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Thread: Light-headedness / faintness with cleans

  1. #1
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    Default Light-headedness / faintness with cleans

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    I am have put in a lot of focused specific effort in trying to get my power cleans right since january. I went right back to the bar and doing hang cleans also. But am facing endless problems.

    One of them being faintness. This has been very much exacerbated during this year since I have tightened up my form a lot. Whenever I do an explosive pull, even a hang clean with bar only. I get slightly light headed. When using more weight I get more light headed, if pulling from the floor I come close to passing out and need a rest between each rep.

    I am working with very light weights, even for me. About 40% of my squat weight, and less than what I was power cleaning like 5 months ago(with sloppier form)

    I think the thing that does it is the extreme explosivity. I find it so incredibly draining on the CNS, energy, mentally, in terms of internal pressure, everything..

    I was expecting this to be something that would pass quickly and that I would get used to. Just like with squats or deadlifts. But it just seems to be getting worse. The weight I can move in the powerclean is actually decreasing. And the extent to which I nearly blackout is increasing. I am only able to move weights for singles with big pauses(due to faintness) that I could move for reps months ago without breaking a sweat.

    I dont know whats going on here as my squat has doubled (and improved in quality 100%)since the time I began lifting the weight for powercleans that I am struggling to lift now.

    Has anyone else experienced this extreme faintness? During my last workout I was actually forced to give up. I did a few singles with a light weight but I kept half-blacking out. I very nearly collapsed after each rack of the bar.

    Is there any particular way I can deal with this? I am having so much problems with the clean that with this it is becoming impossible to do it at all.
    Last edited by Dastardly; 03-09-2010 at 06:31 AM.

  2. #2
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    Hi Dastardly,

    while not getting to the extrems you are describing, I do experience som efaintenss when clenaning. I would actually say the Power Clean is the only lift that has this effect.
    The dizziness is really mild and lasts only a couple of seconds at the top of the lift, if that. In order to alleviate it, I have tried two things:

    - breath in a bit less before the first pull. Rather than gulping as much air as possible, I simply fill myself until I'm confortably tight, but no more.

    - move the bar just a fraction away from my neck after the rack. Sometimes the bar ends too close to my throat, and I can actually feel some internal pressure being relieved if I then move the bar away. The movement is minimal, but significant.


    Note that during the deadlift I still aim to fille up my lungs as much as possible, but in that case I think the slower movement allows my body to adjust, and avoid dizziness.

    I hope this helps.

    IPB

  3. #3
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    Thanks,

    my issues are indeed probably made a lot worse because I have epic amounts of tension/pressure at the bottom. I find it very difficult to extend my lower back with my knees on the inside of my arms so I end up really maximising muscle tension and abdominal pressure.

    I will experiment with being loosermmore relaxed, as back when I was finding these weights easy I wasnt focusing so hard on form and extended back. So it may be a significant issue.


    But a lot of it seems to be connected to blood flow. Once I rack it, it seems all the blood dissappears from my brain/eyes into my muscles.

  4. #4
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    Let out a little air at the catch (or at the bottom if you're doing full cleans), maybe on the way up, too, but not too much. This sometimes happens to me on front squats, deadlifts, and cleans, too, especially if I'm coming back from a layoff (oh, and occasionally on presses).

  5. #5
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    Like others mentioned above, get your breathing in check. I like how IPB described it as not gulping, but slowly inhaling until you're comfortably tight.

    Also, make sure you're not cleaning the bar too high up on the clavicles and into your carotids. Don't stay bent over in the start position for too long, as the transition between that and the sudden upright position could possibly cause a bit of postural hypotension, as the heart tries to quickly send blood upward into the head and also out to the working muscles.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tim Lofton View Post
    Also, make sure you're not cleaning the bar too high up on the clavicles and into your carotids.
    +1

  7. #7
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    Thanks for your input guys. I thought a proper rack position involved the bar being pressed firmly against the throat? I dont quite manage this with my cleans but certainly do when doing front squats.

  8. #8
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    If you are occluding the blood supply when the bar hits your neck, that's less than good. As other have mentioned, letting out a touch of air at the top of the power clean helps a great deal with dizziness.

  9. #9
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    Let out a little air at the catch (or at the bottom if you're doing full cleans), maybe on the way up, too, but not too much.
    +1

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    Dastardly,

    I know this thread is old, but did you find a resolution for this? I have the exact same problem. I recently tried reincorporating PCs but at a certain weight, the dizziness comes; and at full weight, the near blackout comes. Others observing me assure me that it's not the bar in my throat.

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