Having “Barf” from spaceballs as your workout partner = best workout ever!
I was recently working out at a gym I don’t normally go to. I was out of town and just bought a guest pass for the day. Anyway, I was going about my business just like any other workout and as I was leaving the change room a guy runs past me on the way into the change room to vomit.
A few minutes later he emerges from the change room post-barfing proud as a peacock and ready for his next set of whatever he was doing.
I overheard him chatting with his training partners and he said something to the effect of “It’s not a REAL workout unless you puke”
Perhaps I’m just getting old and maybe I actually had these sorts of thoughts about maximum-insane-psycho-nutcase intensity way back when I was much younger, much more naive, way dumber, and well…just didn’t understand training or how the body works.
But one thing I can say for certain and that is there’s never any reason to workout to the point of blowing-chunks!
(If you haven’t already noticed I’m attempting to get as many synonyms for up-chuck as I can into this one post!)
Losing your lunch during your workout doesn’t tell you where your limits are, it just tells you that you’ve gone past them…I suppose there is something to be said for being able to actually push past what is safe, however my guess is any workout that gets you to the point of regurgitation is also heavily assisted by stimulants and not likely of any real benefit.
The more intelligent and useful goal would be to hit an intensity level that definitely feels challenging, forces you to the edge of your capacity, but also leaves you feeling good, pumped up, and invigorated. Exhaustion is even ok if you’ve done a long one. But there has to be a line, and getting sick to your stomach is definitely over the line.
I guarantee there is no correlation between the amount of times you push yourself to the point of spewing from working out and how much progress you make in both muscle gaining and strength gaining.
Myself and multiple trainers that I know who train hundreds of clients getting them into world class condition in both bodybuilding and powerlifting and all power sports in between never instruct their clients/team/athletes to push to the point of hurling…and all of their people get into great shape.
If it’s not necessary for them then it’s highly unlikely that it’s necessary for you.
Train smarter, not harder.
John
