Why did I get dizzy at the gym?

[JohnnyBGood]

Today when I was at the gym on the stairstepper, I had to quit after only 10 minutes. I did lift weights before this. I was uncomfortably dizzy, my vision was kind of blacking out, and I felt like I was going to pass out. It was quite disturbing.

Was this low blood sugar or over-exertion or what? I'm used to doing lots of running outside, usually between 20 and 30 miles a week. I hadn't, however, did the stairstepper for several months. It was pretty hot in the gym and it's usually cool outside when I'm running.

Also, I just had a light breakfast today, as usual. I like to make sure my body will use fat as fuel because I'm trying to lean up as much as possible.

Anyway, I'm a little concerned about this. I want to lowerer my bodyfat percentage, but almost blacking out suggests that something in my program probably needs adjusted. Should I start eating a bigger breakfast so I have higher blood sugar and don't get dizzy? Or maybe I'm just not used to the intensity of the stairstepper? Any suggestions?

 

[MEH89]

I am not qualified to tell you what is making you feel dizzy when you exercise. But if I had to guess I would say low blood sugar. Also do you take any stimulant's? Mark

 

[borobulker]

Hypoglycemia?
Dehydration?

 

[ozarkaBRAND]

Little off topic, but....

I took a girl with me to do some HIIT the other day.. We'll, she straight up passed out.. I felt real bad.

 

[strategicmove]

Little off topic, but....

I took a girl with me to do some HIIT the other day.. We'll, she straight up passed out.. I felt real bad.

Any clue why that happened to her?

 

[ozarkaBRAND]

Any clue why that happened to her?

hadn't eaten much that day, and hadn't had much water.. And the workout was pretty intense.

She was fine though, well, after she came to that is..

 

[RedwolfWV]

Low blood pressure?

 

[OCCFan023]

There are a lot of variables in this situation. What is your height and weight and your daily calorie intake? What type of training did you do prior to the stair stepper? Have you just started this lower calorie stuff? Also have you been lifting for some time (or were you just running prior to this?)

It was probably low blood sugar but again there are a lot of variables that could play into why you were so exhausted.

Little off topic, but....

I took a girl with me to do some HIIT the other day.. We'll, she straight up passed out.. I felt real bad.

Little Known Fact: HIIT is the gym worlds roofie. :rofl:
edit: Joking in the fact that you said she was ok later*

 

[T-Bone]

hadn't eaten much that day, and hadn't had much water.. And the workout was pretty intense.

She was fine though, well, after she came to that is..

Was it outside?. That is scary, did you have to call 911?

 

[ozarkaBRAND]

Was it outside?. That is scary, did you have to call 911?

Inside actually.. Luckily gym staff were close by and EMS was called.. Everything checked out fine with them, gave her to option of going to the hospital, but wasn't really necessary. She just needed some food and water..

 

[JohnnyBGood]

There are a lot of variables in this situation. What is your height and weight and your daily calorie intake? What type of training did you do prior to the stair stepper? Have you just started this lower calorie stuff? Also have you been lifting for some time (or were you just running prior to this?)

It was probably low blood sugar but again there are a lot of variables that could play into why you were so exhausted.





Little Known Fact: HIIT is the gym worlds roofie. :rofl:
edit: Joking in the fact that you said she was ok later*

I'm 5'11" about 198 lbs. Prior to the stair stepper I did a back and chest workout-bench presses, rows, and dips. Lately, my calorie intake has been about 2500-3,000/day. I've been holding it steady there for the last month or so. Usually I don't lift and do cardio on the same day, as I did today. Yea, I've been lifting on a regular basis for a couple years. The only stimulants I took were 2 leviathan original before the workout. That's not out of the ordinary for me though. I'm used to leviathan.

At least I didn't actually pass out. That would have been pretty embarrassing. I'm thinking it was probably blood sugar. Perhaps I tried to go a little too hard. I thought since I was in good running shape I could just hop on the stairstepper and start tearin it up. Next time, I plan to lift and do cardio in one session, maybe I'll sip on some gatorade for some extra energy. Thanks for the replies fellas.

