Why is physically exerting yourself to the point of exhaustion at the gym good for you but various jobs involving manual labor seem to cause permanent damage in the long term?
In: Biology
Exercise is a controlled form of stress on the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular systems when done correctly. This, plus appropriate recovery time and nutrition, allows the body to strengthen itself over time via natural repair/adaptation mechanisms. Manual labor is not necessarily so controlled, and demands on the body may exceed its ability to adapt when repeated without appropriate recovery time — which is not atypical for many of these jobs. Add workplace injuries into the mix and you can do quite a bit of damage over a career, whereas a reasonable exercise regimen under controlled circumstances should have a net positive result for strength, endurance, etc.
When you work out, you’re supposed to give yourself periods of rest and recovery. It’s actually important for proper muscle development, if I’m not mistaken. Manual labor jobs however, are done for long periods of time, and without proper breaks. Depending on what the job is, you may be doing something, or doing it in a way that would not normally be considered “correct”. So over time, you end up doing damage.
Believe me, you can cause permanent damage in the long term at the gym. Im no specialist, just used to be a dumbass on machines, and now I am super careful to do everything with form, because any repeated stress to something that shouldn’t be receiving stress in that way is bad. Doesn’t matter if ur at work or the gym. As people said, work is often less controlled and ur focus is not taking care of ur body, but getting the task done.
Lots of good points made already about repetition without rest and bad form but I’ll also say that you can get in incredible shape from manual labor. Also in general it’s the joints, ligaments and tendons that suffer the most from crazy repetition without rest.
If you physically exerted yourself to the point of exhaustion at the gym for 8 hours a day for 20+ years doing only a few exercises, that would cause permanent damage too.
1 or 2 hours a day are spent in the gym by gym rats, but 8 hours+ per day are spent on the job, without long resting periods. Spending 40-60 hours in the gym and not stopping for exhaustion or injury is also going to cause damage.
If done properly and mindfully, manual labour jobs are just fine.
The issue is that people neglect their bodies and do the job lazily instead of properly. I watch people jump off of trucks, lift with their back without engaging their core, walk miles and miles slamming their feet/ankles/knees into the ground instead of using their leg muscles to take the load etc.
I’ve been working manual labour/trades for the last 19 years and am currently in the best shape of my life. Ok, well my cardio needs some work, but all my previously injured joints and ligaments are great, barely any pain, I’m lifting more and am more flexible than when I was 20.
To be fair, physically exerting yourself through sport or exercise isn’t necessarily a good thing either. Lots of weightlifters and runners have messed up joints.
1-3 hrs/week with the option to stop if you get injured (and people still manage to get bad injuries) vs 40-80 hrs/week
A lot of it is due to repetition. I know most people associate working out with repetition, but in manual labor tasks you are usually performing a much narrower and less wholly engaging set of movements for longer more sustained periods. This changes the activity from exercise into a session of stress on the body that can exceed its ability to manage the wear and tear done by those activities. Also, workouts moves are done with the intent of being healthy and getting fit, doing work is just getting a job done, wether it requires walking or bending or whatever.
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