Rest, or you will be forced to rest.
The human body can only take so much before it shuts itself down for self preservation. After a particular hard two weeks of lifting, my body decided to "self-preserve". I had my first experience with a migraine. Though not nearly as bad as some cases that I have heard of before, it was painful nonetheless. Imagine having a constant headache with waves of nausea whenever you try to do anything other than lying down.
After a day of trying bed rest to recover, I finally visited the doctor who deduced that my condition was a combination of physical stress(workouts), inadequate rest, inadequate hydration(which I realised was true) and too much sodium(salt) in my diet(could be the steak and aglio olio pasta I had the day before) . So I was prescribed a bunch of medications which included pills for migraine, nausea, blood circulation and gastric. I ended taking the migraine pills and presto! I was better in about 30 minutes.
So, what lessons can be gleaned from this particular episode? My take would be to adjust the following:-
- Sleep: In the weeks leading up to the migraine, I was averaging 6-7 hours sleep per night. And during these weeks, I was squatting, pressing and deadlifting twice a week in addition to 3-4 met-con workouts spread throughout the week. My solution is to add in a short 30-45 minute nap during the day if possible.
- Hydration: I haven't really been particular attention to how much H2O i consume per day. I'm making it a point to drink at least 2-2,5 litres per day now.
- Nutrition: More fruits and vegetables to balance out the meat I am consuming. Also, will be paying more attention to my supplementation regime.
- Workout Intensity and Volume: Will be keeping a close tab on volume from now on. The 10 days leading up to my shut down had significantly more volume than the previous weeks.
Moral of the story? Balance is key. I need to pay equal attention to the different aspects of fitness and health - exercise, rest, nutrition and mental state. Ignore any one area to your own peril. For me? Lesson learnt.
