Im curious if anyone else experiences nausea everytime they train legs? Have you found anything to help it reduce or rid the feeling?
Everytime I train legs with any degree of intensity I get to the point just before vomiting on my ride home from the gym. I have to close my eyes, even getting a ride from someone at certain points.
I have tried training on an empty stomach in the am but i really don't enjoy that because I'm extra weak and I still feel sick.
I have played w meal times, cut out my intra-workout, increased my rest, decreased reps etc but I still end up feeling sick if I push myself virtually at all.
Has anyone experienced this? Have you found anything to help you avoid that feeling.
Much appreciated!
A few things to look into:
Breathing: Your breathing cadence could be off. Sometimes we resort to holding our breath at the wrong part of the rep, which then generates a fast spike and drop in blood pressure (which is what might be causing your nausea). It may take some relearning, but try exhaling through the lift while maintaining your abdominal bracing.
Hydration: A wild guess here, but since you have tried working out on an empty stomach, it sounds like you might be working out in the morning (this is still applicable if you are not)? Try to get more hydrated before your leg day. This will take a bit of experimenting, but try measuring and gradually increasing your water intake before you work out. Find the volume needed to reduce nausea through trial and error. This has been an issue for a few friends.
Preworkout meal: I see that you have already toyed with this, if you are feeling expirimental try having a rice cake with peanut butter. It is enough to remove the "hollow" feeling in your stomach, but it does not cause any felt stress.
Conditioning: I see that this has been mentioned above, but I find baseline conditioning essential for my performance. The stair master a few times a week for ~15 minutes (enough to get you feeling an uncomfortable huffing) will be a huge benefit for your leg day. This personally cured my nausea, yeah I know, I know, it sucks. It will help increase the flow of oxygen to your muscles, which may help reduce the nausea feeling. V02 max shows you how much oxygen is getting transported to your muscles, and you can only increase this with cardio exercise.
Pharma aid: I am very hesitant to advise this; it has never done me wrong, but please do your own research. 10mg of Nebivolol has been an absolute godsend for my leg day performance. I have a genetically increased resting heart rate and would be very uncomfortable every leg day. After I introduced this, it felt like one of the biggest performance enhancers I have ever introduced into my routine and allowed me to focus on using my leg muscles on the movement instead of the extreme cardiovascular discomfort I felt all the time. It is a selective beta blocker that will slightly lower blood pressure, but it is very effective at controlling your heart rate and feeling of exertion. Your between-set recovery will also see a massive boost.
Acid reflux: A little bit of a wild card, but an anecdotal fix nonetheless. For those who experience acid reflux, it can absolutely cause nausea during leg day. The odd positioning and bracing that compounds put us through can highlight the heartburn. Try an OTC heartburn medication. On the flip side, you could also consider a betaine supplement during meals. It raises stomach acidity, which helps seal off your esophageal sphincter and mitigate any indigestion.
Rep scheme alteration: Everyone responds differently to how they handle low/high rep sets. There is nothing wrong with lowering the weight and going for a higher rep count. You won't be impacting growth. Ex: 600lbs for 6 reps vs 450lbs for 20. Try switching from what you are doing to the inverse. I personally am able to tolerate something like a 10-rep to failure set the best (my mental fatigue makes 20-rep sets too difficult).
Smiling while doing your routine (lol): Arnold did it for squats, I personally refuse to look insane, but here's a possible wildcard solution.
https://www.goodyspowder.com/blog/science-smiling-benefits-to-pain-relief
I hope this helps, and I wish you the best of luck figuring it out. Nausea is the most uncomfortable feeling during a workout, and I hate few things more (being forced to watch the whole Twilight series with my girl is a strong contender though). Let me know if you have any questions.
