Getting nauseous during my workouts :(
 

Hello Everyone

I'm really hoping someone has some advice for me, because this is not pleasant!! I keep getting nauseous during my workouts with my personal trainer. He pushes me very hard, which is great. At my session on Saturday, I lost my breakfast half way through, having to run to the locker room :( Yesterday it happened again, and although I was able to push through it, it was difficult to say the least. I've been trying to focus on what I'm eating before to make sure I'm setting myself up for success. Before I went yesterday, I focused on lots of protein and a bit of carbs just before I left. It did help me through most of the session, but by the end, the nausea was back.

I really need to figure this out because it's starting to make me dread going, which, considering I'm just starting on this journey to a health life, is not what I need right now. If you have any thoughts, suggestions, or resources, I'd appreciate it!

sounds to me like you are pushing it too hard. Sounds to me like you need a new trainer if your he keeps pushing you knowing that you feel ill.

I push myself and get pretty close to puking but never do.

Sorry to hear about your nausea! Tossing your cookies when working out isn't often a great motivator!

Without details it may be hard to pinpoint the source of your nausea, but there are a few common ways that it comes about:

1) Nausea/vomiting due to working out on an empty stomach and/or low blood sugar.

This doesn't sound like you, as you say you're loading before you go. This usually happens if you work out early in the morning before you eat breakfast, but can also happen due to medical conditions.

2) Overexertion.

Sometimes too much is too much! A lot of times nausea will occur during really high-intensity workouts that your body isn't used to or ready for. Pushing too hard or performing exercise at a pace above your fitness level can make you vomit. Your trainer is doing his job by pushing you, but try scaling back a workout or working up to performing high-intensity workouts if the nausea is consistent. (Hopefully, he scaled you down a bit after you threw up??)

3) Dehydration

Self-explanatory -- drink your water! There have been some studies saying that drinking 2-3 servings of water about 2 hours before you plan on working out and another right before you begin (15 mins. before) is good for preventing dehydration-induced nausea. Also, if you're drinking during the workout -- just sip. Guzzling water might sock you in the gut and cause the sickly feeling.

4) Abdominal-workout induced nausea

I get this one sometimes -- if I do situps or crunches and don't fix my eyes on one spot in the ceiling (like watching the horizon for sea-sickness) I'll start to feel nauseated within 2 minutes. If your vomiting seems to always be triggered by abdominal workouts, make sure that you don't close your eyes and don't scan your eyes over the ceiling/wall when working out, but just pick a spot on the ceiling or wall and stare at it. It helps me a ton. I also get other types of motion sickness, so if you get that too, you might be susceptible to abdominal-induced nausea. A study funded by the Navy Seals also suggests to do abs in the middle/end of the workout and not the beginning to reduce this.

It's never a bad idea to let your doctor know if the nausea is consistent even if you try a few things to correct it, because you might have something medically to be checked out -- especially if you're getting dizzy as well as nauseated.

Don't despair, though - many, many people experience nausea when they first start out an intense workout routine after being mostly-sedentary (it would fall into the "overexertion" category) because your body is just not used to it and you are probably pushing harder than you have in a long time. Try eating more carbs before working out, too -- sometimes it helps if the cause is low blood sugar.

I'm not an MD, but I had consulted a doctor when I kept getting nauseated doing situps during my high school sports days! I hope some or all of this helps :)

Hi again! :)

Instead of "just before" try to get someting in your stomach half an hour to an hour ahead of time, to let it get into your system rather than being there in your stomach.

If you've just started exercise it may be something you body will get used to. Whenever I have a break due to holidays or work or whatnot I inevitably feel queasy a few sessions once I start back but it fades after some acclimation.

I only get nausea when I do a really hard ab/core workout with food in my stomach, (there is a specific ab machine at my gym that I refer to as the "barf inducer"). So I start the day with a small banana, then do my workout. I also do a solid 10 min warm up and 5-10 minute cool down. I would guess that once you get used to the workouts, it won't be so bad.

Okay, just a Warning: Everything that I am about to say is from personal experience and may or may not be scientifically sound.

With that out of the way! Perhaps you are eating too soon before your workouts, as well as having workouts that are going on longer than your body can handle.

What I mean by this is that whenever I have crew practice, I (and many of my teammates) can never eat 2-3 hours prior to practice because we will be sick due to the physical exertion. Everyone is different; however, when one is putting stress on one's body, such as through exercise, the body diverts blood to the moving muscles and in some cases ceases digestion. Once the digestion has been halted, the body then tends to reject the food if the exertion is continued.

On the other hand, if you feel fine in the beginning and then later on begin to feel nausea this may be due to a blood sugar drop. My first few workouts with my personal trainer (when I had one) were brutal until he suggested that I begin to bring watered down gatorade in order to boost my blood sugar levels. You should be drinking water throughout anyway, so a sip or two of water/gatorade in there should not be a problem.

Finally,
You should talk with your trainer and/or doctor as soon as possible about this nausea because it may be a symptom of something else.

Good luck!

Wow, alyssum, I just read this post. Have you worked it out yet?

I think it's getting better but it's still a bit unpredictable. I think it may simply be that I'm not in shape because it's improved slowly as we go forward. Most recently the nausea has set in by the time I get home from the workout, and subsides if I just relax and have some water.

I too got nauseous during my first couple of work outs. It was because I wasn't fueling up before my workouts. Now i get up at 7am and eat three precooked eggs and a packet of weight control oat meal. I start crossfir at 8 am and it's been fine.

Good luck