training and holding a job

[MikayP]

like most people i am a big believer with rest + recovery to get better. since i recently graduated from college and cannot find a job I had to start working for my dads company which is hard labor for 8 hours a day. no way in hell im doing that shit 5 days a week, no matter how good the pay is, so im working about 20 hours a week. i had a rough 8 hour weekend of biking+running and lifting/moving heavy stuff for 8 hours on monday didnt really help me soak up the rest from the weekend. really need to find another job without this physical toll. im sore after work and its a miracle if i dont have to take a nap when i get home. was planning to workout today, but i can barely walk due to the soreness. im sure a portion of it is that my body isnt used to it, but still

i was just wondering how you guys deal with working and training. im used to training twice a day 6 days a week with school. but that was a little different situation. im sure sacrifices need to be made, i just dont want it to be less (quality) training

[vegan_bohemian]

i work as a groom at a riding school for 5 days a week between 8-9 hours a day.
i am on my feet all day and you really have to be fit for the job.
i cycle there and back which is 15 miles and i like to work out when i get home. but i do go to bed at like 9 to ensure i have 9ish hours of sleep.

I still have loads of energy at the end of the day and doing a physical job really suits me.
I think it is just a matter of getting used to it and obviously eating right.

[runner]

work 45 hours in an office approx a week. try to train 5/6 times a week.

If I need to work more > 10 hours I usually skip training. sometimes I make it up in the weekend.

Importand is to plan well and use your time efficiently. if you can reduce travel time this gives you more time to train / rest.

good luck!!

[ninearms]

A couple of things I like.

Firstly, train in the morning before work - you'll still get a better session in on less than optimal sleep than after an 8 hour day of manual labour.

Secondly, get rid of the aspects of your training that have the least impact. Strip it down. What has the best input:output ratio? What has the worst? Get rid of the latter. To paraphrase Carl Johnson, Jonathan Edwards' coach, do the least amount of work necessary to generate improvement. If you can improve training 3 days a week why train 6 times a week if the difference is negligible? If you can still improve training only twice a week then do that. If you can improve training 6 times a week but doing half the work do that. Only you can know what that threshold is, but I'm sure everyone has some garbage training they could ditch.

Also, to borrow from Ivan Abadjiev, if you absolutely cannot rid yourself of the compulsion to train 6 times a week AND do manual labour for 5 then you need to build in progression. You can't just jump in at the deep end. You say at the moment you're working 20 hours a week. Let's say that's split up over 4 days, each 5 hours long. So, you work 20 hours and you train twice in that week. After a month you maybe add another training session, so you're now training 3 times a week and still working 20 hours. You do that for another month, and at the end of that month you add a few more hours of work. In the third month you're still training 3 times a week, but you're now working 24 hours because you added an hour to each day. Do that for a month, and so on. I' sure you can see what I'm getting at. Not that I'd do that.

[BlueRose]

I'm also forced to exercise in the mornings on a lot of days, especially the ones where I have commitments after work and won't get back until late.