Working out (and a new job)

[Turnthemusicup]

I have been doing strength workouts 4-5 days a week and the results have been good. But now i have a physical job. In an average day i move 4000-8000lb of water, in 40 or 80lb increments. Also i am walking close to 3-4 miles daily. Note, those are not part of my workout! I am using supplements and eating very well every day, but my muscle gains have stopped. What should i do? take more supplements? (increasing whey not creatine) and\or lower my workout schedule? BTW i currently weigh 173 with a low body fat.

 

[Warboss Alex]

I have been doing strength workouts 4-5 days a week and the results have been good. But now i have a physical job. In an average day i move 4000-8000lb of water, in 40 or 80lb increments. Also i am walking close to 3-4 miles daily. Note, those are not part of my workout! I am using supplements and eating very well every day, but my muscle gains have stopped. What should i do? take more supplements? (increasing whey not creatine) and\or lower my workout schedule? BTW i currently weigh 173 with a low body fat.

first thing I'd do would be to eat more. what do you eat every day?

note that for most problems in life, they can be resolved by eating more

 

[Turnthemusicup]

Lol food is good. This is close to what I eat every day...

Morning---
4 eggs with some variety of meat mixed in
Serving of Creatine and Whey

Lunch---
4 fruits
1-2 yogurts
2 granola bars
Dinner---
Either pasta or meat, 2+ plates
Fruit

Later....
A mix of the the other 3 meals and is generally alot of food

 

[Turnthemusicup]

Your diet doesn't seem on point. Too general.

If it were me, I'd have to choose the fitness routineover the job because there's no way I'm sustaining that much energy. A physically demanding job PLUS working with weights? Don't think so.

I dont know about you, but i cant just drop a job. My job is not something that i can just abort, so that is out of the picture. But I am not giving up on my workouts.

The type of job you have will produce some results initially, but your body will eventually adjust; that's why most guys who dig ditches, etc. for a living (manual labor) aren't muscular. They are exposed to the same level of resistance every day. To grow, you must increase resistance and vary the routine.

I follow you, thats what i assumed as well. I cut my workouts in half for 2 weeks to allow my body to become adjusted to my job. Now i am working them back up to full power.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Of course you can have a physical job and strength train, and make gains too.. you will simply have to eat more. Right now you're eating like a bird, so fix that first of all. Read up on dietary requirements.

 

[monas7]

mate I think the first thing you need to look at is the frequency of your workouts. Sounds like you're already on the right lines by cutting your workout in half, but be careful about upping the tempo back to what you were doing before...the workout regime for someone who sits at a desk all day is different from someone who does manual labour.

Depending on your split, 4 days a week is generally enough even if you had a desk job, 5 starts pushing towards overtraining. Your body only makes gains while it is resting, obviously your rest time is being cut down because of the physical nature of your job. I would look at cutting down to 3 workouts per week as a maximum. Keep the time down, 45-60 min in the gym is fine, no more: do 2 or 3 sets of 6-8 reps on an exercise then move on. If you discipline yourself to only allow 3 sets (after warm up) on an exercise then psychologically you push yourself harder because you don't want to leave anything in the tank.

No need to quit the job - working out should fit around your lifestyle not dominate it. The work you are doing shifting the water barrels sounds like good cardio to me, it will get your heartrate up and keep you aerobically fit, also it is going to keep away the fat, so the good news is you are going to be more fit than you ever would be before.

 

[EFFORT]

In your situation you should be training 2 days a week. Your eating sucks big time for someone not working a physical job like that, so imagine how much more you need to eat. If i was training you i'd have your ass taking in calories like it was no ones business, somewhere in the 7000-8000 range.

Your def a canidate for weight gainer

 

[stronglifts]

I have been doing strength workouts 4-5 days a week and the results have been good. But now i have a physical job. In an average day i move 4000-8000lb of water, in 40 or 80lb increments. Also i am walking close to 3-4 miles daily. Note, those are not part of my workout! I am using supplements and eating very well every day, but my muscle gains have stopped. What should i do? take more supplements? (increasing whey not creatine) and\or lower my workout schedule? BTW i currently weigh 173 with a low body fat.

Eat more. Both your training & your work stress your body. Like the first time you started lifting weights, you'll need to adapt to your new work situation.

It will take you a few weeks to adapt. In the meanwhile you're workouts can suffer. Eat more, get your sleep & persist. You'll get used to it. You'll end up stronger in your workouts once you've adapted to the daily physical stress at work.