Squat nausea as body's coping mechanism.

[jukh]

Hi,

Today I've been doing 275lbs squat 3x5, completed all sets. But felt very nauseous before every set. So nauseous, that I needed to rest more than 9 minutes to bring this feeling down. Just a minute before 3rd set my mouth filled up with salva, just like it does before I throw up.

I don't feel nauseous in any other exercise. In fact, I don't feel nauseous at all after 3rd(obviously hardest) set of squats.

I do eat a big meal ~2hrs before I start my warmup sets (1500kcal) as a breakfast. But again, I never experience nausea in ANY other exercise. And before SS, when first exercise of my workout was, say, bench, I haven't experienced nausea, given same pre-workout meal.

I believe that it's a coping mechanism of my body.
I have been a big pussy pretty much my whole life until 2 years ago. Nausea was the coping mechanism, that my body used every time I was nervous. And saying that I've became a pussy again, doesn't seem to help.

Did somebody experience anything like this? What can I do to stop this? Basically it's "I'm scared of the bar" problem but with big nausea that doesn't allow to focus on squats.

I've tried cueing myself during set, which is described in the 2023 article "Fear in Barbell Training", also I'm actively repeating that "it's just another 2.5kg" before every set, I do train with safeties (spotters if needed), I don't allow myself to fail a rep. So I'm pretty much aware that nothing bad will happen even IF I will fail a squat (never happened since I've started SS).

I'm 18M/6'2/210lbs, 9th week of SS, 1 year in the gym. Gained ~20lbs since started SS. I sleep 9-10hours.
Squat - 275lbs 3x5,
Deadlift - 320lbs 3x5,
Bench - 210lbs 3x5,
Press - 115lbs 3x5,
PC - 135lbs 5x3.

[Jason Donaldson]

Ah, the dread... The best way out is through. Don't try to make the nausea go away, don't try to deny it, and don't try to rationalize a reason not to feel it. instead, reframe it. It is not you becoming a pussy again; it's a symptom of the adrenaline response coming from your fear, precisely because you're doing hard things, not fleeing from them. Being a coward is about actions, not feelings, and your actions are that you continue to train. Excellent, young man.

Instead of listening to your body, talk back to it:

"I'm feeling nausea again. GOOD. That's the adrenaline. Adrenaline makes me stronger and tougher, and it gives me focus. This feeling means that I'm about to kick this set's ass."

Over time, the reframing will become the norm for you, and this carries over to a great many things. You'll learn to associate the symptom, not with fear, but with excitement.

Between your form checks and your posts on this board, Jukh, it is very encouraging to see a fellow learning these things so early in life. Some of us learned them far later in life, and a lot of (most?) people never learn them at all. Drive on!

[Maybach]

The nausea is a byproduct of a low level of anaerobic conditioning. Your body needs to devote a lot of blood to recover the muscles. When blood is diverted away from the stomach with food going undigested, you feel nauseous. It'll go away as your conditioning catches up, and your body can cope with digesting and recovering muscles at the same time. If you want to speed up the process you can push a prowler on your rest days for about three weeks, according to this.

[BareSteel]

I've experienced this. A few times, it was legitimately because I ate too large a meal too close to squat time. I vomited once or twice on those occasions.

Usually it's just fear of the lift itself - squats more than any other. Focus on a few of the most important cues and focus on one rep at a time. It sounds like you're already taking action and moving forward.

Some guys like to take a "weight is light" mindset. That never worked for me, because it was too obviously incorrect. Instead, I prefer to think something like "the bar is heavy, but I'm strong" or "the bar is heavy, but if I focus I can make this lift."

You've got the safeties set and you're committing to the hard work. Sounds like you're headed in a good direction.

[Phill]

"Fuck you bar, I'm in charge here" seems to work for me. The other thing I think about, if I could lift the bar last session, am I going to let a carton of milk worth of extra weight beat me?

Although, my strongest sets are usually fueled by anger. "Hi honey, how was your day? BTW, I crashed the car/spent 11ty dollars on something dumb/why is your workout taking so long, im boooored" or "Dad, someone was ruuuude to me" followed by "thats a damn hell fat lie, why are you being ruuuude?"

Perils of training at home I guess.

If you have to suffer through an involuntary fight or flight response when you aren't genuinely at risk, choose fight. Its good for you.

[Jovan Dragisic]

Squat - 275lbs 3x5,
Deadlift - 320lbs 3x5,
Bench - 210lbs 3x5,
Press - 115lbs 3x5,
PC - 135lbs 5x3.

Don’t do sets across on the deadlift, just a single set of five. Also, make a few ten pound jumps until you get the deadlift 100 pounds ahead of the squat.

[jukh]

Hi, Maybach

Thank you. I'm not sure if that's the case though. I don't feel nauseous at all after 3rd set of squats, but I do feel nauseous right before it.
I tend to think it's more of psychological problem, than it's food digesting problem.

But do you think nausea will not occur if my stomach'll be nearly empty? I'm kind of afraid that it'll impact my training, I've never tried working out without a big pre-workout meal.

Thank you, Jason.

[AndrewLewis]

This is a psychological problem. You are scared of doing squats. That's why you feel better after it's all over.

I've seen this before, and it always presents the same. It ramps up as you get closer to the set and then it's gone after all sets of that exercise are done.

[RamblinWreck]

You aren’t alone, and you’re building resilience by pushing through. I’m one month into the NLP and the squats are getting heavy enough (relative to my body weight) for my body to have this same response. I’ve been using anger to get through the set. Have been skinny and weak all my life, and I remind myself that I’m done with that. This set is getting finished, and I’ll be one day closer to being strong.

[jukh]

Oh, I'm sorry that's a typo.

I do 1x5 deadlift.