Head throbbing after exercise..

[DoT.]

On friday i was doing my usual chin ups for the beginning of the workout. Then on my last one of my last set, i pushed my hardest and did it. But a couple of seconds after i got to the ground, my head just started to hurt so bad. It just throbbed for like 5 seconds. I grabbed my head and fell to the ground and sat on the bench for a while. Then called it quits and went to take a nap. My head hurts everytime i do something too hard or something too heavy. I am wondering what was i doing wrong and could my neck be kinda sprained?

[Kane]

Were you holding your breath? I've had a couple really heavy reps where I held my breath for the last set and really exerted myself...that led to the lightheadedness you described. Even the fact that it is an overly exerting effort could do that to you. Just watch it and if it becomes a real problem you should get it checked out by a doctor.

[HSfootball16]

breath in on the down (easy) , and out on the up (hard). once you get used to this it'll become second nature. atleast dont not breath though.

[Sleazy]

This is pretty normal, these are referred to as exertional headaches. You mentioned that you got these during your "hardest" sets, which is when most people experience them because they are pushing their body to the limit. Personally, I use to get them on my heaviest deadlifts.

Basically it is caused by a build up in blood pressure, which can usually be avoided by better breathing techniques. It is common for the pain to be focused on the back of the head and upper neck which seems to be what you are describing. You can find more on them here: http://www.headaches.org/consumer/to...xertional.html

[Scorcher2005]

I get them on leg presses. I sense when they are coming now and stop when its in its early stages because if i let it go on its just way to unbearable.

[Eric3237]

^^^^Agree with everyone. I've had these bad. Mine were blood pressure related like Sleazy said. I used breathing technigues along with a reduction in volume. BTW, based on my research they ARE more volume related than just intensity related so like Sleazy said, your "hardest" sets which doesn't necessarily mean just a really heavy set.

On chin-ups it's a little unusual since the blood pressure thing is caused by a sort of "pushing down". Another possibility I would suggest that could be causing this on chin-ups has to do with you neck. You said "could it be a neck sprain". Well it could be neck strain. If you are greatly tensing you neck and trap area this could cause the pain. Also on chins and pullups people tend to have a dominate side which will cause them to pull the neck toward that side while tensing the whole area. Next time pay attention and see if you are doing any on this and if so concentrate of relaxing these areas and keeping the head straight. This is just another possiblility to look for.

[verbatimreturned]

I got these type of head aches after benching one day, I needed to take about a week off because my head started to hurt like a motherf*cker whenever I lifted anything, I suggest you do the same

[Eric3237]

Yeah. That was my experience too. After the first one I hurt for 3 days straight and after that I was "primed" for another week or so.

[DoT.]

tytyty. i skipped working out yesterday because i was afraid it might start off again. But i'll try to breathe and loosen up my neck tomorrow..

[Jaredh114]

make sure to breath! Thats very important, one time i was doin a heavy set and forgot to breath ..... i almost passed out...