When near-faint the press feels lighter

[Lorem Ipsum]

I have noticed that when I'm pressing heavy and also pretty close to fainting (your whole body starts to feel numb and you almost black out afterwards) I do not notice how heavy the bar is. That is, I can keep on pushing as hard as I can (I'm not becoming stronger -- the bar moves just as slowly) but I do not feel it as taxing mentally.

This feeling stops after the second or third rep, and everything becomes heavy again. Do any of you experience this? It is very curious. (And yes, I know it is dangerous if I actually faint and have the bar racing me down to the ground.)

[Bloodninja666]

It's a bad idea to continue putting a bar over your head when you start to feel faint, for the reasons Cowie explains.

[RobCor]

A couple people have noted feeling faint during presses. I'd wager that they are breathing too much/too quickly before starting their sets. I know that I get dizzy if I do this, so I stopped doing it and have had no problems. One big breath and attack the bar.

[f4thpathway]

I thought this only happened in some peoples' closets...

[LimieJosh]

mince

Woofter

[Sixteh]

Used to happen to me. My solution:
Take a breath, unrack the bar, let go of that breath and quickly take another big breath. Then go.

I don't quite recall what the reason was for the faint feeling, but there was a thread about this a while back, try searching.