Feeling dizzy / light-headed after a good squat set.

[Green Giant]

i've been doing squats for a couple decades and never had a problem. but since being on the raw food diet for almost 4 weeks now, i have tons on energy and i've actually gotten much stronger, and i love it!

 

my only problem eating raw is that after a really tough set of deep barbell leg squats, after i re-rack the bar, i get so light headed and dizzy, i swore i was about to pass out right there on the floor. this seems to happen every time i squat, especially on heavy sets.

 

i'm wondering am i deficient in some nutrients or something? this only seemed to have happened since i started eating raw.

 

i eat a couple of green smoothies a day, huge garden salads and tons of apples, grapes, oranges and other fruits. nuts and avocados. and seeds.

 

i put shelled hemp seeds in my smoothies and i sup with hemp protein powder after i workout and before i go to bed.

 

other than the dizziness with the squats, i love the energy, vitality and power that comes from eating this way!

[chrisjs]

How many reps / sets? Are you breathing through your reps? I'll get light headed on a heavy set as well, I don't think it's abnormal.

[Fallen_Horse]

Are you getting as many pre-workout calories as you used to?

[Marcina]

I feel dizzy and lightheaded after squatting too, especially with heavy deep squats.

 

Do you feel nauseous? A lot of the time nausea and dizziness is caused by not enough calories, especially from carbohydrates. Since you're on a raw diet you probably get plenty of carbs, but not enough complex carbs like the ones you get from brown rice and whole grains.

 

I also found it was more difficult to get enough calories in on a raw diet unless I pigged out on nuts and seeds. Try to add more calories into your diet, or even some cooked food. Add more protein and fats in there too.

[MartinVegartin]

I've read about people who say their blood pressure was lowered after going on a raw diet.

 

Perhaps you were consuming a lot of sodium when you had cooked foods. You might now have low-ish blood pressure, which could lead to dizziness after intense exercise. Diet is used to lower blood pressure, don't forget. The DASH diet is supposed to be good for lowering blood pressure because of all the fruit, vegetables and potassium and magnesium it contains. Perhaps you're now getting more of these. In the following study a diet with a high proportion of uncooked food led to fat loss and reduced blood pressure.

 

South Med J. 1985 Jul;78(7):841-4.

 

Effects of a raw food diet on hypertension and obesity.

 

Douglass JM, Rasgon IM, Fleiss PM, Schmidt RD, Peters SN, Abelmann EA.

 

We examined responses to cooked and uncooked food in 32 outpatients with essential hypertension; 28 were also overweight. By varying cooked and uncooked food percentages and salt intake, patients acted as their own control subjects in this unblinded study. After a mean duration of 6.7 months, average intake of uncooked food comprised 62% of calories ingested. Mean weight loss was 3.8 kg and mean diastolic pressure reduction 17.8 mm Hg, both statistically significant (P less than .00001). Eighty percent of those who smoked or drank alcohol abstained spontaneously.

 

PMID: 4012382 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[chrisjs]

FWIW I have slightly elevated blood pressure and I get plenty dizzy. I'm guessing it has a lot to do with reduced oxygen in the blood after an intense set.

[Marcina]

Don't forget to breathe! Always exhale on the way up, and inhale on the way down. A lot of people will hold their breath while squatting heavy on the way back up. They do it without realizing it. Hell, even I do it.

 

MAKE SURE YOU BREATHE!!

[Green Giant]

ok. i think it was a lack of calorie intake pre-workout. now that i eat more before WO, 90% of the dizziness is gone! thanks for all of your replies!