Pretty much the title. I’ve been training for 5 months, injured for 4 weeks in there - just came off of a 2wk recovery from a knee injury. I’m relatively young, 6ft 175lbs, in pretty decent shape.
But I overexert myself to the point of vomiting nearly every class. It’s frustrating and embarassing.
I’ve started doing more cardio and have improved a lot in that regard, but it doesn’t seem to help at all on the mats. Do I just need to do more cardio? Is there something nutrition-wise that could help? Open to any and all suggestions.
Edit: Thanks everyone for the advice. I will try 1) not try so hard and ask partners to help me with that, 2) advice to talk to my doctor - I have in the past and he wasn’t much help - but it got me to do some research… some medication I’m on can cause hyponatremia, which can cause nausea and vomiting especially after exercise… so I’m going to try a saline solution before/during class and may report back if it works.
Edit 2: took a 3% hypertonic salt solution to class today and it seems to have worked. I asked a higher belt to really push me in a difficult roll after class to test it. Not certain yet, but seems to have fixed the vomiting
Have you tried not going so hard? Seems like the obvious answer, you’ve gotta work up to it.
I have and do. I’ve worked to loosen up and control my breathing. Definitely something I can improve on still though.
Slow down a lot more. I take my breathing as a speedometer. If I’m breathing too hard, I’m trying to force things. You’re new, you’re going to tap, there’s not a lot of point to fighting it to the death.
Based on your description of what is going on, you need to rethink your entire approach to training. If you want to learn quickly, minimize your injuries, and never run out of training partners who are happy to train with you, you’ll need to learn to love Jiu-jitsu more than you love winning.
You are not being evaluated or trained to go HAM. You winning (or trying to) through intensity and brute force will not be rewarded by your coach, and will not be appreciated by your shrinking pool of willing training partners.
Even if you happen to be significantly stronger than your training partner, you should be looking to find maximal results with minimal effort.
I’m genuinely not spazzy though. I have never injured a training partner and never crank submissions. People like rolling with me afaik, I’m a generally conscientious training partner. Of the 2 times I was injured (rib fracture and knee injury) the first was an overzealous whitebelt with an unfortunate knee getting into side control and the second was a freak accident drilling tai otoshi with a much larger guy.
I’m typically a bottom player because my escapes are bad, so if I don’t get a dominant position early then I’m stuck on defense and don’t know many subs from bottom. I’m quite good at not getting subbed (compared to my other skills, I’m very bad all around), though I still get subbed all the time. I don’t have a big ego about it, I just want to perform better. I’ve been trying to stay as chill as possible, letting go of grips that I don’t need, breathing purposefully, generally trying to stay loose, but still find myself gassing out after 1 or 2 rolls. Then I sometimes don’t take rest rounds when I probably should - probably part of the issue.
I’d get external opinions on your rolling intensity, just to make sure that you’re self assessment is within reasonable range. That goes for your intensity level, your breathing patterns, etc.
Thats fair. I’ve been told that I’m still rigid and need to control my breathing - so although I’m improving, I’m not there yet. Maybe I’m going harder than I think I am
The quickest way to fix it is to either roll exclusively with the pre-teen class, or as though you are. Lose the option to go HAM.
Most white belts (and far too many upper belts, tbh) can give zero, seven, or ten easily, and will struggle to find the useful learning gears (one through five). It is a work in progress, but we’ll worth the effort.
There’s nothing better for your Jiu-Jitsu than having a wide variety of training partners of all sizes, who know that they’ll get a quality roll out of you every time.
Ask trusted training partners to remind you of your breathing if they notice you’re not breathing properly.
When you know you’re going to roll with someone who will smash you, consciously go into that round with the goal of not tiring out while still defending.
If you’re still throwing up 5 months in, my first thought is you’re probably hyperventilating as well. So it might be a good idea to go see your doctor. You’ll probably be checked for diabetes I think but your doctor should your primary source for advice I think.
Hey, your comment got me to do some research - I found that some medicine I’ve been taking actually can cause hyponatremia and some symptoms I’ve had during other exercise are indicative of hyponatremia (severe cramping in addition to nausea/vomiting)… so if I’ve been sweating out a bunch of salt and am on meds that cause hyponatremia, it could actually explain some of this. Thank you, I’m going to try to drink a salt solution before and during class and will report back if it’s a miracle cure or if I’m just a spaz.
Edit: the salt seems to have done the trick. Going to have to test it again to be sure.
