Last night, one of my cousins sent me a text. She was concerned because she had been involved with a workout class in Memphis and she was having some unusual side effects. By her admission, the class was difficult and intense and she was having sporadic problems with vomiting when she was finished.
Of course, in my mind, several red flags are going off. I’ve trained my cousin before. She’s tough. She has no problem with hard work, a good sweat and maybe some muscle soreness afterwards. However, my workouts never made her throw up.
There were a several factors I asked her to consider:
-Maybe the workout is too intense and it isn’t for you
-Maybe you’re training in a fasted state and the lack of nutrients is making you sick
-Maybe the room isn’t properly ventilated and the heat is making you sick
-Potentially, any added stress on top of a stressful workout is the problem
As you can see, there could be different perspectives on this. I think this is where intensity mistakenly is synonymous with “reasonable and effective workout.” I do believe many people don’t push themselves appropriately in the gym. By the same token, I can count nearly as many who go too hard when they work out. I remember hearing the adage “Live to train another day.” In other words, maybe you shouldn’t be beating the snot out of yourself in every workout just so you can crawl to the door as you leave.
There are some trainers out there who use my cousin’s example as a badge of honor. To be very honest, some of these trainers are excellent at what they do. The names that typically come to my mind are those who train elite athletes. Make sure you read the last two words of that last sentence again: elite athletes.
I don’t know about you but I’m no elite athlete. Nor do I train them. I refer them out to people who specialize in that type of thing. The problem I see all too often are those who attempt to go from “couch to bad-ass” in 2 weeks. Funny thing, they never seem to last very long either. Maybe there’s a correlation there.
All sarcasm aside. Train appropriately. Think about your goals, consider how much longevity you want. Then remember that you also have a life to live that may not include elite performance but more just feeling better about yourself, moving well, and enjoying life. Minus the nausea of course!