Intense exertion headache when lifting caused by muscle tightness in shoulders / neck?
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I was doing chest fly's on a machine last week (doing Mike Mentzer heavy duty style training) and about half way through my set i got the most intense pulsing headache from the base of my skull wrapping around my temples. Immediately realized I wasn't breathing properly throughout my set and likely strained myself. Stopped my workout, had a protein bar, and finished off my other workouts with lighter weight.
I had sex with my gf the other day and when I finished i got the same exact headache. Then yesterday I trained legs, and got it again during my first set of leg raises.
I have been training in this way for a good few months now and haven't run into this issue until now. I also have had a pretty bad knot in my trap / shoulder area on one side, which maybe is contributing to this exertion headache.
Things to note:
- I have been mindful of my breathing during sets since
- I wouldn't say my form is piss poor, though it isn't perfect
- I have been going up in weight / reps each session and have noticed my strength increasing
I've read a lot about this and it seems like an exertion headache, and proper stretching and warmups seem to solve it. Maybe the heavy duty training stuff has a limit. I'm also going for acupuncture tomorrow which has helped my tension headaches in the past.
I guess I just want to see if anyone has experienced something similar. I'm planning to take a week or so off from the gym and focus on stretching / low intensity cardio in the meantime.
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My brother had a similar episode when using the leg press and taking preworkout (which constricts brain blood vessels).
In his case it seemed to be caused by an explosive rush of blood to the brain. Doctor prescribed lots of normie antiinflammatories (three advils per day) until it went away.
One possible tip would be to stop doing preworkout, in case you are.
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@Rah1woot i don't take any preworkout, i usually go to the gym after work in the evening. thank you for the tip
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it’s probably the trigger point
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@raytreats I got the same when I first started HIT 3 rep max. It went away. Peat said that it's blood being forced into the brain.
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Just throwing out an idea: glycogen? Maybe sip something with dextrose during your workout? It can just be water and dextrose if you like. Lots of people I know who get headaches of any kind have had relief from dextrose when I recommend it.
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@evan-hinkle any specific product you'd recommend?
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@Living_thing that makes sense. I think proper form and going a little bit lighter weight, but still going to failure should be fine once i take a week or so off to recover.
i went to acupuncture yesterday and they did cupping as well as needles, which was great. highly recommended for muscle tension relief.
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@raytreats I’ve used nutricost, (it’s non-gmo, and there’s nothing else in there) but other people I’ve recommended glucose to have used a variety of products all with the same success for headaches. Weight lifting, (esp heavy like Mentzer recommends) crushes glycogen stores and blood sugar in general. It’s long been a practice of bodybuilders to replenish glycogen during and post workout with something like Vitargo, (I just think there are cleaner alternatives).
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@raytreats said in Intense exertion headache when lifting caused by muscle tightness in shoulders / neck?:
i went to acupuncture yesterday and they did cupping as well as needles, which was great. highly recommended for muscle tension relief.
Massages, too. If you’re prone to tightness and knots in your shoulders, maybe your girlfriend would be willing to massage you regularly in that area? For the knot, if she puts pressure on it, then slowly releases, and repeats this for as long as you can stand it—it hurts like holy heck lol—it will help to release the lactic acid and knot. My cousin, a massage therapist, taught me this technique for the knots in my shoulders and subsequent headaches I’m prone to getting from carrying a heavy pack (I’m a mountain climber).
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yeah that's good to know. I remember seeing Floyd Mayweather would always drink Coke after training to replenish glycogen stores.
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@Jennifer she's small and doesn't quite have the strength needed to do that - but i agree it's helpful. I used to have a MuscleHook which is a really great product for getting those trigger points in your shoulders yourself. I have to see if I still have it somewhere.
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@raytreats said in Intense exertion headache when lifting caused by muscle tightness in shoulders / neck?:
I was doing chest fly's
I've read flys stress tendons / nerves / joints and are not the most helpful compared to different rows / bench / overhead press, etc.
@raytreats said in Intense exertion headache when lifting caused by muscle tightness in shoulders / neck?:
I have been going up in weight / reps each session and have noticed my strength increasing
Take it easy on increasing weight. I noticed the same thing, not headaches, but muscle aches and nerve pains from increasing weight too often. And again, maybe increase weight on more stable / simple lifts instead of flys.
There are important nerves in the neck/shoulders that could be pressured due to inflammation. That's probably getting worse and causing headaches and flys are putting stress on those areas.
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@raytreats said in Intense exertion headache when lifting caused by muscle tightness in shoulders / neck?:
she's small and doesn't quite have the strength needed to do that
lay down and have her walk on your shoulders/back. that should fix it.
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@Corngold thanks for the info, I haven’t heard that about fly’s but it makes sense why I initially got this headache during that workout. I’ve been using the “ideal routine” from that Mentzer video on YouTube and do enjoy it, but would also love to incorporate other workouts like overhead press and cable workouts to get better results. I don’t really want to go back to PPL because I wasn’t seeing great results with that method.
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@raytreats said in Intense exertion headache when lifting caused by muscle tightness in shoulders / neck?:
@Jennifer she's small and doesn't quite have the strength needed to do that - but i agree it's helpful. I used to have a MuscleHook which is a really great product for getting those trigger points in your shoulders yourself. I have to see if I still have it somewhere.
I understand. I’m also small, and not the strongest. I let my body weight do most of the work when I give massages. Not sure if this would work for her, too, but I have the person lie on their stomach, and while straddling them, I take the lower part of my palm and press into the knot, while moving upward using my body weight for pressure. The forward movement feels really good after the abuse of pushing on the knot lol, however, I have found just pressing into the knot with my weight and then letting up to be effective.