Blue collar work is typically associated with long hours of labour that require people to do physically demanding things. However, fitness advice for those working these labour jobs isn’t discussed often. I want to give the blue collar workers out there my opinion on how they can most effectively use their time in the gym to improve their lives at work and home.
The biggest thing to look at is time and energy. Most with these jobs will have general physical activity taken care of within their day to day job, so being efficient in the gym is going to play a big role in this program. After working a 12 hour day lugging stuff around, not many people would want to spend too long in the gym, especially if you have things you want to accomplish outside of work.
The warm-up is going to be quick and to the point: a few minutes of moderate cardio, then 1-2 light sets of the exercise you’re about to perform before getting into your working sets. You can add a bit of range of motion warming up if you need it as well or if you have prescribed physio movements to do this is the time.
First thing to cover is strength. You don’t have to invest as much time as you’d expect to help improve your ability to do daily tasks. For most, three days of strength training should be enough. Pick an upper body push exercise (ex. incline bench, machine chest press), upper body pull exercise (ex. cable back row, pull-up), lower body knee flexion exercise (ex. squat, leg press), lower body hinge exercise (ex. deadlift, glute bridge), and a carrying core exercise (ex. single arm farmer carry, sandbag carry). You can do these exercises for 1-3 sets and 5-10 reps (30-90 seconds for the core work). Don’t forget to take a rest of 60-120 seconds between sets. That should cover you for the basics and you could add in some other minor exercises or extra core work as you see fit, taking you about 30 minutes total.
Cardio would be the next thing to tackle. Everything we do is supported by oxygen and our ability to move it around the body. Having a robust aerobic system will help with feeling good and energized. You don’t need to spend hours running, though. About 15-20 minutes at an intensity that gets you breathing heavy should be enough if you do it 3-6 times per week. If you have the energy for it, you could even do some high intensity intervals or play a sport occasionally but remember that can be more draining.
Now let’s look at flexibility. It’s likely that in your work, you’ll have to reach something or move into a weird position to install a product. Take time to stretch joints that have a range of motion deficiency for 1-3 minutes. You don’t have to stretch every part of your body every session; you can base this off your individual needs.
This should cover you in the gym and shouldn’t take more than 1-1.5 hours a few times a week. To get even more of the feel good benefits, be sure to get a minimum of 6-8 hours sleep per night and eat a somewhat healthy diet, check out our guide: Healthy Habits Made Simple.