After catching my breath, I would do four sets of Hyperextensions, 8 sets of calves (standing and seated) and finish up with some crunches.

[Bananas]

just the other day, i almost threw up from doing heavy squats (very hard to get the 8th rep up). i had to call it a day after that which sucked. i contributed it to the fact that i had a big sugary smoothie with an hour and a half of my workout and not a lot of anything else. it felt just like when your face goes pale and you get really sweaty witha n upset stomach.

i normally do get dizzy after the second set or so, but not so much. im thinking i normally get dizzy from a poor cardiovascular system. your body has to pump a lot of blood with a lot of oxygen to a lot of muscles when you do squats and dead lifts. could also be my poor diet.

[Ryan A]

I havent gotten sick since doing some like the following:

Arm Exercise
Shoulder Exercise
Back Exercise
Chest Exercise
Squats

starting at 10 reps for each and dropping the highest most exercise after each around and bumping the reps up by 5 for all sets. So after 4 times through, your last circuit consists only of doing Squats for 30 reps but you never change the weight and all I can say is 95 lbs never felt so heavy.

[Matt Z]

By the way, I wouldn't recomend the workout I described above to anyone, although I did get good gains training that way. You have to remember, I was only 15 or 16 at the time and I probably would have made even better gains training the way I do now.