Starting a job in manual labor

Good evening TLHF. After my first workweek full of pain, I decided to ask for advice. I just started a full-time job in manual labor at a factory. Because factories always have more work that needs to be done, this job involves moving as much weight as possible throughout the day in 15-60+ pound increments.

After about 6 hours I'm very exhausted, and then I will be working for around 4 more hours on most days. The reason for that is, at the end of each month our boss fires the people who work the least amount of overtime, and the most we can work is 45-47 hours per week. The average person works 44 hours. I worked 41 this week.

I'm 5'7" when I wake up and about 5'5" when I go to sleep. I have lived a very sedentary lifestyle for the past 4 months or so. I was taking a half hour walk maybe twice a week. Before that, I was on the sedentary side for 3 years due to college. When I started last Monday, I weighed 122.5 lbs. I now weigh 126.5 lbs. I sleep about 8-9 hours a night, but I should probably be sleeping 10-11.

My main concern is injuries. I have decided to go ahead and work at least another week and see how I feel before making any decision regarding whether to quit. My back has killed me all week, even to the point of not being able to sleep, so I have Bengay put on it every afternoon. I'm eating around 3000 calories a day.

Today, Saturday, when I woke up my back felt almost painless. My wrists are still very painful and I have stayed away from the computer as much as possible to maximize healing time. My hands are swollen.

I don't really know what to ask. What kind of stretches should I do before / during work? When will I be strong enough to be healthy at the end of the day? Will I ever have a painless evening? Should I quit and find a job in retail? I'm afraid those have mostly already gone to high school kids for the summer.

Last edit: 2012-06-10 13:28:39

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Malinor Germany. June 10 2012 13:45. Posts 4171

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Sounds like the job description is coming directly from the 19th century

Anyway, going from doing nothing to basically 120% of what you are capable of is always going to hurt. But the body is very well in adapting, so I am sure it will gradually become better, shouldn't really take more than additional 1-2 weeks, but that is just a guessing game. If you are young and don't have to do this labour for years to come but only a couple of months, you should be able to get out unscarred. Obviously overworking yourself phyisically, you have always the potential to injure yourself, but there are no "stretches" you can do really to prevent that. Just give yourself enough breaks when you need them. No need to work yourself to death over a summer job in my opinion.
Just make sure that you are sleeping enough (i.e. just go to bed when you are tired, there is no fixed amount of hours to go by) and don't be a pussy about eating. Not enough food is horrible for recovery, therefore more pain for you. If it is hard manual labour, you need the calories and it won't all turn to fat. May aswell gain some muscles out of it (makes the work easier too).

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Ludrik Australia. June 10 2012 16:45. Posts 523

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It's safe to say labour laws are very different between the US and Australia.

Protect your back and don't compromise on safe lifting practices. Keep your heels on the ground when lifting and your back arched. Also try not to twist when holding something heavy.

It might take a couple of weeks but you will get used to the constant lifting. Make sure you're eating lots to aid recovery (preferebly meat and vegies). You could also do things such as foam rolling to loosen up your muscles.

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rEiGN~ June 10 2012 19:30. Posts 360

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IF you got a job as a garbage man (or run a jackhammer, or some other physically demanding job) and had to pick up heavy cans all day long, I'm sure the first day would be very difficult - possibly almost impossible for some to complete so what do you do? take 3 days off and possibly lose your job? NO! you would take your sore, beaten self to work the next day. You would mope around and be fatigued - much less energetic than the previous day, but you would make yourself get through it. Get home, soak in the tub, take aspirin, etc. The next day would be worse..etc. etc. Eventually you will be running down the street tossing cans around and joking with your coworkers. How did this happen? You forced your body to adapt to the job at hand! IF you cant' squat everyday, lift heavy everyday then you are not OVERTRAINED, you are UNDERTRAINED!

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B.I.G. June 10 2012 19:52. Posts 2043

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Be careful with your back you fool! If you fuck your back up hard enough, you fucked it up for life man.. I hardly think a job with a tyrant boss would be worth that...

SeeDLiNg United States. June 10 2012 20:36. Posts 666

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Just be safe, but yes, a job that demanding IS going to shit all over you for a while.

Don't be afraid to ask people for advice on lifting whatever it is that you're lifting so that it puts less strain on your back. If you're going through it, most of them went through it, too.

