Fitness and Exercise

[Buffalobiian]

-I'm getting epigastric pain that is best described as hunger pain when I go to the gym.

-It feels like a deep pain where something is digesting itself.

-It happens around 2 to 2.5 hours into my workout (I'm still at the gym, though in the past it could have been as I was leaving). -When it comes on gradually, but can escalate quickly.

-When it first starts, it comes when I exert effort and goes away when I stop exercising.

-If I keep going though, it'll become constant.

-At its maximum intensity, I would probably rate the pain as a 7-8 out of 10.

I can imagine something causing me more pain, but this gets pretty close to the maximum I've ever felt. I've never suffered from many injuries though, so I can't compare to a broken bone etc. Visceral pain feels different from somatic pain anyway though, and I dislike its character more.

I eat afterwards and it goes away, but not always immediately. I also don't know whether or not it's simply a time issue, it's too painful to just sit and wait.

I do do abdominal exercises right at the beginning, but the pain doesn't feel anything like regular muscle soreness. I'm also not doing ab exercises at the time the pain comes on. I suppose I can try not doing ab workouts and see if it goes away.. but that would kinda suck It also doesn't explain why stopping the current exercise would make it go away either if it was ab-workout related.

I usually eat at least 3hrs before workout due to my timetabling not allowing me to eat sooner, and my hydration's pretty good.
It doesn't feel like the running stitch that can happen when I drink too much water before a run.

Anyone had something similar?

[Buffalobiian]

-I'm getting epigastric pain that is best described as hunger pain when I go to the gym.

-It feels like a deep pain where something is digesting itself.

It's midline pain below the sternum, probably 2cm above the umbilicus.

-It happens around 2 to 2.5 hours into my workout (I'm still at the gym, though in the past it could have been as I was leaving). -When it comes on gradually, but can escalate quickly.

-When it first starts, it comes when I exert effort and goes away when I stop exercising.

-If I keep going though, it'll become constant.

-At its maximum intensity, I would probably rate the pain as a 7-8 out of 10.

I can imagine something causing me more pain, but this gets pretty close to the maximum I've ever felt. I've never suffered from many injuries though, so I can't compare to a broken bone etc. Visceral pain feels different from somatic pain anyway though, and I dislike its character more.

The above description is mostly consistent (after a few weeks of experimenting now), but I've concluded that the pain doesn't have much to do with the 2hr exercise at all. It is best brought on by the pectoral fly machine, usually on my 3rd or 4th-plus set. When I put in effort to finish the motion, the pain will come on gradually and slowly escalate. If I keep doing more reps, it becomes more severe. Resting and discontinuing the exercise will alleviate the pain.

I can feel my abdominal muscles contracting when I do the pec-fly, so it can be argued that it's that pain. I haven't been able to relax my abs but contract my pecs forcefully, so I can't really test out whether the abdominal contraction has anything to do with it.

I haven't tried the protein-shake-before-workout yet, only some fruit. They don't seem to make a difference.

Push-ups by themselves don't seem to give me a problem. I haven't done pushups when the pain sets in from the pec-fly though, so perhaps I'll do that next time.

Overall it's pretty annoying and just limits how far I can exercise my chest. :S


edit: This link seems to suggest some reasons. The breathing one caught my eye because the chest press is definitely the slowest of my exercises, and I lengthen my exhalation in time with my contraction.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/27...uous-exercise/

edit2: or a hernia. :S

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Is there such thing as "too wide" a grip for the lat pull-down?

I eat afterwards and it goes away, but not always immediately. I also don't know whether or not it's simply a time issue, it's too painful to just sit and wait.