Strenuous occupations

[woods89]

How many of you have highly physical occupations?

I'm a self employed carpenter here in southern MO. We do all kinds of carpentry work, this week we prepped and poured a concrete floor inside a house that had a rotten wood floor system and next week we will be installing a residential metal roof. Without even a trace of bragging, it's hard work. I often wake up the next morning with sore muscles. Most of this is done with a 15+lb tool belt on.

If this sounds familiar, how does that affect your preparation for hunting season? Sometimes a hard workout after a tough day at work seems like asking for an injury, but maybe I'm just paranoid. Obviously, I stay in pretty good shape, but is it the same kind of shape that a guy working out for 30 min a day at a gym is in? How does it translate to mountain shape? From my experience hiking here in MO, it means I have plenty of muscle capacity but my cardio needs maintainance. I don't know how that will work in the Rocky's, though. For reference, I'm 5' 8'' and 150 lbs, with very little body fat.

And if you drive a desk for a living ( using Randy Newburg's terms), please don't read any superiority here! I have plenty of guys in my phone contacts that drive a desk for a living that make it possible for me to do what I do!

 

[Poser]

From my experience, the body tends to adapt to job related physical stress to the extent that it is no longer a physical stressor. I started working a fairly physical job a couple of months ago. The first 2-3 weeks wiped me out, but after adjusting to it, it's really not a big deal. I've known people who work as movers and also train for competitive powerlifting who have described a similar experience. While it's not ideal for recovery from training and may hinder you some, once your body adjusts to the workload, it's not a big deal.

I think the hardest part about being athletic and working a blue collar job is the food intake. As an athlete, you have a completely different relationship with food and blue collar guys don't eat that way. I eat 3-5x as much as the guys I work with. They'll show up on an empty stomach, run on soda til lunch, eat a burrito or 2 and go another 6-7 hours. I have to eat every 2-3 hours, I have to do it quickly and rather discreetly. I've gotten hassled about "taking breaks" to eat. It is what it is. I'm going to eat the way I need to eat.

If you are still experiencing soreness from a typical days work, the. It's likely the case that you aren't eating and/or sleeping enough. Sure, a 30 pound tool belt and moving lumber all day is hard work, but since you are not progressively adding more weight or considerably more volume, the body should adapt to the stress of that workload over the course of a couple of weeks/months.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[woods89]

Thanks Poser!

To clarify, a typical day doesn't find me sore the next morning. It's the days when I do something a little different than normal. For example, I'm sore this morning. That's because I spent yesterday pouring concrete. So my legs are a little sore from screeding wet concrete and my shoulders are sore from hand troweling at full capacity when it was getting hard almost too fast for us! I may not have another concrete pour for a couple months. However, next week I'll be walking up and down a roof most of the week and a different set of muscles will be a little sore. It seems like about once a week I'll do something outside of the typical for me and that's when I feel some soreness.

The food part I feel like I do fairly well at. My wife is an excellent cook and works toward limiting starches and processed sugar as much as possible. I bring a small crock pot to work most days with leftovers from a dinner she has cooked for lunch. I also have to eat every 3 hours or so or it does not go well. I too am known as the guy who is always eating. I HAVE to eat breakfast before I leave, and it usually is about 4 slices of cheese, a cup of yogurt, and a banana. No soda, just quite a bit of coffee! You are very correct in your observations about most blue collar workers, though, and I see the same things all the time. How you can function in hot weather while drinking lots of soda is beyond me......

Sleep is a problem for me. I sleep well, but go to work early most mornings. We have two kids, and my wife is an evening person, so it is difficult to get enough sleep. I have way to many nights with only about 5-6 hours of sleep. I do need to try to change that.

Thanks for your perspective! I've enjoyed and learned from many of your posts here.

 

[WV Mountaineer]

I started driving nails framing 31 years ago. My dad and uncles make a living that way. Framing is hard work. We hustled at it. More cardio than anything. When we fiberglass shingle roofed, it was brutal. Wore me out EVERY single time I did/do it. The heat, the work, it's tough stuff for small crews. Knees always hurt on roofs. Mason work is rough too when you are mixing and carrying for two mason's. Which seemed to be the norm. Concrete work is equally as bad. It doesn't seem to matter much what it is, I most always ended up stiff the next day. No problems working it out and some days were worse than others. But, it's my opinion that it wasn't the physical strain as bad as it was the joint and ligament strain. It's hard on the knees. My dad is knocking on 70 and his knees are shot. His brothers are all older than 55 and they are in or, headed for the same fate.


