Exercising til you puke: Okay or not so okay?

Animaniac87

This may be a stupid question, but is it bad for you to exercise until you puke? When I did sports in high school during the first "conditioning" week all my coaches had the goal of making us throw up. Puke drills.


I know I'm horribly out of shape. However, when I push myself hard and throw up am I doing any damage to my body that I shouldn't?
Or is a little throw up acceptable?

apparatus195316

I am by no means a health professional, but my suggestion would be if you're puking, you've perhaps gone a bit far. I can see being so winded that you FEEL like puking...

JNick77

This may be a stupid question, but is it bad for you to exercise until you puke? When I did sports in high school during the first "conditioning" week all my coaches had the goal of making us throw up. Puke drills.


I know I'm horribly out of shape. However, when I push myself hard and throw up am I doing any damage to my body that I shouldn't?
Or is a little throw up acceptable?

Not okay. Puking is an indication of a problem. You workout to get stronger not to puke more. If you want to puke more take-up the super model diet, it's easier.

kel7298

no puking...ever!

LiddyBit

Not okay.

In fact, this can be extremely dangerous. It can (not saying it automatically will) cause problems with your heart because of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. When I lived in San Diego, I remember hearing about a recruit at Marine boot camp who died suddenly from this.

Jugie12

Well, look at it this way:

You should eat lots of clean, whole foods to fuel your workouts and metabolism. So what's the point of pushing so hard that you puke it right back up? Doesn't do your body any good on the floor, does it?

thelovelyLIZ

While vomiting happens occasionally, I'd say intentionally working yourself to that point is not a good idea. If you start feeling sick, it's your bodies way of telling you to slow down or take a break. You body sends you these signals for a reason, listen to them.

picassoadagio

That's your cue to stop!

secretlobster

The clients of my personal trainer and I would make jokes about puking, and what we meant was we wanted to work out really hard... But if anyone actually threw up, I think we'd make sure they stopped right away. No one actually wants you to throw up, it's just an exaggeration.

brandyk77

It can happen when you are pushing yourself REALLY hard but it shouldn't be the goal.

and it can also be dependent on other factors too. Did you eat something between sets or something? I don't do well with food/water intake during marathons and I threw up 3x (just a wee bit).

myfitnessnmhoy

You probably (with a very strong emphasis on "probably") aren't doing any damage as long as you are rehydrating and replacing electrolytes immediately, but WHY would you want to put yourself through that? And why take what risks there are? Who exactly are you trying to impress?

Have a light snack and hydrate well a half hour or so before a heavy workout, and push yourself to where you feel the burn, but where you can maintain it for a while without collapsing. This builds your endurance (cardio). Then push your limits a little with interval training (get your heart rate up, push it to the max until you get tired but not sick, back off but keep up a sustainable intensity until you recover, push it, recover, repeat).

Your coach was a jerk.

ebaymommy

While vomiting happens occasionally, I'd say intentionally working yourself to that point is not a good idea. If you start feeling sick, it's your bodies way of telling you to slow down or take a break. You body sends you these signals for a reason, listen to them.

I would agree with that. I'm preparing to run my 5th full marathon so I would like to think that I have worked out pretty hard....and often. I have never puked while working out and if I did I would stop immediately because I would either think that I was ill or had pushed myself beyond my limits and needed to back off.

htmlgirl

Definitely not okay... kind of a sign that you're pushing yourself too hard. Puking is bad for your teeth, esophagus, etc and to do it for any reason that often can be harmful. Plus, it's disgusting to see, hear, and smell. BLEH

jennifer52484

When i did boot camp, sometimes the instructor would work us so hard a few people actually went outside and puked.. I think it is natural.. especially if you just ate. Obviously if you are doing moderate cardio and you puke, maybe you should see a doc. I would hold off on eating immediately before working out and don't down your water while your working out either.. that could cause some tummy problems too.

sisierra

My Army recruiter: "If you ain't pukin' you ain't tryin."

jsapninz

Your coach in highschool did that (so did mine) to teach you discipline more than get you in shape. It's a mental thing (I CAN MAKE YOU PUKE, SO YOU BETTER MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS AND LISTEN TO ME TALKING IN THE LOCKER ROOM!!). And a stupid one, honestly.

I hear guys brag about "lifting until they want to pass out." This type of behavior is inane. If you are putting so much stress on your body that it reacts in such a bad way (puking, passing out) is NOT good for it. It doesn't mean you are a hardcore badass, it means you are pushing yourself harder than your body is physcially ready for. Which means you are stressing your body in a bad way (not to mention setting yourself up for injury).

Not cool. Not impressive. Not good.

I push myself, sure. But to the point where your body violently reacts is idiotic. As far as I am concerned, working out until you HATE your life means you are going to start HATING working out. Which means you are going to give it up.

Work as hard as you can work and still enjoy exercise and be proud of what you accomplished, not DREAD it.:flowerforyou:

katemme

It just means your body has been pushed beyond its limits. Its why you see all those fat kids puking on "I Used to be Fat" and even healthy people at the end of a marathon.