One more time... BE SAFE! But other than that, try to get an ass-load of protein into your system, eat lots of GOOD calories, drink lots of water, and look forward to feeling physically amazing, and like a total badass within a month or so.

edit: Jobs like this really do end up not so bad. If you can stay healthy and safe long enough for your body to get used to it, you'll enjoy a relatively stress-free, fun job.

imho

Last edit: 2012-06-10 20:40:11

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tjosan Sweden. June 10 2012 20:41. Posts 120

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Talk to the work place safety person-or-whatever. You know the guy who's chosen by vote by and of the workers and has the support of the union. I'm sure he'll give you some advice and help you get set up properly without any lifelong injuries.

GoTuNk! Chile. June 10 2012 23:34. Posts 2219

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What's ur job? Construction? Mining?

Silidons United States. June 11 2012 00:02. Posts 2785

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the first week of working out for me, i could barely turn myself over in bed (literally) because it hurt so bad. it was worse because my older brother was the one putting me through workouts, who had been working out for a few years before, and he had no idea that it would do this to me.

if you're 120lbs, you're obviously not eating 3000 calories per day (or have JUST started doing so), in which case you need to actually write down what you eat and how much of it to see how much you eat.

i think in a week or 2 you won't be as sore. it seems like you never worked out or anything so this is going to hurt for a little.

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TechniQ.UK United Kingdom. June 11 2012 01:55. Posts 391

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yeah it will hurt a little, when i started weight lifting there was a few weeks where i literally couldnt move my lats and stuff without intense pain. your body will adapt. However there is a difference between good pain (Growth) and bad pain (injury through bad posture/lifting too much). and yeah learn the proper way to protect your back when lifting- no job is worth messing up your back. you'll never be the same after it. i.e. bend knees, keep back straight throughout whole movement, arch shoulders back a little (though dont overextend backwards).

you should perhaps look up some videos on doing an exercise called deadlifts on youtube. the movement would be the same for most lifting in a work environment and they will show you perfect posture.

Last edit: 2012-06-11 01:56:18

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TunaBarrett Sweden. June 11 2012 02:52. Posts 953

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On June 10 2012 13:25 hp.Shell wrote:
After about 6 hours I'm very exhausted, and then I will be working for around 4 more hours on most days. The reason for that is, at the end of each month our boss fires the people who work the least amount of overtime, and the most we can work is 45-47 hours per week. The average person works 44 hours. I worked 41 this week.

Wow they are allowed to do? Thats rough..

Anyway, i work as a chef and while i might not carry quite as much as you its hard work and i work for 173-200+ hours a month so i know where you are coming from.

For me however you simply get used to it after awhile, sure there are risks involved concerning injuries and such and the best way to protect yourself there is to simply workout and make sure the areas that you use the most are strong enough.

Bluergh messy sentence but yeah my 2 cents. And for the record i sleep like 5-6 hours a night so i doubt you have to worry yourself over that

Last edit: 2012-06-11 02:54:06

Holy_AT Austria. June 11 2012 04:15. Posts 673

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Do it like Milton, burn down the factory and in addition ram a stapler through the heart of your boss and scream liberty and justice.
If everyone did this, the world would be a better place

Just quit your job, this is awefull ? Are you just working for a few month or do you intend to work permanently in this occupation ?

Spicy_Curry United States. June 11 2012 05:15. Posts 2244

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Make sure that you dont slack off in your lifting technique. Proper technique will save you much headache in the long run.

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phyre112 United States. June 11 2012 05:45. Posts 2314

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On June 10 2012 20:41 tjosan wrote:
Talk to the work place safety person-or-whatever. You know the guy who's chosen by vote by and of the workers and has the support of the union. I'm sure he'll give you some advice and help you get set up properly without any lifelong injuries.

If this is a summer job, I highly doubt there's any Union.

Anyway, as the rest of the thread has said - use proper techinque to lift things (legs, not back. Even though back seems easier it's worse in the long run). And recover hard (eat a lot, sleep WELL, not just a lot, use ibuprofen) when you get home. It shouldn't take too long for you to adapt to picking up 60 pounds.

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epoc Finland. June 11 2012 07:08. Posts 841

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Shrinking 2 inches during the day thats pretty huge

Beorning United States. June 12 2012 08:58. Posts 212

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Well, I'm sure they told you you'd be doing manual labor before starting. Weighing 120 pounds and not ever working out prior to starting this job looks like you set yourself up for this pain.

However, doing some stretching prior to starting work http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stretching/SM00043 will help you to not hurt yourself. If the job is intense as you're saying, you can basically treat this as working out, e.g. you need to start eating to aid your recovery. For your general size and how hard you're going to be working, it probably doesn't matter what exactly you eat, just get more protein, try for 1 gram per lb of your bodyweight. That and just more calories.
If you don't feel like doing this I'd probably say look for one of those retail jobs, otherwise you're going to run yourself into the ground.

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