I am a forester now. Just do that on the side when they need help. It wears me out worse now. So, there was definitely a time when I was used to it. Cruising timber can be very straining but, I can always stop when I'm getting tired and rest. We never did that doing carpentry work. I worked for several companies and such growing up and while in college and, they all went at a much slower pace then my dad and uncles. 4 man crew in my late teens and early 20's was expected to have a 1800-2000 square foot house dried in, in a 5 day work week. It was ignorant really but, we did it all the time. It was what made me decide to go to college though so, not all was lost. I hate it though.



Carpentry work makes you a kind of hard that nothing else can if you work hard at it. It will also break you down too. My dad and uncles never trained to hunt. When we 'd go before they got broke down, they'd go for miles and miles a day. Day after day. I was training hard and, had to dig deep to find the drive they had. Just watch your longevity. That kind of work is really hard on your joints and ligaments. God Bless

 

[justinspicher]

I think strenuous is dependent on the person. Having to be cooped up in an office all day would stress me out. So I'm probably the exception and not the norm here, but I work in the mountains four days a week clearing hiking and OHV trails. Not really as strenuous as it sounds, the work isn't really hard, unless a guy/gal wants to make it hard. I'm carrying a 30-60lb pack everyday between 8-11k, so I'm pretty much ready come September. I do some push-ups and pull-ups every other day and that's about it. Every once in a while I have to go out on a call to fight a forest fire but I try to avoid that because it's freaking boring. I eat quite a bit throughout the day and then more at dinner. I fluctuate quite a bit with my weight, by about 5-6lbs, depending on the week.

 

[Jimss]

I hike a lot for my job plus do a lot of weed whacking, chainsaw work, weed spraying with a hose, etc. I don't train or work out at all in addition to my job. I work 4 x 10 hour grueling days and use the weekends to recover (if I'm not out hiking, scouting, hunting, etc). I've never felt like I was out of shape during hunting season. This year will test my lungs because I'll be helping my son out on a bighorn sheep hunt at 10,000 to 14,000' elevation. I'll be spending weekends at high elevation scouting....which ought to help my lungs and legs.

With that said, hunting can always be a challenge...especially if you do things you don't normally do. If you aren't used to carrying a 50+ lb pack, hiking at high elevation, hiking on sidehills with rock, climbing through jungles of downed trees, etc. The closer your daily routines for work or workouts are to what you'll do to hunting the better off you'll be!

 

[WYO_ATL]

Arborist. Some days are hard work, some aren't. Mostly bucket truck work, not a lot of climbing. I work out in addition to my work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Fatcamp]

Lifetime of construction work. Mason's tender, shingler, framer, formsetter, finish carpenter, tile setter. That is my career path. 47 now. Started working out and eating right about 5 years ago. Looked around at the older guys on my job sites and decided I wanted more for myself.

Enter nursing school in 6 months. The changes I went through with fitness and nutrition changed my life in significant and fundamental ways.

From a physiological viewpoint, your hard work leaves gaps in your strength. There are muscles that are very strong, and others you do not even know exist. A quality strength training program helps to even that out. Discretion is key. Don't work out after a heavy couple days of work. For me today is an easy day so I will swim for an hour when I get off.

 

[timekiller13]

I'm a nurse in a very busy emergency room. I lost 17lbs in the first months 6 months I worked. My fit bit says i take 18-20,000 steps in a 12 hour shift. I still work out on a regular basis to keep up cardio and strength training.

 

[mtwarden]

when I was in my 20's I was a sawyer logging in NW Montana- lugging a heavy chainsaw and 20-ish lbs on a belt/harness rig- almost all on steep to very steep ground; when elk season rolled around the only tough thing about elk hunting was hauling boned in quarters out on a shitty WW2 pack frame

 

[woods89]

This has made for interesting reading!

WV Mountaineer mentioned wearing out joints and such. I would like to know if there is anything I can do at this age to help that. I can certainly see how it happens!

 

[justinspicher]

Somehow I've managed to have saved my knees over the last forty years and not wrecked them. I've never been into lifting heavy or carrying a heavy pack so maybe that's helped.

