I’ve been experiencing exertion headaches during training the past 2 weeks while running Hypertrophy I (currently on Day 1 of Week 4 today). I experience it the most severely during RDLs, with less intense instances of it occurring during other lifts. However, for the first time ever I had to end my training session early tonight due to the headache I experienced after my first set of 12 reps @ rpe8 on RDLs. Physically I still completely had it in me to finish the sets, but the pain from the headache was so severe I had to call it quits right there, and the headache ended up lasting a good 20 minutes afterward before tapering out completely.
Furthermore, and this might be TMI but it’s relevant, I’ve now been experiencing orgasm headaches in the interim between training sessions. I had a light one a couple nights ago, but last night I had a very severe one, similar to the level of pain that I experienced tonight after that RDL set, and it also took about 20 minutes to taper out.
I have 1-2 cups of coffee a day, I don’t drink but twice a month, I don’t smoke (though I used to), I hydrate often throughout the day, my sodium intake is ~1700 mgs a day, and I sleep 7-8 hours every night. What could be causing such severe exertion headaches during training/orgasm? I’m 34 years old, 5’8" male, 168 lbs.
EDIT: It might have been my sodium. Previous to just a week a go or so, I was consuming 4000+ mgs of sodium a day, maybe more. I only just made the switch to 1700 mgs once I quantified it about 4 days ago or so, realizing that I was intaking way too much. I’ll give it time and see what happens, but I hope these headaches don’t disrupt progress moving forward. I would hate to have to pause training again.