Dizzy spells when exercising

minties82

Anyone else? I often get dizzy when weight lifting or doing something difficult (I walked up a mountain recently, lots of steps, and kept getting dizzy).

Could I be lacking something? I'm pretty content with my weight lifting technique for the most part, I'm remembering to breath.

I set a new 1RM for my deadlift the other day and thought I was gonna pass out when I completed the final rep. It was only 72.5kg. When I stood up from setting the bar down I got really dizzy. I used to have a 1RM of 80kg not that long ago :-(

I never used to get dizzy.

JPW1990

Resistance, specifically, not cardio. My phys therapist said it's a temporary blood pressure fluctuation. I have other medical issues going on, though, so I don't know if that would be the explanation for everyone or just my circulation issues.

wabmester

Well, low blood pressure would make you dizzy, but your blood pressure tends to increase during exercise.

My guess would be hypoglycemia. Weight lifting and other strenuous exercise is anaerobic -- it burns glucose. And you're probably already low on glucose/glycogen due to your diet.

Try eating something just before or just after. Some people do a little carb loading, but really any food should probably help.

minties82

I never even thought about low blood glucose. I have a glucose metre from when I had gestational diebetes and my readings are always between 4 mmol/L and 5.2 mmol/L (72 mg/dl to 93.6mg/dl). So not very high. I will make sure to eat something before working out now and see if it makes a difference.

Dragonwolf

minties82 wrote: »

I never even thought about low blood glucose. I have a glucose metre from when I had gestational diebetes and my readings are always between 4 mmol/L and 5.2 mmol/L (72 mg/dl to 93.6mg/dl). So not very high. I will make sure to eat something before working out now and see if it makes a difference.

If that's at least 3 hours after you last ate, then that's actually right where it should be.

wabmester wrote: »

Well, low blood pressure would make you dizzy, but your blood pressure tends to increase during exercise.

My guess would be hypoglycemia. Weight lifting and other strenuous exercise is anaerobic -- it burns glucose. And you're probably already low on glucose/glycogen due to your diet.

Try eating something just before or just after. Some people do a little carb loading, but really any food should probably help.

Eh, it can still be blood pressure related. The level change itself can cause the pressure to drop suddenly. I can't do burpees because of that, and occasionally coming up from a squatting position will trigger it, too.

Glucose is an easy one to rule out, but don't be surprised if it's not a glucose issue.

winninglosing43

This happened to me. I started drinking a small v8 or eating an avacado with pink salt before exercise sessions that were extended. Im not sure if it was the 6-12 carbs, potassium, or salt but it really helped.