Bonking During Workouts

I bonked today. Hit a wall. Crashed. Used up all the fuel in the tank. Get the point?

Usually CJ sleeps through the night, but he got up a few times last night so I went into his room to comfort him and get him back to sleep. No big deal at all…he can’t be a perfect baby all the time, right? I finally got up around 6:30am, fed him and then pumped breast milk for his next feeding. After cleaning up a few things around the house and getting changed I didn’t start working out until almost 8:30am.

I warmed up and got ready to complete this same strength workout that I blogged about last week. I started off great and was on track to deadlift about 10 pounds more each set than I did the first time I did the workout. Pumped up, I got in some  chin ups and then went to do my last set of deadlifts (just one rep!), but I couldn’t pull the weight at all. I took off 5lbs and still couldn’t pull the weight. I finally reverted back to the weight that I had done for 2 reps in the previous set (my ending weight from last week) and couldn’t pull that either! I totally psyched myself out and had to step away. A little while later I came back and got that last rep in.

I wasn’t too disappointed since I actually lifted heavier than last week on all except for my last set. Good enough. I moved on to chest press and kettlebell goblet squats. After the first set of goblet squats I realized that my blood sugar was low. I took a short break and had a few bites of a coconut Larabar (yum!). I felt a bit better and continued with my workout, getting through 3 of 4 sets of goblet squats. On the last set I had to decrease my weight to get the reps in without compromising my form or getting injured.

Once the sugar started kicking in, I felt more energetic again. I gave myself a little pep talk before completing the conditioning portion of my workout (double kettlebell swings) and I shaved 30 seconds off my time from last week.

Although I ended up getting in a decent workout, this could have been a bad situation if I didn’t know my body and my limits so well. I should have eaten something when I first woke up, knowing that I had a tough workout coming up and hadn’t eaten in 13 hours. This is exactly the type of thing I advise clients against doing! The fact that dinner the night before consisted of pizza and 2 glasses of wine didn’t help either.

I very rarely find myself bonking during  a workout because I generally eat well (and often), get enough rest and plan my workouts so that I am not overtraining. However, this incident really got me thinking about the importance of my nutrition and sleep habits as I’m trying to train hard right now. I  gotta take care of myself if I am going to continue to get strong and achieve my current goals:

• Deadlifting 200 pounds
• Obtaining my Hardstyle Kettlebell Certification (HKC)
• Getting back my pre-pregnancy body

As far as a general rule for eating before workouts, everyone is different. Some people like to work out on a fairly empty stomach and others prefer a very specific snack 1-2 hours prior to working out. A small portion of complex carbohydrates and protein is probably your best bet, but find out what works for you with some trial and error so that you can perform at your best, steer clear of injury and avoid spoiled workouts from lack of energy!

Do you run out of steam during workouts often?