Working out and working construction

[crawfordicon]

I was wondering how manual work figures into Starting Strength and working out in general. I'm working construction right now, and I'm a little concerned how this will affect my rest inbetween workouts. It's been alright in the past when I've worked construction and been hitting the gym at night, but I guess if I hadn't been working construction in the summers then my gains would have been better?

Anyway, how does this all figure in with the rest period? The job is outdoors, manual work on the technical side. I'm not carrying heavy loads around all day and the hours aren't horrendous. But I'm on my feet all day and I'm walking up and down ladders a fair bit. The breaks are good though, and they're well spaced to get my food in every 3 hours. And I'm getting a fair bit of sleep in, eating well and even taking the odd power nap too.

Anyone have experience with working construction and working out. Maybe I'm just making too big a deal of it, but I'd hate to think I'm ruining my rest period when on a tough program like Starting Strength?

[Wildtim]

Your body gets used to the daily work load you do. It might be hard to get your rest ing but the hardest part is getting your calories in. when I was working construction I would eat a full farm breakfast, three or four sandwiches during the day, a large snack when I got home, and a dinner roughly the size of a large pizza I have no idea of the calorie count but it hadt to be in the thousands, it at least twice what I eat now and I'm eating 2500-3000 a day. I was doing manual labor but I wasn't working out, I lost ten pounds my first month on the job and then slowly gained it back over the next year, then stuck there.

[OJLockNH]

I have been working construction during summers for the past four years.

i do roofing which involves:
1) carrying 75lb shingles up ladders
2) taking off the existing roof (with a shovel)
3) picking up everything i just took off and putting it into a trash barrel which i then load into a dump truck
4) doing the actual roof

my meals:
morning ; 2 bowls cereal
10am: protein shake
12pm: tuna, triscuits, yogurt, grapes
3pm: beef jerkey
4pm: bagel w/ cream cheese (work ends aroudn here)
4:15pm = gym
6pm = dinner
9pm: some more food

any help here?

i always feel the same that I would get bigger gains and i may be overtraining?

any tips/suggestions are welcomed

by the way last year i lost 20lbs in the summer and now am 5'10 weighing 158lbs and looking to gain mass

[crawfordicon]

Hey OJLockNH,

Funnily enough, I work roofing, too. But British style, so no 75lb shingles up ladders. Still, we have to carry a fair bit up the ladder, which is always a good leg workout.

It's good being up there during the summer. Great for tanning and the views can be spectacular. There are pros and cons like anything, of course.

[Wildtim]

Most American roofer don't carry bundles up ladders anymore either. Rooftop delivery for the win!