 

[T-Bone]

Today when I was at the gym on the stairstepper, I had to quit after only 10 minutes. I did lift weights before this. I was uncomfortably dizzy, my vision was kind of blacking out, and I felt like I was going to pass out. It was quite disturbing.

Was this low blood sugar or over-exertion or what? I'm used to doing lots of running outside, usually between 20 and 30 miles a week. I hadn't, however, did the stairstepper for several months. It was pretty hot in the gym and it's usually cool outside when I'm running.

Also, I just had a light breakfast today, as usual. I like to make sure my body will use fat as fuel because I'm trying to lean up as much as possible.

Anyway, I'm a little concerned about this. I want to lowerer my bodyfat percentage, but almost blacking out suggests that something in my program probably needs adjusted. Should I start eating a bigger breakfast so I have higher blood sugar and don't get dizzy? Or maybe I'm just not used to the intensity of the stairstepper? Any suggestions?

[nomedia="http://youtube.com/watch?v=R0YUA3yTUss"]YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.[/nomedia]

 

[JohnnyBGood]

Quite a video. Did you see those dancers' skirts. Long enough to cover the subject but short enough to keep everyone's interest. I think I might have to get a chuck berry avi now.:djparty:

 

[OCCFan023]

I'm 5'11" about 198 lbs. Prior to the stair stepper I did a back and chest workout-bench presses, rows, and dips. Lately, my calorie intake has been about 2500-3,000/day. I've been holding it steady there for the last month or so. Usually I don't lift and do cardio on the same day, as I did today. Yea, I've been lifting on a regular basis for a couple years. The only stimulants I took were 2 leviathan original before the workout. That's not out of the ordinary for me though. I'm used to leviathan.

At least I didn't actually pass out. That would have been pretty embarrassing. I'm thinking it was probably blood sugar. Perhaps I tried to go a little too hard. I thought since I was in good running shape I could just hop on the stairstepper and start tearin it up. Next time, I plan to lift and do cardio in one session, maybe I'll sip on some gatorade for some extra energy. Thanks for the replies fellas.

Probably just over exerted yourself. I am in very good cardio shape when it comes to running and sprinting and such, but I tried the stair stepper for the first time a month or so ago and it kicked my ass (different muscles that are rarely used have less conditioning so it takes time to work yourself up to the perceived level one can do.) So the new exercise coupled with a 2 very large muscle groups training are likely the culprit as opposed to any supps or lack of conditioning.

 

[nightshift]

Had a similar incident a couple of years ago. I ended up going to urgent care due to my taking blood pressure meds and a family history of heart disease. I can not remember exactly what he called these symptoms, something like vaso-vega reaction. What it boils down to is a drop in blood pressure combined with low blood sugar and slight dehydration causes your CNS to crash. For future reference he advised if this occurred again to get some gatorade type fluids in and to sit on a chair with your head between your knees. This will raise BP and blood sugar.

 

[Thixotrope]

This has happened to me a hand full of times. Once I beleive it was due to insufficient food intake prior to my workout and another I really can't pinpoint. A few things you might want to consider are vertigo, any type of inner ear infection or anxiety/panic disorders. A few people already mentioned hypoglycemia. If you suffer from panic attacks they might be the culprit. The second time it happened to me I ate 2 tablespoons of honey right before a workout. Near the end of my workout the subsequent sugar crash combined with my strenuous activity caused me to abort my workout due to dizzness. Ultimately I think you should find a doctor to elminate any serious conditions.

 

[GreenTempo]

some dude passed out while in the middle of a set of squats at my gym a few months ago, nearly killed himself

 

[OCCFan023]

some dude passed out while in the middle of a set of squats at my gym a few months ago, nearly killed himself

No safety pins/bars in the squat rack?