JeffseekingV

Just don't eat THOSE exercise calories back. :laugh:

saragato

Your coaches must've been a tad sadistic, then. Pushing your body to the point you become ill whether through actual puking or any other signs like dizziness, fainting, nausea, etc isn't going to help you. You're pushing your body way past its limit at that point and basically ending up with more of an injury than progress. And no it doesn't really have anything to do with whether you've eaten beforehand or not. Back in high school I never ate breakfast and had band camp during the summer and between the exercises, carrying a 15lb instrument around my neck, and the heat I often ended up throwing up or coming close to heat stroke.

Yes you want to go past that "comfort zone" but not like that. If your ultimate goal with your workouts is to induce vomiting you're just going to end up with rotten teeth and possibly an ED.

PeachyPlum

My brother was a Marine. They often "Marine Runs"

Run until you puke. Then run home.

I wouldn't advise it. The damage to your esophagus and tooth enamel would be enough deterrent, I would hope.

ladyfox1979

Try telling that to the drill sergeants in the army that you're puking all you get is "stop being a little p@%#y and suck it up soldier , pain is beautiful!'

Man do I remember the entire barracks smelling like old people and icy hot(shudders):ohwell:

WaterBunnie

Just don't eat THOSE exercise calories back. :laugh:

Eughhh! :-)

LorinaLynn

This confirms my belief that coaches and drill sergeants are sadistic f-words.

iplayoutside19

Making puking the point of your workout is not OK.

However, Anytime you push yourself to the limit it's going to happen from time to time. Which I don't see anything wrong with that. As long as you stop afterwards, because you know, you've reached your limit. Also be aware that you ae on your way to dehydration afterwards.

In the 3 years I've been on MFP I've puked three times following or during an athletic endeavor. Each time I tried to figure out what I could have eaten or drank differently so it doesn't happen again. Of course 2 of those times were after running further than I'd ever ran before.

WaterBunnie

The day anyone's encouraged to start blowing chunks at my gym is the day I stop going...

secretlobster

The day anyone's encouraged to start blowing chunks at my gym is the day I stop going...

Hi my name is Chunks, I'm here to sign up for your gym

ninerbuff

Puking happens when the intensity is too much for your body too handle. It won't kill you (people puke when they see something that may make them nauseous), but training to that extreme all the time is very rough on your nervous system.

Don't eat too much before a session and stay within a good intensity that you can physically handle and you should be fine.

A.C.E. Certified Personal Trainer/Group Fitness Instructor
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

trijoe

If you workout so hard that you puke, it's time to stop.

And puke.

Then start back up and finish your workout.

Mouthwash is optional.

I've never worked out so hard that I've puked, but I've come really really close sometimes. I've also worked out so hard I lost the ability to sweat. Those are fun days... Different people do different workouts. Some people push themselves in ways that test their body's limits. In some weird way, they find that acceptable, if not enjoyable. And as long as they're not injuring themselves, I'm never going to tell them no. Others refuse to reach anywhere near that point, and keep their workouts way lower on the difficulty scale. And that's fine too, if that's what they enjoy. Injuries happen throughout all levels of exercise, so I'm not buying into the idea that working out that hard is a recipe for injury. Hogwash if you ask me.

Enjoy!

brandon0523

If you workout so hard that you puke, it's time to stop.

And puke.

Then start back up and finish your workout.

Mouthwash is optional.

I've never worked out so hard that I've puked, but I've come really really close sometimes. I've also worked out so hard I lost the ability to sweat. Those are fun days... Different people do different workouts. Some people push themselves in ways that test their body's limits. In some weird way, they find that acceptable, if not enjoyable. And as long as they're not injuring themselves, I'm never going to tell them no. Others refuse to reach anywhere near that point, and keep their workouts way lower on the difficulty scale. And that's fine too, if that's what they enjoy. Injuries happen throughout all levels of exercise, so I'm not buying into the idea that working out that hard is a recipe for injury. Hogwash if you ask me.

Enjoy!

i ALMOST said some very harsh things about the posts on this subject. But then i read this and it made me stop.. one person out of all of these said something smart.. and actually correct.

Puking due to intense workout happens very often. is this bad for you.. hmm nah.. are you going to injure yourself.. nope.. If you actually sit back and think about what you are doing when you workout you are actually doing more damage to your body then if you puke.. A muscle tear.. sounds horrible.. oh wait thats what we do every time we work out. interesting.. so if you happen to puke oh well.. keep going.. but i will say this. if you are just doing simple workouts to lose moderate weight or try to get in shape you should probably not puke.. if you are training for a marathon, or are an athlete, or something of this nature where you want to be the best you can be at all times.. so you are going to push past your limits because you have to break that mental barrier..puke away..

sleepytexan

Ya. I wouldn't recommend that. You know, bad breath, rotten teeth, and all, I think it could have negative social implications.

happyfeetrebel1

The day anyone's encouraged to start blowing chunks at my gym is the day I stop going...

Hi my name is Chunks, I'm here to sign up for your gym

OMG..this!

You are so win!