Rest, like nutrition, is important for
every weight trainer, but for the manual laborer it is a
bit more difficult to achieve. The office employee, while
likely working the same amount of hours as you, is probably
getting a lot of rest at work. This person sits at a desk
all day and rarely experiences anything that is physically
taxing. While they may endure a lot of mental stress, there
muscles are able to rest and recover for the most part.
You, on the other hand, must get all of your rest outside
work as well as outside of the gym.
In addition, you probably have to mow
the yard, hedge the sidewalk and do other physically demanding
household chores. This leaves only a small window of time
for you to recover from the physical demands that have been
placed on your body. The most advantageous thing you can
do with this time is get plenty of good, quality sleep.
Get 8-10 hours of sleep per night if you can. On the weekends
or your days off try sleeping until you just can’t
sleep anymore.
Quality of sleep, however, is just as
important as quantity. If you’re having trouble getting
to sleep or you wake up several times during the night,
try taking a natural non-addictive supplement that contains
valerian, L-Theanine, or melatonin. A variety of commercial
products are available that contain these and other ingredients.
I use Schiff Knock Out, which contains all of the above
ingredients. If sleeping problems still persist, discuss
this problem with your doctor.
The third component of achieving success
despite a manual labor job lies in training. There is no
clear-cut training plan for manual laborers. Instead, you
will have to take into account the physical demands of your
job and adjust your training around this. If you know that
certain days are going to be more strenuous than others,
then alter your training based on this.
For example, don’t plan on doing
squats or deadlifts on days you know your body will have
been sent to hell and back because of work-related duties.
I have a certain amount of predictability in my job. I generally
know what days are going to require massive amounts of lifting
and I plan my workout schedule around this. When I’m
moving 50 mattresses and bed frames into the storage building
there is no way I am going to be working my back at the
gym that night.
If you work in a physically demanding
occupation, don’t be frustrated if you are making
slow gains or even no gains at all. With a proper strategy
that optimizes your diet, increases the quantity and quality
of your rest, and fine-tunes your training routine and schedule,
you can allow your training to co-exist with your job and
improve your gains. I know the frustrations of training
hard Monday night, getting little sleep, and then going
to work where I toil away for 8 hours before hitting the
gym. This is why I had to devise a course of action that
allowed me to make ends meet while pursuing my training
goals as effectively as possible. Don’t give up. With
the right knowledge and planning you can succeed just like
anyone else. Good luck!
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