 

[maynehood171]

Inside actually.. Luckily gym staff were close by and EMS was called.. Everything checked out fine with them, gave her to option of going to the hospital, but wasn't really necessary. She just needed some food and water..

Same thing almost happened to me...I dosed 40mgs pre workout of Havoc and took 1.5-2 scoops of NO Explode...I felt like I was going to have a heart attack and vision was f'd up quite badly...I felt weak, peripheral vision was like...nonexistent as I couldn't see anything other than my line of sight, and just couldn't catch my breath. My pulse after benching was 158 bpm at one point...I was scared as hell and lasted for almost 50 minutes! I never did that again!

 

[bryan4980]

Today when I was at the gym on the stairstepper, I had to quit after only 10 minutes. I did lift weights before this. I was uncomfortably dizzy, my vision was kind of blacking out, and I felt like I was going to pass out. It was quite disturbing.

Was this low blood sugar or over-exertion or what? I'm used to doing lots of running outside, usually between 20 and 30 miles a week. I hadn't, however, did the stairstepper for several months. It was pretty hot in the gym and it's usually cool outside when I'm running.

Also, I just had a light breakfast today, as usual. I like to make sure my body will use fat as fuel because I'm trying to lean up as much as possible.

Anyway, I'm a little concerned about this. I want to lowerer my bodyfat percentage, but almost blacking out suggests that something in my program probably needs adjusted. Should I start eating a bigger breakfast so I have higher blood sugar and don't get dizzy? Or maybe I'm just not used to the intensity of the stairstepper? Any suggestions?

I get the same thing if I eat dinner less than 2 hours before going to the gym.

 

[ItsHectic]

I got the same thing a while back, when walking home from the gym and it was a lil scary.
I put it down to dehydration, so I never have creatine before a workout anymore.

I have noticed that I get dizzy if I dont have a sports drink before or during my workout, so I would say it could be dehydration, I cant see why it would be low blood sugar in my case even though gatorade does have sugar in it.

 

[maynehood171]

I got the same thing a while back, when walking home from the gym and it was a lil scary.
I put it down to dehydration, so I never have creatine before a workout anymore.

I have noticed that I get dizzy if I dont have a sports drink before or during my workout, so I would say it could be dehydration, I cant see why it would be low blood sugar in my case even though gatorade does have sugar in it.

My bro is a trainer and he advised me to drinking lots of water (obviously common sense), but at least 1-2 bottles of Gatorade...something with potassium, sodium, etc...possibly even eat hour or 2 before working out to avoid the hypo feeling...causing an early departure from working out...

 

[JZ7757]

It has happened to me a few times as well. First and most common a long time ago was insufficient food throught the day and/or lack of a pre wo meal. The second was big weight session, follow by high cardio without much hydrayion. And the others were only a single instance when I had slightly high BP on cycle, and lastly was taking RPM. That stuff was good, but heart pelps and dizzyness was there as well every workout, regardless of the first two items.

Look at having more food throughout the workout day, check your BP/BS and then look at your workout supps and body support behavior.

 

[JohnnyBGood]

I appreciate all the replies on this. I've been eating more complex carbs before my workouts and also sipping on gatorade before I do my cardio. When you're trying to cut some fat, you can start to view food and sugar as the enemy, but I'm finding out that it is important not to cut myself short on nutrients to fuel my workouts. Just trying to find an effective balance. Trial and error I guess.

 

[sreed11]

well pretty much your last post covered it. i was just gonna say get in maybe 1-2 whole wheat sandwiches with all natty peanut butter and honey which i think is a good substitute for jam or jelly which is a lot of the time high in artificial flavoring and sugar. taste delish too. and i find gatorade during my workout is AMAZING! i never get that light headed feeling of being hungry. delish.

 

[maynehood171]

Look at having more food throughout the workout day, check your BP/BS and then look at your workout supps and body support behavior.

Makes the MOST difference for me...

 

[Flay]

I used to get dizzyness, some nausea and feel sleepy after doing squats, breathing properly made quite a difference, now I almost never get that and when I do it's very mild.