Hilary Achauer examines the physiology behind exercise-induced vomiting.
Ben Bristow was just being polite.
His girlfriend had brought in some homemade date-chocolate energy balls for him to sample pre-workout. Bristow, a coach at CrossFit 858 in San Diego, Calif., ate a few of them about 25 minutes before the workout that day. The Marine of 12 years was a two-year veteran of CrossFit and thought this would be enough time for digestion before the workout.
Unfortunately for Bristow, CrossFit 858 was tackling Kalsu: 100 135-lb. thrusters with 5 burpees at the top of each minute until the thrusters are finished.
Bristow regretted eating those date balls almost immediately.
On Rep 58, he ran outside and puked in the bushes, then valiantly came in and carried on. He got in 10 more thrusters before he had to run outside again. The workout was over.
Nobody is exactly sure what causes exercise-induced vomiting. Part of this is due to the challenges of the human model. Everyone’s physiology is different, and it’s difficult to tease out the myriad factors that cause nausea and vomiting during exercise.
But sometimes people vomit during and after workouts. It just happens. Things get weird, and sometimes you have to pay the clown.