 

[toddb]

I sit behind a desk all day long. I envy you guys that can work so hard and also the guys with outdoor jobs. I am 5 ft 9 175-180. What I do is climb stairs 6-8 weeks ahead up an overlook on a mound. Just turned. 55 today. I am able to keep up with the 20-25 yr olds that I hunt with. However this past winter I was very fatigued after work and did nothing. Gained 10-15 pounds. Turned out I got lymphoma cancer end of april, so short of breath I would be lucky not to pass out at 8000 feet. Looks like I am staying home and watching Oprah this fall and taking up crocheting.

 

[Poser]

This has made for interesting reading!

WV Mountaineer mentioned wearing out joints and such. I would like to know if there is anything I can do at this age to help that. I can certainly see how it happens!

Proper strength training does quite a bit since you have stronger muscles attached to those joints. It also teaches to be conscious your positioning, leverages and torque when performing strenuous work. The guys with wrecked knees and bad back on the job I work all tend to have terrible "technique" when it comes to these things. I've read that human joints have a lifespan of about 120 years, so if you are blowing them out 30-40, you are definitely not doing things correctly.

 

[Steakngravy]

Been working a physical job for 20 some years delivering pkgs lots of hiking every day and moving heavy boxs . Its keeps me in decent shape but still no substitute for sustained heart rate that cardio workout gives you, workout when i can but like a lot of you guys that work long hours its hard to find time . Just have to make a little time here and there even a quick 7 or 8 min run can make a big diffrence

 

[maninthemaze]

I'm with Toddb, I sit behind a desk. I work 12 hour rotating shifts. I average around 5 hours sleep a day. I bought a fitbit a month ago but got depressed when it showed my sleep patterns, or lack there of.

I too, envy you guys who have physical jobs. My job is physically demanding on the opposite end of the spectrum. Just sitting for 12 hours definitely takes a toll.

I try to walk every one of my days off, shooting for 3 miles. At least once a week, I wear my pack with 50lb sand bag on the only elevation gains around here. There's only 225 feet of elevation gain across my whole county. I also do a limited amount of weight lifting to strengthen my legs. I'm hoping this is enough for this year's elk hunt in Montana.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[JWP58]

I carry about 40lbs of gear 40hrs a week. Sometimes running up stairs, chasing folks, or whatever. Don't know if it helps with carrying a pack or not, but I guess it can't hurt.

 

[bowieknife50]

I'm a dairy cattle veterinarian so I wrestle cows a lot. Preg checking is REALLY rough the arms and shoulders when do you a few hundred cows in a day. My arms were sore, elbows ached, felt like I was getting carpal tunnel, and hands would sometimes go numb in a cow for a long time when I started.

Somebody earlier talked about the body adapting and mine definitely did. I don't get sore any more unless a cow hurts me. My forearms are twice the size they were when I graduated. Even the walls of my blood vessels have hypertrophied so I can maintain oxygen delivery to my hands. Crazy stuff the body does.

Unfortunately even though I spend my days sweating under rain gear yet inside a cow it doesn't do jack for cardio. Especially when I used to eat the crazy amounts I did. Last year I went on my first elk hunt up high in CO. I didn't want my friends waiting on me to get up the mountain so I lost 60lbs (not an accomplishment because I still have plenty to go). I had to run 4 days a week and radically decrease my food intake.

So ya what I do is very physical but has zero carry over to hunting.

Phew

Sent from my LGLS992 using Tapatalk

 

[SheepDogRob]

I carry about 40lbs of gear 4hrs a week. Sometimes running up stairs, chasing folks, or whatever. Don't know if it helps with carrying a pack or not, but I guess it can't hurt.

Yeah I hear ya on the gear. Seems I spend too much time pushing a car around with all that gear and end up sciatic issues and shoulder pain. I have to stay fit just to wear my uniform. Maybe someday we'll switch to a chest carrier.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JWP58]

Yeah I hear ya on the gear. Seems I spend too much time pushing a car around with all that gear and end up sciatic issues and shoulder pain. I have to stay fit just to wear my uniform. Maybe someday we'll switch to a chest carrier.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ya no chest rig here, all on the hips. I have l5 issues from football, but staying flexible is key in keeping sciatic pain down for me.